[Dixielandjazz] Horn parts on rags

[jobriant at sunrisetelecom.com]

Mike writes:

> When you play a tune like Maple Leaf Rag or something like 
> that, is it mostly done with or without horns? By college 
> music director thinks it's not good to use horns on rags. 
> What do you guys think?

At first I wasn't sure whether you meant "Should we include French Horns
in ragtime arrangements?" or "Should the front line of a trad jazz band
play if we do a rag?"

But it doesn't matter, the historical precedents support both.

John Stark published dance orchestra arrangements of a number of rags
that he published, including several by Joplin.  I forget the exact name
of this collection, but it was in book form with a red cover; i.e., this
was the famous "Red-Back Book." There were parts for 2 Violins, Viola,
Cello, Bass, 2 Clarinets, 2 Cornets, 2 (French) Horns, Trombone, Drums
and Piano.  It's believed that Joplin himself prepared the arrangements
himself.  

(By the way, does anyone have a copy of the Viola book?  I'm missing
that one from my set.)

In the 1970's, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded a
number of the "Red Back Book" selections, under the direction of Gunther
Schuller.  These recordings can give you a concept of what Stark and
Joplin may have had in mind. The performances are restrained and elegant
a society dance orchestra of 1905 or 1910 might have played them.

As others have mentioned, Watters performed many rags using the whole
band; at other times they let the piano and rhythm play a rag to give
everyone else's chops a break during a set.  A lot of today's "trad
jazz" bands also do rags, both those written in the so-called "Ragtime
Era" of 1895-1917 and those written since.

Jim O'Briant
Tuba
Gilroy, CA