4 Days in Sedalia: A Musical Revelation
For four days the world takes on a different hue in Sedalia.
Yes, Sedalia, Missouri, that storied town at the intersection of US 50 and US 65, between Smithton and Dresden. Never heard of those? How about between Georgetown and Spring Fork? Still don’t know? Try in the vicinity of Kansas City and Springfield. About a 3-hour-drive from St. Louis, headed west.
One more category about Sedalia: its history is entwined with the railroads, as in the KATY, and cattle drives and slaughter houses and a rough, hard-living population of workers and gamblers, which of course made it the center of various vices, especially prostitution. Sedalia has a certain civic pride in the large number of “houses of ill repute”that were there. Many of the houses still stand. If only those walls could talk. Or maybe best if they don’t. In 1877, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called it “the Sodom and Gomorrah of the nineteenth century.” That sounds more interesting than “First in shoes, first in booze, and last in the American League.” (RIP, the St. Louis Browns)
Here’s the focus of this history lesson: Scott Joplin. He of Ragtime fame. Scott moved to Sedalia in 1894, where he played and taught piano, and composed rags - most famously the Maple Leaf Rag but dozens of others. In 1901 in moved to St. Louis. His house on Delmar Blvd. just west of Jefferson Avenue not only still stands but is the site today of monthly ragtime concerts in the attached Rosebud Cafe, thanks to the efforts of T.J. Muller, who lives in St. Louis.
Okay. Enough history.
What I want to talk about is the music we heard at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival. For the record, the first festival was held in 1974. That was back in the days of ragtime greats like Max Morath, Trevor Tichenor, Eubie Blake, Rudi Blesh, Bob Darch, Wally Rose, William Bolcom. These may just be names to you, but they represent a treasury of ragtime history. And they all appeared at the festival in Sedalia. (Google or ChatGPT).
I love ragtime music, in its many forms. It’s my mother’s fault. She played rags on a baby grand piano. Usually a Scott Joplin rag. Famous musicians played on that piano: Frankie Carle, Ralph Sutton, Jack Fina. (Google or ChatGPT those guys. Impressive).
Again I digress. Sedalia. A gathering of forty or fifty of the most incredible musicians, most of them piano players. Four days, morning until 5, evening concerts and performances in the Liberty Center theater. I’ve thought about listing my favorite players there, but am unable to cull the line-up. One name I must mention though: Joshua Rifkin. He was there. Now in his 80’s, Joshua was largely responsible for Joplin’s ragtime songs to be used in “The Sting,” the movie with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Rifkin, and that movie, created a national craze for ragtime, Joplin in particular. Listen to Rifkin’s soulful rendition of “Bethena,” one of Joplin’s few waltzes. It’s available on YouTube and Spotify.
We stayed at the historic Bothwell Hotel, one short block from the music stages. This is the kind of place that gives “old hotels” a good name. It opened in 1927. The Bothwell has gone through changes over the decades and, today, is an example of elegance, comfort, and personal service. The hotel’s biggest claim to fame may be as the place where Harry Truman was staying in 1934 when he was notified that he was selected to run for the U. S. Senate.
About the music in Sedalia: From Wednesday evening until Saturday night, we heard an incredible display of musical excellence - mainly piano players, but also trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, drums, banjo, Miss Jubilee singing and strutting, and even xylophone and accordion. But the emphasis was definitely on piano. The styles included boogie-woogie, blues, stride piano, and of course, ragtime. With variations of styles and interpretations. The stage in the Liberty Center Theater was dominated by a Yamaha full concert-grand piano. It’s not often you see and hear one of these. There was also a regular grand piano facing it.
If you want to know more about the festival, and may have an inclination that you’d want to go next year, check out their website. https://www.scottjoplin.org
So why am I writing this piece? To remind myself, and anyone who looks for what life has to offer, that music has the power to bring us together, to heal, to elevate us, to make us “feel” as well as “think,” to appreciate the many forms and interpretations inherent in a mere twelve notes. If I were religious, and wanted to add an eleventh commandment, I’d add “You shall listen and hear.” And I’d put it near the top of that list. Listen with your ears, your mind, your memory, your heart. And go one step further: Hear. Will this bring world peace? Probably not. I don’t believe we’ll ever get there. But we can make our lives more fulfilling if we take the time to Listen and, especially, to Hear.
A vital ingredient in this formula is the musicians. I had almost forgotten how powerful it is to see so many artists standing side by side on the stage, smiling, joyful, transcendent.
It happened in Sedalia. I was there. And it still resonates within me.
SPECIAL OFFER: If you’ve made it this far, and want to read more about the music, the musicians and the Scott Joplin legacy, I have a dozen extra programs I’d be happy to mail to you. Each one is 48 pages. Just send me your mailing address. No charge, of course.