They All Played Ragtime - The True Story of an American Music

by Rudi Blesh

Blesh published They All Played Ragtime as first major scholarly work on ragtime music in 1950, which sparked a ragtime revival. He founded Circle Records in 1946, which recorded new material from aging early jazz musicians as well as the Library of Congress recordings of Jelly Roll Morton. He sparked renewed interest in the music of Joseph Lamb, James P. Johnson, and Eubie Blake, among others.

Genres: Music, Jazz, Nonfiction

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[Rene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a novel, it is a reference book. It describes the development of ragtime music. However, the book is so filled of facts that it is difficult to read.
Nevertheless there is hardly a fact about Ragtime music that cannot be found in this book. It contains a vaste reference section with literature and music references at the end. Of course this secion is dated, the book being from 1971. 
All this put together I give it three stars in 2014. It still is the standard work on this music, after all.

[Djll · Rating 5 out of 5]

In some respects this book is pretty out of date, being based on research done in the 1930s-1950s. But precisely for that same reason, it captures voices of musicians far beyond the reach of today's historians. A wholly sympathetic portrait of the composers and piano-players who created ragtime and the mass-market industry that sprang up around them.

[Dan Souvigny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great tribute to America's greatest music.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting... lots of detail on the early ragtime players.