*Continued biography from the description:* By the 1900 directories, Tom is shown living with his father John, older brother Charles, and younger sisters Eleanora and Nannie, but his mother Lula is not listed as John was now widowed with Tom would marrying Willamete (Willie) Turpin a few months later. His occupation by this time is clearly musician, although entrepreneur was not far off as Charles and John were still deeply grounded in the saloon business. That same year he composed "A Ragtime Nightmare," a short but fascinating work based in part on a stage work titled "Darkies Dream" by George Lansing, and a follow-up piece titled "Darkies Awakening" by banjoists Vess Ossman and Fred Van Eps. From both pieces, Tom had managed to squeeze the more striking parts of these works into an original rag that can be easily played in less than 90 seconds. Eventually taking cue from his father, Tom decided to be in business for himself, opening "Turpin's Saloon" at 9 Targee Street, St. Louis, around 1897. Then he opened the legendary "Rosebud Café" at 2220-2222 Market Street near downtown St. Louis in 1900 where it soon became the center for black pianists in the region both during and a little beyond the fledgling years of Ragtime, in part because of constant advertising by its formidable proprietor, with his father appearing to have either moved his saloon or opened another one, since he was now listed at 2638 West Chestnut Street. Anticipating the upcoming Lewis & Clark Exposition, Tom composed the vibrant St. Louis Rag, which had only become hurt by the timing of the premature release, as the fair was delayed for nearly a year in order to accommodate the enormous electrical needs for its buildings. Once it was published however, he turned his full attention to the onslaught that the Exposition would bring to his sprawling establishment. The Rosebud had something for almost everybody, including two bars, gambling facilities, a sportsmen's club, a wine room where the piano entertainment resided, and a gentleman's brothel upstairs with the rotund Turpin often the star attraction, usually playing standing up in front of a raised piano to accommodate his 300 or more pound six-foot frame. The resident pianists were at their peak during the year-long exhibition in 1904/1905, with the saloon being constantly busy, as with the rented rooms upstairs. Turpin even featured an electric Christmas tree, a novelty at that time, during his 1904 Christmas celebration. Despite Tom's seemingly bustling establishment, business had begun to slack off considerably at the end of the Exposition, resulting in Tom once again to turn to composing, bringing out his Buffalo Rag in late 1904. Eventually selling, or at least handing the management of his café to Robert P. Watson in late March of 1905, the Rosebud had finally folded in 1906 as many of the musicians who used to fill it's seats & halls had been migrating to Chicago or other destinations. It was actually during this period that Turpin went back west and was materially active in the Big Onion mine in Searchlight, Nevada, the primary ore found in his investment not being gold. According to the Mining and Scientific Press of November 24, 1906: "The Searchlight district is now the scene of marked activity, as is evidenced by the sales and transfers of different properties in the camp. A new townsite is being platted at the terminus of the Barnwell & Searchlight R.R. on the flat west of the original townsite. -A sensational copper strike was made recently, 13 miles east of Searchlight, by Thomas Turpin and D.S. Macrea, in the vicinity of Camp Thurman. The vein is 64 ft. wide, and is plainly traceable for a distance of 1,200 ft. Five assays average 6% copper with some gold. Twenty-six claims have been staked out in the new district." His stay in Nevada was likely brief, and the venture may have ultimately yielded much less than expected, thus the contention that it was a "failed investment." Still, it was evidently successful enough for him to relay it to his longtime friend Scott Joplin, thus the emergence of Searchlight Rag within the subsequent months. The overall knowledge of his travels in 1907 and 1908 are vague at best, with Turpin reported to have gone to Butte, Montana around 1909 for a brief stay, a location which evidently inspired him to compose the unpublished "Siwash - An Indian Rag." By 1910, Tom had continued to run saloons, dance halls, sporting houses, and eventually a theater in St. Louis with help from his brother, shown residing with his wife Willie and his brother Charles, listed as a theater musician. The theater was likely his own Booker T. Washington Airdrome, a vaudeville theater in a partially tent-like structure at 2323 Market Street, just a block down from the former Rosebud on the other side of the street, where Charles employed many ragtime greats during the theater's run through the mid-1910s, including Artie Matthews. During the years that Matthews was working there, he and Tom evidently turned out new music every week, but virtually none of it was saved for posterity. They did however present original shows and hosted a number of exciting ragtime playing competitions. But Charles had other ambitions as well and ran for district constable that same year, winning the position in a November election and becoming the first of his race to be elected into public office in