Featuring Duck Baker, Lasse Johansson, Ton Engels, John James & Tim Nicolai

In the early 1960's guitar players from the cities started to tackle arranging classic rags onto the guitar. Prior to this period there was no recorded evidence of guitarists attempting to do this. At the turn of the century Vess Ossman and Fred Van Eps successfully transcribed classic rags for the five-string banjo. But the role of the guitar was dormant until David Laibman and Dave Van Ronk started to experiment with these ideas.

This album presents ten Scott Joplin classic ragtime arrangements. They illustrate the fascinating approach that a guitar can take when playing ragtime. Plus they are great challenges for guitarists to master. In the world of fingerpicking these type of instrumentals are left for the "advanced pickers."

Track Listing: (click on tracks for mp3 sound samples)

Song Samples:

1. Maple Leaf Rag - Duck Baker

2. Solace - A Mexican Serenade - Lasse Johansson & Claes Palmqvist

3. Nonpareil (None To Equal) - Ton Engels

4. The Favourite - Lasse Johansson

5. The Strenous Life - Ton Engels

6. The Rosebud March - John James

7. Eugenia - Lasse Johansson & Claes Palmqvist

8. Weeping Willow - Ton Engels

9. Scott Joplin’s New Rag - Tim Nicolai

10. Elite Snycopations - Ton Engels