C.W. Post Professor Releases New Ragtime CD
Six decades of ragtime music are brought together for an historical retrospective
in the newly released CD, Ragtime: The Way It Was (1896-1958). It was produced
by David Jasen, a resident of Flushing and professor of Communication Arts
at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Brookville. The double
CD features the sound of ragtime greats Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake and Zez
Confrey and consists of 53 ragtime selections in a total of 144 minutes
of music.
Jasen says he has been hooked on ragtime since he was 12 years old. "I
heard it on the radio and that was it. It was love at first hearing."
A performer and composer of ragtime for more than 30 years now, Jasen has
produced three other CD's including They All Played the Maple Leaf Rag and
Zez Confrey Plays Zez Confrey. Jasen also is a distinguished historian who
published Recorded Ragtime, 1897-1958, the first major discography dealing
with ragtime on 78 rpm. He co-authored Rags and Ragtime, the most comprehensive
history describing the evolution of this native American music and the contribution
made by its composers. He has edited the largest ragtime folio, 100 Authentic
Rags, which contains rare and important ragtime tunes covering the entire
spectrum of this music style.
Jasen, who was the founder of the Communication Arts Department at C.W.
Post, also serves as director of the Popular Music Archives, one of the
largest collections of popular music and one of the few collections of its
kind. Jasen recently received one of Long Island University's highest honors,
the Trustees Award for Scholarly Achievement, for his part in the rebirth
and recording of ragtime music.
To order the double CD Ragtime: The Way It Was (1896-1958) for $35.95,
contact Archive Productions, 245 East Beverly Parkway, Valley Stream, NY
11580-4733, (516) 872-0596 or visit the web site at http://www.raveny.com/archiveproductions.htm
For more information call the C.W. Post Public
Relations Office at (516) 299-2333 or e-mail cwpostpr@aurora.liunet.edu | 