Missouri. It was also in 1910, where Tom opened his newest establishment, the Eureka Club at 2208 Chestnut Street, St. Louis. After a great deal of renewed growth of business for both brothers, the Washington itself had become a full-fledged indoor theater by 1913, but business eventually died down there as well, with the establishment shutting it's doors for good. Continuing to compose on the side, t was likely around 1914 that Turpin composed the Pan Am Rag, arranged by Matthews, and without any other definitive connection to its origin, it may have been in honor of the Pan American Exposition held on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay in 1915. In 1916 Turpin opened another establishment at 2333 Market Street, which at some point acquired the name The Jazzland Café, with Tom's 1917 draft card showing him still in the "Saloon Business" as an owner. That year he wrote one last piece, a war song about black soldiers fighting in Europe, "When Sambo Goes to France." It is likely that Turpin had written many more during his time at the Washington Theater, but once many of these pieces, some topical comic songs, had run their course in performance, they were likely disposed of leaving us with no lasting record. During his remaining years, Turpin had found himself serving as a deputy constable for the African American community in St. Louis, living out the remainder of his life with his wife Willie, his sister Eleanora, and his 6-year-old niece He and Willie are listed in 1920 as hosting his sister Eleanora, plus a 6-year-old niece Nannette (Said to likely be Eleanora's daughter,) peacefully content. Unfortunately enough, Turpin would pass away on August 13, 1922, as a result of peritonitis at 50 years old, leaving behind a wide swath of happy memories for thousands of people in his considerable wake. Charles Turpin would continue as a deputy constable himself for a few years, carrying on his remaining years as a justice of the peace, passing on December 25, 1935. While the Turpin's could have been easily forgotten to history after that time, authors Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis brought them back to life in their 1950 pioneering book "They All Played Ragtime," where Tom Turpin's rags have been ringing again ever since with his family legacy continuing to shine.
Haha, your all the welcome! That's pretty much the plan for my channel, bringing unknown & barely known composers back into the spotlight! 😆 Thank you for stopping by to take a listen!
@@themajesticgeorge I have no problem with ragtime (and it's also my favorite genre), but I was just wondering. What music style do you think you'll do next?
@@spadecrazeruns5703 After I get done clearing out my agenda for uploading the last few "mainstream" ragtime composers with their works (3 main projects basically), I was going to go back and start working on the early Jazz era (Harlem, NY, New Orleans, etc. etc.) and go from their to work into the swing era with little known bands & music stars. Did you have any style you would like to see featured?
Honestly by the time I was working on the video it had been my first time actually hearing the piece myself, lol. For shorter work overall, I think it has a real kick to it.
Haha, yeah. I actually have the more "slower" versions of rags and pieces used throughout my videos because what I mainly see in performances is the goal to play through a piece as fast and accurate as one can. Although there are a few works that *are* notated at upbeat speeds faster than normal, I feel that when pieces are rushed through, it diminishes the beauty of the overall music and composition. Just more so of a preference type of thing. 😆 When works are played at more relaxing tempos, I find it to be easier to let them flow gracefully and to get a kick out of every note. 😋
@@themajesticgeorge Yes, indeed, and often the first version I heard of a particular rag seems to determine my preference forever onward, so I can't be sure that my preference is unbiased! And actually I share your distaste for excessively fast performances, regardless of how accurate they are. Whether it's a Joplin rag or a Liszt Hungarian rhapsody I have to ask "what's the rush?".
@@wertherquartett And why of course, you are the very welcome. I honestly need to get my hands on the book myself, been looking forward to reading it from start to finish. ✨ Happy reading to yourself!
![The best of James Scott- 1 HOUR EDITION (1885-1938) [HQ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LK4uHQaQNRE/mqdefault.jpg)
*Continued biography from the description:*
By the 1900 directories, Tom is shown living with his father John, older brother Charles, and younger sisters Eleanora and Nannie, but his mother Lula is not listed as John was now widowed with Tom would marrying Willamete (Willie) Turpin a few months later. His occupation by this time is clearly musician, although entrepreneur was not far off as Charles and John were still deeply grounded in the saloon business. That same year he composed "A Ragtime Nightmare," a short but fascinating work based in part on a stage work titled "Darkies Dream" by George Lansing, and a follow-up piece titled "Darkies Awakening" by banjoists Vess Ossman and Fred Van Eps. From both pieces, Tom had managed to squeeze the more striking parts of these works into an original rag that can be easily played in less than 90 seconds.
