- Max Morath
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Max Morath Born October 1, 1926
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United StatesGenres Ragtime Occupations Pianist, composer, actor, author Instruments Piano Years active 1940s–present Labels Vanguard, various Max Morath (born October 1, 1926) is an American ragtime pianist, composer, actor and author. He is best known for his piano playing, and is referred to as "Mr. Ragtime". He has been a devoted and prolific performer, writing several plays and productions, as well as being variously a recording artist, actor and radio and television presenter.[1] Rudi Blesh billed Morath as a "one-man ragtime army".[2]
Contents
Life and career
Max Morath was born October 1, 1926 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[1] He studied piano and harmony as a child and was exposed to the rudiments of ragtime piano by his mother, a schooled pianist who had also spent several years playing for silent films.[2] He received a Bachelor's degree in English from Colorado College in 1948, before embarking on a varied career that included jobs in radio and television, jazz, and theatre. His appearances as pianist and musical director with melodrama companies in Cripple Creek and Durango, Colorado triggered his interest in early American popular music and theatre, including a study of its social and economic history, largely inspired by George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and his ragtime heroes Eubie Blake and Scott Joplin.[1] The success of those theatrical endeavors led to Morath's first professional recordings.
During 1959-1961 Morath wrote, performed, and co-produced twenty-six half-hour TV programs for PBS, then NET (National Educational Television). The programs were produced by Channel Six, Denver, and were fed nationally to the infant public broadcasting network. The Ragtime Era series showcased the development of the music of that period. It was followed by the Turn of the Century series, which dealt with popular music’s interaction with the nation's social history. The productions are now considered genre classics and were in syndication throughout the 1960s.[2] [1] In addition to his landmark television series, Morath made many later contributions to NPR and PBS.[1] He also appeared on a number of commercial television programs including The Bell Telephone Hour, Today and Tonight. Further, from 1965 to 1972 he was a regular guest of Arthur Godfrey on CBS Radio, and he appeared often with Godfrey in television guest appearances.[2]
Moving from Colorado to New York around 1963, Morath was by then performing nationally in college concerts and nightclubs, including New York's Blue Angel and the Village Vanguard with his Original Rag Quartet.[2] His one-man show Max Morath at the Turn of the Century, was a critical success Off-Broadway at the Jan Hus Playhouse in 1969, followed by a four-year national tour.[1][2] Other similar productions followed: The Ragtime Years, Living a Ragtime Life, The Ragtime Man, Ragtime Revisited, Ragtime and Again. These productions also toured nationally following Off-Broadway openings.[1] Morath continued touring until 2007.
Returning to academia, Morath earned a Master's degree from Columbia University in 1996 in American Studies. His thesis was based on the life and work of songwriter Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946), composer of I Love You Truly and other popular songs. Morath's extensive research on her and her times later led to his writing a biographical novel about Jacobs-Bond told in her voice (iUniverse, 2008). [1] He also wrote The NPR Curious Listener's Guide To Popular Standards. Among his other published works are the essay “Ragtime Then and Now” in The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Oxford 2000), and various music folios over the years for The Richmond Organization (TRO), Edw. B. Marks Music, G. Schirmer, Mel Bay, and Cherry Lane. Morath co-created a coffee-table photo book of his experiences on the road titled Max Morath: The Road To Ragtime and also wrote a musical play based on the writings of humorist Finley Peter Dunne titled Trust Everybody...But Cut The Cards. He published an academic article on Dunne as well. Another of Morath's theatrical efforts was One For The Road, a serio-comic exploration of America's socio-cultural dealings with drugs and alcohol. His 2005 CD by that name is not the show's score, but does include a single number from it.
His recorded legacy is enviable for its duration and high calibre. After recording a handful of albums in the then-popular "Honky Tonk" style he found his artistic footing in a number of notable albums, primarily for Vanguard but also for Epic, Solo Art and RCA. These include solo piano and vocal albums, performances with his highly esteemed Original Rag Quartet (which at one time included Felix Pappalardi and James Tyler) and orchestral works under such conductor-arrangers as Manny Albam, Ray Wright, and Fred Karlin.[2] He has also recorded much lauded vocal albums with the team of William Bolcom and Joan Morris. Morath's 1969 album At The Turn of the Century encapsulated the essence of his television series and live shows and helped usher in the 1970s ragtime revival. Significant albums followed, including Jonah Man, Ragtime Women, and The Great American Piano Bench, each of which pushed beyond the then-current focus on Scott Joplin. His 1992 album Ragtime Man includes his own composition "Cripple Creek Suite", capturing the moods of the region's gold rush days in a musical tableau. Morath also composed and recorded several of his own rags over the years.
