COMPACT DISC REVIEW By Jack Rummel

Live in Concert

Tom Brier, piano

CD-112 (No label)

New Era Rag / Scott Joplin’s New Rag / Sponge / Cotton States Rag / Colorado Blues / Red Rambler Rag / The Raggy Fox Trot / Rubber Plant Rag / Georgia Grind / The Cakewalk at Boomblestein’s Ball / Fizz Water / Something Doing / Reindeer / Sleepy Hollow Rag / Ham And! / Nifty Nonsense / The Bunny Hug Rag / Angel Food Rag / Hot-House Rag / Maple Leaf Rag / Impecunious Davis / Ma Rag Time Baby / Texas Fox Trot / Hyacinth Rag / The Lion Tamer Rag.

     The contents of this disc were selected from live recordings made during 2011-2015 concerts by Tom Brier in Virginia and California.  The concept, however, arose prior to his scheduled tour of Australia and New Zealand and the CD was actually produced in Australia to be sold at his concerts there.  We here in America are now the lucky beneficiaries of this decision.

     Absent from this recording are any compositions by Brier, an approach used only one other time on his many previous discs.  Instead, he has chosen works from 1898-1919, truly ragtime’s “Golden Years.”  (Note: Its original Australian title was “Vintage Ragtime,” an apt description indeed.)

     It is Vintage Brier as well, for all of the speed and power we’ve come to expect from him is there in full, but interspersed with a few slower cuts for needed contrast.  True to form, he opens each piece as per the printed score, but as he progresses he adds further interest: blank spaces in the treble get filled with various filigrees, while the bass is peppered with his patented octave runs as if shot from an AK-47. Voila!  A modestly-voiced rag becomes a keyboard showpiece.  It works every time and Brier is the master of it.

     There are no losers here, but a few deserve special mention.  Nifty Nonsense (Charley Straight) makes its first recorded appearance outside of a rare piano roll.  It’s nice to see Cotton States Rag (Annie Ford McKnight), The Raggy Fox Trot (Laurence Goffin) and Colorado Blues (Euday Bowman), all worthy compositions, get additional exposure.  And in Brier’s hands, the two slower numbers, Georgia Grind (Ford Dabney) and Texas Foxtrot (David Guion) don’t take a back seat to any of the faster ones.

     The CD is packed to its 80-minute capacity with great music and Brier’s liner notes are filled with both information and opinion. Because the rags were drawn from three separate recording sessions in different locations, the sound quality varies a bit.  The first 11 cuts are a bit more muted than the latter 14 cuts, but the difference is not distracting.  Tom Brier is always in top form, as this disc amply demonstrates.  Recommended.

     The CD sells for $15.00 plus shipping when applicable.  (Note: As many of our readers know, Tom Brier was involved in a serious automobile accident on August 6, 2016 and is recovering, albeit slowly, in a care facility.  His recent recordings will be for sale at the West Coast Ragtime Festival, November 18-20, 2016 and are also available at <www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TomBrier>.)