William Krell
William Henry Krell (1868-1933) composed what is regarded as the first rag or ragtime composition in 1897 called Mississippi Rag, published in New York by S. Brainard's Sons and copyrighted on January 27, 1897. The sheet music stated that it was the first rag-time two step ever written and was first played by Krell's Orchestra in Chicago. Krell also composed the rag Shake Yo' Dusters! or Piccaninny Rag in 1898. The popularity of "Mississippi Rag" resulted in the emergence of the genre known as ragtime.
Compositions
William Henry Krell was a Chicago bandleader and composer whose other compositions included:
- Our Carter: A Beautiful Ballad (1893), with Silas Leachman
- The American Girl Battle Ship March (1898)
- The Cake Walk Patrol (1895)
- Fighting Bob Evans (1898)
- A Dream of the Ball: Waltzes (1895)
- Finnigan Cadets (1898)
- The First Extra: Waltzes (1895)
- Shake Yo' Dusters, or the Piccaninny Rag (1898)
- Strolling on the Beach (1895)
- Shake Yo' Dusters - Song (1898)
- The Time He Loves the Best (1895), with L. H. Freeman
- Cyrano (1899)
- Arbutus Waltz (1896)
- The Recreation (1896)
- The Bowery Spielers (1900)
- The Senator (1901)
- Summer Girl Waltzes (1897)
Recordings of "Mississippi Rag"
Mississippi Rag has been recorded by Claude Bolling in 1966, the Firehouse Five Plus Two, Steve Pistorius, Turk Murphy, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and Richard Zimmerman.
References
- Blesh, Rudi, and Janis, Harriett. They All Played Ragtime (New York 1950).
- Terry Waldo, This is Ragtime, 1991.