Author Description

Scott Joplin and the Ragtime Era tells the story of this great composer and of his place in the history of American popular music. It explains the roots, form, and feeling of ragtime, its second-cousin relationship to jazz, its influence on the popular and classical music that followed it, and Tin Pan Alley's influence on it. The book paints a vivid picture of Joplin and his times, of St Louis saloons and New York music publishing houses, of the cakewalk and the concert hall, and of the frustrated composer's efforts on behalf of his ill-fated ragtime opera Treemonisha. Peter Gammond has written a biography, popular history, and musical sourcebook all in one--an essential introduction to an essential era in American popular culture.,