Ragtime music — a blend of European styles and African American rhythms considered the forerunner of jazz — has found an unlikely home in Durango, Colo. For nearly 70 years, the Diamond Bell Saloon at the historic Strater Hotel has featured live ragtime piano, making it one of the only venues in the country where audiences can hear the music performed regularly. A pianist who holds a master’s degree in historical musicology from the Peabody Conservatory plays up to six nights a week on an 1902 upright grand piano, calling the experience “time travel” for audiences.
Now, that same musician has launched the Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival, now in its second year as a nonprofit. The festival brings approximately seven of the country’s top ragtime and early jazz musicians to Durango each year, with the goal of preserving the music and introducing it to new audiences. Organizers say Durango’s size, rich ragtime history and the Strater Hotel — built during the ragtime era — make it an ideal home for the festival. For more information, visit durangoragtime.com.
Transcript
You know, there’s, there’s kind of a responsibility, an important job, I guess you could say, to make people happy. That’s, I think that’s the whole point of my career.
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This goes back to when I was 10 years old and I heard Maple Leaf Rag online, and I told my mother, I said, rag time, what is that? And I just loved it. Rag time is the first truly original American music. It’s a combination of European styles, African American rhythms, and the melting pot that is the United States. And so that’s one of the reasons I really love it. I just like the sound of it. It’s, it’s in between classical music and folk music. It, it really has no exact place except as a precursor to jazz. And sadly, it is usually rel relegated to a footnote in jazz history. Well, Durango’s one of the only places in the country with any history of ragtime music, with the possible exception of Sedalia Missouri, where Scott Joplin lived. But the Diamond Bell Saloon in the Strater Hotel opened in 1957. It is a recreation of a historic saloon, and they’ve had live ragtime piano players in the saloon every year since next year it’ll be 70 years. And so this is one of the only places in the country you can go to hear this music on a regular basis. In the summer, I’m off, often playing six nights a week. The audiences these days, I think they’re surprised to hear this music because it’s unusual, but it usually catches their attention. And they’re amazed by this historic music and the sound coming out of a beautiful 1902 upright grand piano, which you, you really, you don’t walk into restaurants or bars anymore that have pianos at all. If they have anything, they’ll have an electric keyboard, which I refuse to play. It’s awful. It does not give the right sound and aura that you would’ve heard at the turn of the century. I appreciate it. I and Lucy, no, I don’t know. It’s too modern. You have to think of old jazz standards and things like that. 1964, no, no, no. We’re talking 1920s pal. Oh, sorry, sorry. But thank you, man. That’s the whole point of what I do, is to create a time travel experience for the audience. Music is like a time machine for me. Of course. Yeah. I’ve gotten to where I play some newer tunes, and by that I mean from the fifties so that the audience can relate to what I’m doing. But yeah, that’s, that’s really part of the goal is to take people back in time. I do have a big following here in Durango, but not just here in Durango. I mean, at music festivals all over the country where I work, there are fans of this music who travel around the world specifically to listen to the great ragtime and jazz musicians. And Marie is 90 years old and has sat by the piano almost every single night I’ve played for the last six years.
Casey Jones.
Oh, you’re just naming all the train songs I played last week. Well, okay. I’ll do one more
Every time he’s here. I’m here. I love the music so much. I love that. I grew up in the forties and I loved all the good, the big band and the beautiful music way back then. And he plays beautiful music and I love it so much.
So I started the Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival. This is now only the second year as a nonprofit organization. So most of the music festivals where I work are all nonprofits. It’s not really about making money. It’s about preserving this music and presenting it to a new audience. And we have about seven musicians coming from all over the country to Durango the very best in their field. I’ve always felt that Durango was the best place for one of these. It’s the perfect size town. You have this remarkable history of ragtime at the Diamond Bell Saloon. You have a hotel built in the Ragtime era. That was the heyday for this music. You know, for a long time I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to make a living doing this. And I, I ended up going to graduate school. I got a master’s degree in historical musicology from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. And after that, I, I quit on the PhD. I said, I don’t like the academic route. I really didn’t. So I just started trying to book every gig I can. And so far it’s working pretty well. I’m, I’m, I’m much happier playing for people than sitting behind a desk. And like I say, this is a, this is a wonderful place, not, not a bad place to call home.
For more information, visit durangoragtime.com and for more stories like this, visit the localnews.us
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