Eventually taking cue from his father, Tom decided to be in business for himself, opening "Turpin's Saloon" at 9 Targee Street, St. Louis, around 1897. Then he opened the legendary "Rosebud Café" at 2220-2222 Market Street near downtown St. Louis in 1900 where it soon became the center for black pianists in the region both during and a little beyond the fledgling years of Ragtime, in part because of constant advertising by its formidable proprietor, with his father appearing to have either moved his saloon or opened another one, since he was now listed at 2638 West Chestnut Street. Anticipating the upcoming Lewis & Clark Exposition, Tom composed the vibrant St. Louis Rag, which had only become hurt by the timing of the premature release, as the fair was delayed for nearly a year in order to accommodate the enormous electrical needs for its buildings. Once it was published however, he turned his full attention to the onslaught that the Exposition would bring to his sprawling establishment.
The Rosebud had something for almost everybody, including two bars, gambling facilities, a sportsmen's club, a wine room where the piano entertainment resided, and a gentleman's brothel upstairs with the rotund Turpin often the star attraction, usually playing standing up in front of a raised piano to accommodate his 300 or more pound six-foot frame. The resident pianists were at their peak during the year-long exhibition in 1904/1905, with the saloon being constantly busy, as with the rented rooms upstairs. Turpin even featured an electric Christmas tree, a novelty at that time, during his 1904 Christmas celebration. Despite Tom's seemingly bustling establishment, business had begun to slack off considerably at the end of the Exposition, resulting in Tom once again to turn to composing, bringing out his Buffalo Rag in late 1904. Eventually selling, or at least handing the management of his café to Robert P. Watson in late March of 1905, the Rosebud had finally folded in 1906 as many of the musicians who used to fill it's seats & halls had been migrating to Chicago or other destinations. It was actually during this period that Turpin went back west and was materially active in the Big Onion mine in Searchlight, Nevada, the primary ore found in his investment not being gold.
According to the Mining and Scientific Press of November 24, 1906: "The Searchlight district is now the scene of marked activity, as is evidenced by the sales and transfers of different properties in the camp. A new townsite is being platted at the terminus of the Barnwell & Searchlight R.R. on the flat west of the original townsite. -A sensational copper strike was made recently, 13 miles east of Searchlight, by Thomas Turpin and D.S. Macrea, in the vicinity of Camp Thurman. The vein is 64 ft. wide, and is plainly traceable for a distance of 1,200 ft. Five assays average 6% copper with some gold. Twenty-six claims have been staked out in the new district."
His stay in Nevada was likely brief, and the venture may have ultimately yielded much less than expected, thus the contention that it was a "failed investment." Still, it was evidently successful enough for him to relay it to his longtime friend Scott Joplin, thus the emergence of Searchlight Rag within the subsequent months. The overall knowledge of his travels in 1907 and 1908 are vague at best, with Turpin reported to have gone to Butte, Montana around 1909 for a brief stay, a location which evidently inspired him to compose the unpublished "Siwash - An Indian Rag." By 1910, Tom had continued to run saloons, dance halls, sporting houses, and eventually a theater in St. Louis with help from his brother, shown residing with his wife Willie and his brother Charles, listed as a theater musician. The theater was likely his own Booker T. Washington Airdrome, a vaudeville theater in a partially tent-like structure at 2323 Market Street, just a block down from the former Rosebud on the other side of the street, where Charles employed many ragtime greats during the theater's run through the mid-1910s, including Artie Matthews. During the years that Matthews was working there, he and Tom evidently turned out new music every week, but virtually none of it was saved for posterity. They did however present original shows and hosted a number of exciting ragtime playing competitions. But Charles had other ambitions as well and ran for district constable that same year, winning the position in a November election and becoming the first of his race to be elected into public office in Missouri.
