In January 1949, clarinetist
Tony Parenti, pianist
Ralph Sutton, and drummer
George Wettling recorded six rags, including the clarinetist's "Crawfish Crawl." Considering that ragtime had been considered virtually dead for over 30 years and, other than "Maple Leaf Rag," its pieces had largely gone unexplored since then, this was an important session. The music is not all written out as would be the case with classic ragtime, and to an extent the musicians jam a bit, but always keep the themes and tight structure in mind. In reissuing this music, it was decided to record a similar date in 2002, with clarinetist
Evan Christopher, pianist Jeff Barnhart, and drummer Hal Smith performing nine more rags (all obscurities other than
Joplin's "Heliotrope Bouquet"). Other than the improved recording quality, the music is very similar to the
Parenti date, making this set a delight to fans of both ragtime and New Orleans jazz. ~ Scott Yanow