The Darktown Dandy (1898)...Joseph W. Lerman

[Steve Harrison]

This is an early 'folk' cakewalk and similar in style to some of the tunes that can be found in the early banjo tutors. It's very well suited to banjo and has a change of tempo at the trio that gives the tune a real lift. The score and midi are in the library...Steve.

[carrie horgan]

Another good tune.  I'm curious, where do you find these tunes Steve?  I like Ragtime Dorian Henry's channel on YouTube - I'm constantly amazed at just how many ragtime compositions there are.  In fact, I have just been listening to one called 'Cole Smoak Rag' - it has a 'hook' similar to 'Eli Green's Cakewalk' and might work well on the banjo.   

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Carrie, I've had Cole Smoak on my to do list for some time, I already have a piano score for it so maybe I'll give it a second look. Finding suitable tunes for banjo is just a hard slog, listening to many recordings and midis until one jumps out at me. I can usually find a score as many of the American Universities have very good on line digital music libraries but again it's just a matter of putting in the time searching....Steve.

carrie horgan said:

Another good tune.  I'm curious, where do you find these tunes Steve?  I like Ragtime Dorian Henry's channel on YouTube - I'm constantly amazed at just how many ragtime compositions there are.  In fact, I have just been listening to one called 'Cole Smoak Rag' - it has a 'hook' similar to 'Eli Green's Cakewalk' and might work well on the banjo.   

[carrie horgan]

Thanks Steve - you do a brilliant job rescuing these tunes from obscurity!