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Our brand new CD!  Raggin’ at Greenfield Village features some of our nation’s most important early popular music, including the first published rag, the first published rag written by an African American composer, selections from the first black musical to play Broadway and the first published jazz composition.  Produced in partnership with Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum, the CD includes a fascinating 16 page history of our nation’s original popular music.

Detroit was home to Jerome H. Remick & Co., one of the largest and most important music publishers of the ragtime era.  Ragtime Detroit highlights Michigan’s prominent role in shaping our nation’s musical heritage.  Enjoy early hits by the Detroit bandleaders and composers Fred Stone, Harry Guy and Charles “Doc” Cook and contemporary rags by William Hayes and William Bolcom.

Our debut, groundbreaking recording from 2005 features the first (and currently only) complete recording of  the legendary, near mythical Red Book Back collection.  Missouri publisher John Stark issued a limited number of these ragtime orchestrations featuring some of classic ragtime’s most influential compositions.  Scott Joplin’s monumental “Maple Leaf Rag,” “The Entertainer,” “The Easy Winners,” and “The Cascades” are included, as well as Joseph Lamb’s “Sensation” and James Scott’s “Grace and Beauty.”  R4 partnered with The Historic New Orleans Collection to recreate this rare collection of outstanding American treasures.  Complete with an extensive historical narrative written by R4 director William Pemberton.