It was also in 1910, where Tom opened his newest establishment, the Eureka Club at 2208 Chestnut Street, St. Louis. After a great deal of renewed growth of business for both brothers, the Washington itself had become a full-fledged indoor theater by 1913, but business eventually died down there as well, with the establishment shutting it's doors for good. Continuing to compose on the side, t was likely around 1914 that Turpin composed the Pan Am Rag, arranged by Matthews, and without any other definitive connection to its origin, it may have been in honor of the Pan American Exposition held on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay in 1915. In 1916 Turpin opened another establishment at 2333 Market Street, which at some point acquired the name The Jazzland Café, with Tom's 1917 draft card showing him still in the "Saloon Business" as an owner. That year he wrote one last piece, a war song about black soldiers fighting in Europe, "When Sambo Goes to France." It is likely that Turpin had written many more during his time at the Washington Theater, but once many of these pieces, some topical comic songs, had run their course in performance, they were likely disposed of leaving us with no lasting record.
During his remaining years, Turpin had found himself serving as a deputy constable for the African American community in St. Louis, living out the remainder of his life with his wife Willie, his sister Eleanora, and his 6-year-old niece He and Willie are listed in 1920 as hosting his sister Eleanora, plus a 6-year-old niece Nannette (Said to likely be Eleanora's daughter,) peacefully content. Unfortunately enough, Turpin would pass away on August 13, 1922, as a result of peritonitis at 50 years old, leaving behind a wide swath of happy memories for thousands of people in his considerable wake. Charles Turpin would continue as a deputy constable himself for a few years, carrying on his remaining years as a justice of the peace, passing on December 25, 1935. While the Turpin's could have been easily forgotten to history after that time, authors Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis brought them back to life in their 1950 pioneering book "They All Played Ragtime," where Tom Turpin's rags have been ringing again ever since with his family legacy continuing to shine.
Thanks. Great music. Transparent but ingenious.
Indeed it is. 🎼🎶🎵
You are very much so welcome! 🌟
I would've never heard any of these unknown composers if it weren't for your channel! Thanks!
Haha, your all the welcome! That's pretty much the plan for my channel, bringing unknown & barely known composers back into the spotlight! 😆
Thank you for stopping by to take a listen!
@@themajesticgeorge I have no problem with ragtime (and it's also my favorite genre), but I was just wondering. What music style do you think you'll do next?
@@spadecrazeruns5703 After I get done clearing out my agenda for uploading the last few "mainstream" ragtime composers with their works (3 main projects basically), I was going to go back and start working on the early Jazz era (Harlem, NY, New Orleans, etc. etc.) and go from their to work into the swing era with little known bands & music stars. Did you have any style you would like to see featured?
**Correction, 2 projects left. The Scott Joplin Collection one I started is already going on.
@@themajesticgeorge Not any particular style, but I'd love to see one on Jelly Roll Morton at some point.
Wow I've never heard When Sambo Goes To France
Honestly by the time I was working on the video it had been my first time actually hearing the piece myself, lol. For shorter work overall, I think it has a real kick to it.
RagtimeDorianHenry has a video of it.
@@GavinLepley He basically has every rag by now lol
I love Turpin but the Harlem Rag here seems to be played awfully slowly.
Haha, yeah. I actually have the more "slower" versions of rags and pieces used throughout my videos because what I mainly see in performances is the goal to play through a piece as fast and accurate as one can. Although there are a few works that *are* notated at upbeat speeds faster than normal, I feel that when pieces are rushed through, it diminishes the beauty of the overall music and composition.
Just more so of a preference type of thing. 😆
When works are played at more relaxing tempos, I find it to be easier to let them flow gracefully and to get a kick out of every note. 😋
@@themajesticgeorge Yes, indeed, and often the first version I heard of a particular rag seems to determine my preference forever onward, so I can't be sure that my preference is unbiased! And actually I share your distaste for excessively fast performances, regardless of how accurate they are. Whether it's a Joplin rag or a Liszt Hungarian rhapsody I have to ask "what's the rush?".
P.S. Thank you for the reference to Blesh and Janis's book. I've ordered a copy from the many used copies that are available online.
@@wertherquartett Haha, yeah. Think it just boils down to a preference in speed. Not just for Ragtime but even for all music. 😌
@@wertherquartett And why of course, you are the very welcome. I honestly need to get my hands on the book myself, been looking forward to reading it from start to finish. ✨
Happy reading to yourself!