Joseph Francis Lamb ( December 6, 1887 - September 3, 1960 ) - a famous American composer in the genre of ragtime . Being of Irish descent, he was the only non- African American among the “Big Three” of classical ragtime composers, to which, in addition to him, Scott Joplin and James Scott were ranked. Ragtime written by him is diverse: from standard popular motifs to complex and intricate. The use of long musical phrases in his works, apparently, developed under the influence of classical works, which he met from his sister and others, while growing up, but the structure of the works was apparently influenced by the study of Joplin's ragtime for piano. By the 1950s he had achieved such perfection in the technique of ragtime in his later works as no other composer of ragtime, and in addition, he continued to perform works; at least two separate records made in his house testify to his rather good technique.
Content
Life and career
Lamb was born in Montclair, New Jersey. The youngest of four children, he himself learned to play the piano, and was very carried away by Scott Joplin's early ragtime. He dropped out of St. Jerome College in 1904 to work for a dried fruit company. In 1907, when Lamb bought the last notes of his idols, Joplin and James Scott, at the New York John Stark and Son store, he accidentally met Joplin himself. Joplin liked the works of Lamb, and he recommended it to the classic ragtime publisher John Stark. Stark published Lamb's writings over the next decade, starting with the Sensation ragtime.
The twelve Lamb ragtime that Stark published from 1908 to 1919 can be divided into two groups:
a) "heavy", written in the spirit of Joplin's ragtime using a wide range of registers:
- Ethiopia (1909)
- Excelsior (1909)
- American Beauty (1913)
- The Nightingale (1915)
- Top Liner (1916)
b) “light” ragtime in kekuok style:
- Champagne (1910)
- Cleopatra (1915)
- Reindeer: Ragtime-Tustep (1915)
- Bohemia (1919)
- “Satisfaction” (1915) and “Patricia” (1916) have characteristics of both “heavy” and “light”.
In 1911, Lamb married Henrietta Schulz and moved to Brooklyn, New York . He worked as an arranger for the music publishing company J. Fred Helf ”and later, starting in April 1914, the accountant of“ LF Dommerich & Co ”.
Henrietta died of the flu in 1920, around the same time that the public switched from ragtime to jazz . Lamb stopped publishing his music, and then played and composed only as a hobby. In 1919, his last publication, the Bohemia ragtime, was published, after which he stopped publishing.
With the revival of interest in ragtime in the 1950s, Lamb began to share his memories of Joplin and other early authors of ragtime with music historians (many were surprised to find that he was not only still alive, but that he was white). He also composed several new ragtime based on his previously unpublished old tracks, and made several recordings. The year before his death, his record album was released in 1960. [one]
Lamb died in Brooklyn of a heart attack at the age of 72.
Works not published during his life
Favorite List:
- Alabama Rag
- "Alaskan Rag"
- Arctic Sunset
- "Bee Hive"
- Bird-Brain Rag
- "Blue Grass Rag"
- "Chasin 'the Chippies"
- "Chime In"
- Cinders
- Cottontail Rag
- Crimson Ramblers
- Firefly Rag [2]
- "Good and Plenty Rag"
- "Greased Lightning"
- "Hot Cinders"
- Jersey Rag
- "Joe Lamb's Old Rag"
- "The Old Home Rag"
- Ragged Rapids Rag
- "Ragtime Bobolink"
- Ragtime Special
- Rapid Transit Rag
- "Shootin 'the Works"
- Thoroughbred Rag
- "Toad Stool Rag"
- Walper House Rag
Notes
- ↑ Smithsonian Folkways - Not found . Smithsonian Folkways Recordings .
- ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series (19 September 1961).
Literature
- Jasen, David A. Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. - New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1978. - P. 122–133. - ISBN 0-486-25922-6 .
Links
- Chime In played by Tom Brier on YouTube
- "Patricia Lamb Conn: Connecting with Ragtime's Glory Days" - reminiscences of Lamb's daughter, with family photographs.
- Joseph Lamb Mini Biography
- "Perfessor" Bill Edwards plays many Lamb rags, with stories.
- Article: “Joseph Lamb: The Humble Ragtime 'Sensation'” by Ted Tjaden
- Lamb and his compositions on grainger.de
- An episode of A Prairie Home Companion featuring the music of Lamb, with a biography as told by Garrison Keillor
- Joseph F. Lamb - A Passion for Ragtime - biography 2012
- Lamb, Joseph on Find a Grave
- Lamb, Joseph: sheet music for international music score library project