featuring Ton Van Bergeyk, Leo Wijnkamp Jr., Jim McLennan, Bob Evans, Tim Nicolai, David Laibman & Dick Fegy

The first guitar ragtime recording, by Dave Laibman and Eric Schoenberg, was released in the late 60s and shows how high a level of skill young fingerpickers had reached in their attempts to master the idiom. This present collection features arrangements by a slightly younger Europeans inspired by Laibman, Schoenberg and Stefan Grossman. The Swedish team of Johansson and Palmqvist are possibly the most accomplished guitar duo to play ragtime. As with tennis, playing duos requires a particular skill.

Two Dutch soloists are presented here - Ton Van Bergeyk and Leo Wijnkamp Jr. - two of the finest fingerpicking virtuosi of the day. The United Kingdom is represented by Welshman John James, who has gone on to a very active career on the British folk scene and Englishman Ton Engels, who has, like most of the performers here, gone off into other pursuits. This is also true of the fine Canadian guitarist, Jim McLennan. Dick Fegy has remained very much on the scene as David Bromberg's most dependable bandmember over the years, playing mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and acoustic and electric guitars. He is also a first-rate solo fingerpicker, as you will hear. He must toss off Paganini encores in his spare time!

Song Samples:

1. The Entertainer* - Jim McLennan

2. Magnetic Rag* - Ton Van Bergeyk

3. Paragon Rag* - Tim Nicolai

4. Heliotrope Bouquet* - Jim McLennan

5. Scott Joplin Medley: Fig Leaf Rag/Bethena - A Concert Waltz/ Maple Leaf Rag* - Bob Evans

6. Sycamore - A Concert Rag* - Leo Wijnkamp Jr.

7. Kismet Rag* - Dick Fegy

8. Wall Street Rag - David Laibman

Those tunes marked with a star (*) are included in the tab/music PDF booklet on this CD.

You will need Adobe Acrobat (a free download) to open and print this file from your computer.