Joseph F. Lamb: Select Works (Rags, Songs & Solos)

Born on December 6th, 1887 in Montclair New Jersey as seemingly your everyday “blue collar“ man, Lamb would become a unlikely giant of Ragtime, becoming the third of the “Three Kings of Ragtime“ itself. Teaching himself how to play the piano as a young boy with the help of his sisters and those around him, he had developed a special liking to the early works of Scott Joplin, inspiring him to create characteristic rags of his own. After leaving home in 1904 and beginning work at a dry goods company in New York, he had occasionally paid visit to the fairly new office of music publisher John Stark after he had open it’s doors in 1905. From there, he would regularly purchase music and on occasion search for Joplin’s own works. Fortunately enough, Lamb had unknowingly run into the King of Ragtime himself in 1907 during a visit to Stark’s office where he was picking through Joplin’s latest works. As Lamb described on his 1959 interview with Mike Montgomery, he had met Joplin in Stark’s office sitting around with his leg wrapped in a cast after Mrs. Stark had revealed to him who he was. After meeting and greeting his famed idol, Lamb had later on down the line arranged to introduce some of his own compositions to Joplin including his “Sensation“ rag, played at Joplin’s home with a group of his friends. After Lamb had finished his presentation of “Sensation,“ his career and legacy was finally sealed with Joplin describing the piece “like good Negro ragtime“ and arranging it to be published by John Stark. From there just as with James Scott, Lamb became a regular recipient to the Stark catalog. Yet as for Lamb, he never truly saw himself as a professional pianist and atoned to composing only as a hobby instead of a actual career. And so retiring from full on publishing his works in 1919, he continued on with his life working as a music arranger & imports manager, essentially disappearing from the public eye from then on as Jazz and new forms of music and began to overtake Ragtime. Couple of years down the line and during the Ragtime Revival of the 50s, word and rumors of Lamb still being alive and well in New York had spurred ragtime enthusiasts such as Mike Montgomery to locate and meet with the Ragtime Giant. And from there and as mentioned earlier, Lamb was able to be interviewed about his reflections on the Ragtime Era, be recorded playing his own compositions, and even release his older archived that works that previously haven’t been published along with write some newer compositions. *Biography is continued in the pinned comment below.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Timestamps:* 0:00:00 - Mignonne (1901) 0:04:07 - Walper House Rag (1903) 0:06:52 - Lorne Scots on Parade (1904) 0:10:24 - My Queen of Zanzibar (1904) 0:13:23 - Ragged Rapids Rag (1905) 0:16:20 - Red Feather - March (1906) 0:19:09 - Sensation Rag (1908) 0:21:44 - Gee, Kid! But I Like You (1909) 0:24:20 - Ethiopia Rag (1909) 0:28:32 - Excelsior Rag (1909) 0:31:45 - Champagne Rag (1910) 0:35:23 - Spanish Fly (1912) 0:37:51 - American Beauty Rag (1913) 0:41:26 - I Want to Be a Bird-Man (1913) 0:43:46 - I’ll Follow the Crowd to Coney (1913) 0:46:54 - Chasin’ the Chippies (1914) 0:50:34 - Contentment Rag (1915) 0:53:08 - Nightingale Rag/Ragtime Nightingale (1915) 0:57:01 - Cleopatra Rag (1915) 0:59:41 - Reindeer Ragtime Two-Step (1915) 1:02:44 - Top Liner Rag (1916) 1:06:37 - Patricia Rag (1916) 1:09:51 - Bohemia Rag (1919) 1:13:06 - Brown Derby No. 2 (c. 1959) 1:18:11 - Alaskan Rag (c. 1959) 1:23:05 - Beehive Rag (c. 1959) 1:26:55 - Jersey Rag (c. 1959) 1:30:31 - Greased Lightening Rag (c. 1907/1959) 1:34:14 - Rapid Transit (c. 1907/1959) 1:37:26 - Ragtime Special (c. 1908/1959) 1:40:00 - Joe Lamb’s Old Rag (c. 1908/1959) 1:43:19 - Bird-Brain Rag (1964) 1:46:33 - Cottontail Rag (1964) 1:51:28 - Firefly Rag (1964) 1:54:44 - Hot Cinders (1964) 1:56:37 - Ragtime Bobolink (1964) 2:01:58 - Toad Stool Rag (1964) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music composed by Joseph F. Lamb & performed by Guido Nielsen with his album “Joseph Lamb: The Complete Stark Rags,“ Sue Keller with her album “Little Lost Lamb“ also providing song vocals, Scott Kirby with his album “Grace and Beauty: Ragtime Classics,“ Virginia Eskin with her album “American Beauties: The Rags of Joseph Lamb,“ Reginald Robinson with his album “Euphonic Sounds“ and Morten Larsen. This video is solely for the purposes of compiling and sharing the music of Joseph F. Lamb and in no way or means is being used for monetary purposes.