Henry Ragas (January 1, 1891 – February 18, 1919) was a jazz pianist who played with the Original Dixieland Jass Band on their earliest recording sessions. As such, he is the very first jazz pianist to be recorded (not counting piano rolls), although his contributions are barely audible due to the primitive recording equipment available. His role seems to have been filling out the chords and providing a bass line. He did not play solos on the recordings. He played on many Original Dixieland Jass Band classics and standards such as "Livery Stable Blues", regarded as the first jazz recording, "Tiger Rag", pne of the most recorded songs in jazz history, "Clarinet Marmalade", "Fidgety Feet", "At the Jazz Band Ball", "Sensation", "Bluin' the Blues", and "Dixie Jass Band One-Step". He died of Spanish Flu in 1919, his place in the group being taken by ragtime and jazz pianist and composer J. Russel Robinson.
Henry Ragas was a pioneering jazz pianist who was influential on later jazz bands that emerged in the 1930s and 1920s. "Tiger Rag" and "Clarinet Marmalade" were among the most important and most influential jazz recordings of all-time.
External links
- Wilbur Sweatman's Original Jazz Band "Bluin' the Blues" (December 1918) at the Internet Archive
Compositions by Henry Ragas
Henry Ragas composed the jazz standards "Bluin' the Blues", "Lazy Daddy", "Dixieland Jass Band One-Step", "Clarinet Marmalade Blues", and "Reisenweber Rag".
Honors
In 2006, his 1917 recording of "Darktown Strutter's Ball" with the Original Dixieland Jass Band was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
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