Morath's work in the 1960s helped lay the groundwork for the 1970s ragtime revival and had a huge influence on how it was constituted.[1] Commenting on the significance of ragtime, Morath stated, "Scorned by the establishment as ephemeral at best, trashy at worst, ragtime was the fountainhead of every rhythmic and stylistic upheaval that has followed in a century of ever-evolving American popular music."[3]
Partial bibliography
- Best of Ragtime Piano. Mel Bay Productions. 1987. ISBN 0786681373.
- Max Morath: The Road To Ragtime. Donning Co. Publishers. 1999. ISBN 978-1578640683.
- The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Popular Standards. Penguin-Perigee Trade. 2002. ISBN 978-0399527449.
- Original Rags for Piano. Hal Leonard. 2008. ISBN 978-1423458166.
- I Love You Truly: A Biographical Novel. iUniverse. 2008. ISBN 978-0595530175.
Partial discography
Albums
Year Title Record label 1957 Max Morath At The Mighty Gold Bar Piano Gold Camp 1959 Honky Tonk In Hi-Fi Gold Camp 1960 Music For Moochers, Gold Diggers, and Cattle Rustlers Barbary Coast 1963 Presenting That Celebrated Maestro Epic 1964 Oh, Play That Thing: The Ragtime Era Epic 1969 Max Morath At The Turn of The Century RCA-Victor 1972 Max Morath Plays the Best of Scott Joplin & Other Rag Classics Vanguard 1973 The World of Scott Joplin Vanguard 1974 Irving Berlin: The Ragtime Years Vanguard 1975 Max Morath Plays Ragtime Vanguard 1975 Good Friends Are for Keeps (with other performers) Bell System/United Artists 1976 The World of Scott Joplin, Volume 2 Vanguard 1976 Jonah Man: A Tribute To Bert Williams (1996 CD release adds 4 tracks from Morath's 1981 album) Vanguard 1977 Living The Ragtime Life (Not to be confused with similarly titled later release) Vanguard 1977 The Ragtime Women Vanguard 1978 These Charming People (with Bolcom & Morris) RCA-Red Seal 1978 Don't Give the Name A Bad Place (with other performers) New World Records 1979 Max Morath In Jazz Country Vanguard 1979 The Great American Piano Bench Vanguard 1981 Max Morath & His Ragtime Stompers Vanguard 1983 More Rodgers and Hart (with Bolcom & Morris) RCA 1987 Living A Ragtime Life (1990 SoloArt CD version contains additional tracks and is resequenced) Normacks 1991 The Ragtime Century PianoMania Music Publishing 1992 The Ragtime Man Omega Music 1994 Fountain Favorites From the World of Coca-Cola (with Bolcom & Morris) Coke 1995 Drugstore Cabaret (Prepared in 1991) Premier 1995 Real American Folk Songs Solo Art 2003 Sing Yip Harburg (with Bolcom & Morris) Original Cast 2004 Sing Gus Kahn (with Bolcom & Morris) Original Cast 2005 One For The Road Skomax See also
- List of ragtime composers
- List of people from Colorado Springs, Colorado
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Biography by Al Campbell". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p11239/biography. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Oleg Mezjuev (1996). "Max Morath". Biography. Ragtime.nu. http://www.ragtime.nu/morath.htm. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
- ^ Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 122. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
- ^ "Allmusic ((( Max Morath > Discography > Main Albums )))". http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p11239/discography.
External links
Categories:- 1926 births
- Living people
- American classical composers
- American jazz pianists
- American classical musicians
- American television personalities
- American dramatists and playwrights
- Writers from Colorado
- Radio personalities from Colorado
- Actors from Colorado
- Songwriters from Colorado
- Musicians from Colorado
- People from Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Ragtime composers
- 20th-century classical composers
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