CABBAGE-LEAF RAG - A RICH TWO-STEP (COPELAND, 1909)

Описание: Ten years after Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” was published in 1899, pianist Les Copeland published his own “Cabbage-Leaf Rag.” While “Maple Leaf Rag” codified the style, motifs, and ethos of the Missouri school of ragtime, “Cabbage-Leaf Rag” is the first in a series of sui generis rags by Copeland. Jasen and Tichenor, in their book “Rags and Ragtime”, claim that Copeland composed in an “archaic style of the itinerants of fifteen years earlier.” This may be the case, but as an avid consumer of ragtime scores, I’ve never found Copeland’s music to sound at all old-fashioned or older than the music it was published alongside (except for perhaps “Ivoryland” from 1925). Instead, Copeland has his own vital and idiosyncratic unique pianistic devices that he favored. In many cases, the cumulative effect of these devices is forward thinking. In the introduction to his 1932 songbook, George Gershwin name drops Les Copeland as one of the innovators whose contributions influenced the American style of popular piano playing.

I first heard it performed by pianist Shirley Case – who for many years was a regular pianist at the West Coast Ragtime Festival, Orange County Rag Fest, and Rose Leaf Ragtime Club. I found myself immediately drawn to the triplets, slurs, and catchy melodies. As a result of its inclusion in Trebor Tichenor’s “Ragtime Rediscoveries – 64 Works from the Golden Age of Rag”, “Cabbage-Leaf Rag” was one of the most accessible Copeland pieces at the time and it was the first Copeland piece I learned. By contrast, the original score – which was published by Marsh & Needles out of Wichita, Kansas – is quite a rarity and a copy is missing from my collection. If you have a copy that you’d be willing to sell, please reach out to me, as I have a modest collection of Les Copeland’s original music and pay handsomely for sheets in good condition.