Vol. 2 [Import]

The St. Louis Ragtimers came together as a group in 1961. As of this review (2011), they're still going -- still performing and still recording.

The basic four St. Louis Ragtimers are Don Franz, the tuba player; Al Stricker, the banjo player, who also does the vocals; Bill Mason, who plays the trumpet; and Trebor Tichenor, the piano player. Trebor Tichenor is the best-known musician outside the group, familiar to many for his ragtime recordings, his published collections of rags. and his writings about ragtime (including one of the very few good books, Rags and Ragtimers, with David Jasen).

These guys really are good. They are expert on their instruments; they meld well together (not surprising, since they've been playing together for 40 years); and they make a wide range of music interesting. The repertoire includes a rag or two (including on this album the Chestnut Valley Rag, a terrific rag written by Tichenor), tunes made famous on recordings by Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, old popular tunes, cakewalks, the odd political campaign song, and some purely camp stuff ("When Ragtime Rosie Ragged the Rosary") which they deliver with straight faces very successfully.

Between the liner notes and Al Stricker's comments introducing some of the numbers, the listener learns a lot about the music.

I have reviewed this particular album because it's my favorite. But they're all good.