Genius, this CD is. I hear a lot of Scott Joplin in this other CD on CD Baby. Check it out. RBP (Ragtime Blues and Polka.)[...]

This disc is a real gem, with its companion "The Entertainer".The original rolls are executed with a vintage piano-reproducer Welte-Steinway 1910, and performed part by Scott Joplin himself (six pieces in total for the two CD)and part by other period pianists.
It is a journey in the earth of American Classic Music, the link between the european salon music and the afro american traditional, with a strong classical compositional background as Scott Joplin himself was proud to say. You can listen to it with the real performing style and with an original piano.
A revelation.

I think we have a tendency to play older music to match the expectations of our modern ear. This can bring new views and fresh insights, but it can also lose the original vision of the composer. I enjoy the massive orchestrations played on modern instruments, but I also value the original orchestrations played on period instruments. This disk is an example of the latter. W. C. Handy is one of the greats of the era and here he plays the masterpieces of his time in the style of the time. The clean (re-)recording brings out new emphasis and subtleties that I hadn't heard in modern performances. Eugenia is a lovely piece as is Cleopha. A Real Slow Rag starts out almost in a tango mood. Scott Joplin's New Rag picks up the pace. And there's the continuous thrill of "hearing" W. C. Handy play for us. I keep coming back to this disk for a refreshing look back to the American music of a century ago.