Search - Paragon Ragtime Orchestra :: You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan
Genres: Special Interest, Pop, Classical, Broadway & Vocalists

Track Listings (15) - Disc #1
1. There's Only One Little Girl for Me
2. The Yankee Doodle Boy
3. Overture to The Talk of New York
4. Geo. M. Cohan's Rag
5. The Eyes of Youth See the Truth
6. March Medley from George Washington, Jr., Introducing You re a Grand Old Rag and "Ethel Levey s Virginia Song"
7. Harrigan
8. Selection from The Man Who Owns Broadway
9. Mary s A Grand Old Name
10. Give My Regards to Broadway
11. Popularity
12. That Haunting Melody
13. Overture to Little Nellie Kelly
14. Over There
15. George M. Cohan speech

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CD Details

All Artists: Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
Title: You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: New World Records
Release Date: 11/3/2008
Genres: Special Interest, Pop, Classical, Broadway & Vocalists
Styles: Vocal Pop, Symphonies, Musicals
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 093228068525

Synopsis

Product Description

Historians have long viewed George M. Cohan as one of the most important figures in the evolution of the American musical theater. Yet his successes as a performer and impresario have greatly overshadowed his equally impressive influence as a composer of some of this country's most popular music; to date, little research has been presented regarding Cohan's work as a composer and lyricist. His songs such as "Over There," "You're A Grand Old Rag," and "Give My Regards to Broadway" are still so widely known that there is a general assumption that Cohan's artistic output and cultural significance has been thoroughly documented. But it has not. While his Broadway contemporaries stuck with the formulas of European operetta, Cohan blazed the path for modern American musical comedy using syncopation to advance his stories. His raggy tunes and slangy lyrics injected a new sense of vitality, brashness, and informality to the American stage, creating a stylistic model adopted (and amplified) by later "Golden Age" figures such as Kern and Gershwin. This recording presents a fresh and compelling look at the music of Cohan using original period orchestrations (most of which have never before been recorded), played with authentic style on vintage instruments. Its intent is to sweep away the commonly held (and largely incorrect) "perceptions" of Cohan's work by presenting it exactly as his contemporaries first heard in the early 1900s. The program comprises a mixture of songs: "That Haunting Melody," "The Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Eyes of Youth," "Harrigan," and "Over There,"; and selected instrumentals: "Geo. M. Cohan's Rag," "You're a Grand Old Rag," "There's Only One Little Girl for Me," "Popularity"; and the overtures to The Talk of New York, The Man Who Owns Broadway, and Little Nellie Kelly. Included is a forty page booklet with history, analysis, photos, and newly surfaced first-hand accounts by Cohan's orchestrator and conductor, Mayhew Lake.

CD Reviews

Spectacular Presentation of Cohan's Music

George Moore | New Jersey United States | 03/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The always delightful Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has again produced a fine album. Their approach to Cohan's music indeed has the right feel. It is without question a joy to hear.

Bernadette Boerckel contributes her fine voice to the entertainment, and one regrets not hearing her sing "Ethel Levey's Virginia Song." (Ethel herself can be heard singing it under it's more common title, "I Was Born in Virginia," in "Music from the New York Stage 1890-1920, Vol. 1: 1890-1908)." Her take on "That Haunting Melody" makes a nice contrast to the 1911 Jolson recording of the same number.

Let us also put in a good word for Judith Sherman's production.

The liner notes devote some time to the difficulty the Paragons had in finding someone who could give the impression of Cohan's singing. (Note, not "do an impression," but "give the impression of"). Unfortunately, there are few extant examples of Cohan's singing to use as models, but one may be found right here on Amazon - "Carousel Of American Music: The Fabled 24 September 1940 San Francisco Concerts," a transcription of a 1940 show put together for the San Francisco World's Fair by Gene Buck. Second to closing, the headliner's spot in a Vaudeville bill, was George M. Cohan.

Listening to Cohan sing a chorus each of (and, in the case of the last number, probably dance to), "Give My Regards to Broadway," "The Yankee Doodle Boy," and "Grand Old Flag" is a revelation, and an interesting contrast to Mr. Pritchard. I believe the band in San Francisco may have been playing something akin to the original arrangements -- the show was a one-shot, hastily put together. The liner notes say only that the musicians were "members of the San Francisco Symphony," but they sound like a larger aggregation than this Paragon recording. What comes through loud and clear in both efforts, though, is Cohan's music.

Interestingly, Cohan himself seems to like to get a little ahead of the orchestra. However, his attack, his energy, and his sincerity are his and his alone. These do not come across in the Paragon disc, and in my opinion, its only weak point.

Buy the album. The music is wonderful.

"

A grand old time...

E. D. Deuss | Phoenix, AZ | 02/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What's to say about CD of music by George M. Cohan? The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra does an outstanding job of recreating the music of Cohan, and Colin Pritchard is very good singing as Cohan. This CD should be a must-buy for any citizen who feels the least bit patriotic. What tops off this CD is a six minute speech by Cohan himself in 1938.(The speech recording is flawless, as though it were made yesterday!) I highly recommend this CD: you will get your money's worth and have a fine old time!"