Maple Leaf Rag Day 2015

Time to jam the “Maple Leaf Rag” in tribute to Scott Joplin who wanted it played at his funeral on this day in 1917, though it never was, as explained in our 2012 post when we started this Maple Leaf Rag Day tradition.

This year’s featured performers are Tom Brier and Mimi Blais. Here’s Tom playing the Maple Leaf Rag in A, G, B, and accepting a challenge to play it as a waltz in B:

In “Three Pianos on Fire,” Tom Brier is joined by Patrick Aranda and Frederick Hodges at the Sutter Creek Ragtime festival in 2009, where they all join together to play the Maple Leaf Rag at a blazing speed (as many players do, despite the composer’s wishes to not play ragtime too fast…).

Next up, Mimi Blais (a.k.a. Queen of Ragtime) does a medley of Scott Joplin compositions in an Amsterdam performance in 2014, finishing with a Mozart-esque rendition of the Maple Leaf Rag dubbed “Maple Leaf Ragadeus” (starting at 5:35 in the following video):

For longer version of her Scott Joplin medley that includes additional numbers, see this video of Mimi’s performance from 2008.

So cheers to Scott Joplin, King of Ragtime composers, and a hearty Maple Leaf Rag Day cheer to all who appreciate his enduring musical contribution!

Vive la Ragtime! 🙂