Dan Jacobs: Music

MAPLE LEAF RAG - piano performance by dan jacobs in 1988

(Dan Jacobs)

1998-03-08

This is Dan playing piano on Scott Joplin's famous composition, "Maple Leaf Rag" published in 1899.

With this tune, Joplin gave ragtime its finest expression. And with the Maple Leaf Rag (named for a Sedalia, Missouri social club), he gave the genre its iconic masterpiece. It was also ragtime's biggest hit. The phenomenal success of the Maple Leaf Rag sparked a nationwide ragtime craze.

This recording was done in 1988, but Dan first learned this tune by mimicing the keys being automatically played by an old "player piano" in 1960. (lovingly restored by Wilbur Jacobs)

It is included on this site as a tribute in rememberance of Loretta Jacobs, a wonderfully enthusiastic pianist who also loved and played this tune.

Note: a "player piano" is a type of piano that plays music automatically without the need for a human pianist. Instead, the keys are struck by mechanical or pneumatic means when you push the pedals with your feet.