RAGTIME TO JAZZ
A free concert for Southern California Middle School and High School students
An essential part of our cultural heritage is no longer taught in most schools: popular music.
It’s an omission that robs young people of understanding the context of the music they enjoy today. If they happen to have heard any of the songs that defined our past, described our feelings, made fun of our troubles, and influenced all of today’s music, it was by luck or accident.
They’ll have that opportunity to not only hear some of that music but also enjoy it performed live with RAGTIME TO JAZZ, a free musical event that will bring teens of all backgrounds from across Southern California to the renowned Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood.
The young audiences will discover that far from being musty relics of another century, when performed live, this music (roughly popular from 1900-1940) is remarkably relevant to their desires and experiences today, influencing every composer, lyricist, vocalist, rapper, and musician – whether they knew it or not.
The students will learn that Ragtime was a Black cultural response to create a classically structured music, created by Black Americans as their own music, not tied to European conventions.
They’ll also find that a ragtime rhythm is as infectious as Bad Bunny’s beats and that syncopated lyrics were popular long before Grandmaster Flash started spinning funk LPs in the Bronx and Death Row Records brought rap from the west coast to the world.
They’ll be excited by being in the evocative setting of the Catalina Jazz Club, hearing artists performing live to demonstrate how music gives context, life and insight to the great events in history, as often neglected in history classes –World Wars, the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression.
They’ll see how music conveys the human struggle of those events and how it helped their forbearers cope with many of the same issues young people are confronted by today: war, economic hardship, romance, racial injustice, and recreation.
This special concert also includes a complimentary meal and beverages for all students who attend.
The concert is coordinated by the Harry Arends Sound Archive, a non-profit dedicated to preserving and celebrating the music of the past and connecting it with contemporary life.
The Harry Arends Sound Archive (HASA) brings American popular music to audiences, young and older, through lectures, online interactive broadcasts, and other events, drawing principally from Harry Arends’ collection of over 150,000 original records from the late 1800s through the late 1950s.
The Harry Arends’ Record Party is broadcast every Thursday night at 7pm PST on YouTube (@harryarends)
RAGTIME TO JAZZ
A musical present from the past.
Starring
JANET KLEIN & HER PARLOR BOYS
MISS MAYBELL and CHARLIE JUDKINS
MAX LIBERTOR and JARED SZABO
Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys are a Los Angeles-based musical group dedicated to the spirited revival of “obscure, naughty, and lovely” tunes from the 1910s, 20s, and 30s. Led by chanteuse and ukulele player Janet Klein, the band delivers authentic and playful renditions of early American hot jazz, Tin Pan Alley, Vaudeville, and Yiddish theater songs
Miss Maybell (Lauren Sansaricq) and Charlie Judkins are a New York City-based musical duo specializing in historical Ragtime, early Jazz, and Blues from the 1890s through the 1920s. They are known for their authentic performance style, sourcing material from antique sheet music and dusty 78 rpm records to give new life to songs over a century old.
They will be joined by MAX LIBERTOR and JARED SZABO, who are each local High School students, piano wizards and featured musicians at events across the country.
Harry Arends Sound Archives 