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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Max Morath| image =| caption =| image_size =| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name =| alias =| birth_date = birth date and age|1926|10|1|mf=y|birth_place = Colorado Springs, Colorado , United States | instrument = Piano | genre = Ragtime | occupation = Pianist , composer , actor , author | years_active = 1940s& ndash;present| label = Vanguard Records|Vanguard , various| associated_acts =| website = Max Morath (born October 1, 1926) is an United States|American ragtime pianist, composer , actor and author. He is best known for his piano playing, and is referred to as "Mr. Ragtime". He has been a devoted and prolific performer, writing several plays and productions, as well as being variously a recording artist, actor and radio and television presenter.cite web |first= |last= |url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p11239/biography|pure_url=yes|title=Biography by Al Campbell |publisher=Allmusic.com |accessdate=August 9, 2011 Rudi Blesh billed Morath as a "one-man ragtime army".
Life and career
Max Morath was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado , United States . He studied piano and harmony as a child and was exposed to the rudiments of ragtime piano by his mother, a schooled pianist who had also spent several years playing for silent films.cite web |url= http://www.ragtime.nu/morath.htm |title=Max Morath |author=Oleg Mezjuev |year=1996 |work=Biography |publisher=Ragtime.nu |accessdate=August 9, 2011 He received a Bachelor's degree in English language|English from Colorado College in 1948, before embarking on a varied career that included jobs in radio and television, jazz, and theatre. His appearances as pianist and musical director with melodrama companies in Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek and Durango, Colorado , triggered his interest in early American popular music and theatre, including a study of its social and economic history, largely inspired by George Gershwin|George and Ira Gershwin , Irving Berlin and his ragtime heroes Eubie Blake and Scott Joplin . The success of those theatrical endeavors led to Morath's first professional recordings.
During 1959-1961 Morath wrote, performed, and co-produced twenty-six half-hour television program s for PBS, then NET ( National Educational Television ). The programs were produced by Channel Six, Denver, and were fed nationally to the infant public broadcasting network. The Ragtime Era series showcased the development of the music of that period. It was followed by the Turn of the Century series, which dealt with popular music's interaction with the nation's social history. The productions are now considered genre classics and were in syndication throughout the 1960s. In addition to his landmark television series, Morath made many later contributions to NPR and PBS. He also appeared on a number of commercial television programs including The Bell Telephone Hour , Today (NBC program)|Today and The Tonight Show|Tonight . From 1965 to 1972, he was a regular guest of Arthur Godfrey on CBS Radio, and he appeared often with Godfrey in television guest appearances.
Moving from Colorado to New York around 1963, Morath was by then performing nationally in college concerts and nightclubs, including New York's Blue Angel and the Village Vanguard with his Original Rag Quartet. His one-man show Max Morath at the Turn of the Century , was a critical success Off-Broadway at the Jan Hus Playhouse in 1969, followed by a four-year national tour. Other similar productions followed: The Ragtime Years , Living a Ragtime Life , The Ragtime Man , Ragtime Revisited , plus Ragtime and Again . These productions also toured nationally following Off-Broadway openings. Morath continued touring until 2007.
Returning to academia, Morath earned a Master's degree from Columbia University in 1996 in American Studies. His thesis was based on the life and work of songwriter Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946), composer of " I Love You Truly " and other popular songs. Morath's extensive research on her and her times later led to his writing a biographical novel about Jacobs-Bond told in her voice (iUniverse, 2008). He also wrote ''The NPR Curious Listener's Guide To Popular Standards . Among his other published works are the essay "Ragtime Then and Now" in The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Oxford 2000), and various music folios over the years for The Richmond Organization, Edw. B. Marks Music, G. Schirmer Inc. , Mel Bay Publications, and Cherry Lane. Morath co-created a coffee-table photograph book of his experiences on the road, titled Max Morath: The Road To Ragtime , and also wrote a musical play based on the writings of humorist Finley Peter Dunne titled Trust Everybody... But Cut The Cards''. He also published an academic article on Dunne. Another of Morath's theatrical efforts was One For The Road , a serio-comic exploration of America's socio-cultural dealings with drugs and alcohol. His 2005 album of that name is not the show's score, but does include a single number from it.
After recording a handful of albums in the then-popular honky-tonk style, he found his artistic footing in a number of albums, primarily for Vanguard Records|Vanguard , but also for Epic Records|Epic , Solo Art and RCA Records|RCA . These included solo piano and vocal albums, performances with his Original Rag Quartet (which at one time included Felix Pappalardi and James Tyler (music)|James Tyler ) and orchestral works under such conductor-arrangers as Manny Albam , Ray Wright, and Fred Karlin . He has also recorded vocal albums with the team of William Bolcom and Joan Morris . Morath's 1969 album, At The Turn of the Century , encapsulated the essence of his television series and live shows, and helped usher in the 1970s ragtime revival. Significant albums followed, including Jonah Man , Ragtime Women , and The Great American Piano Bench , each of which pushed beyond the then-current focus on Scott Joplin. His 1992 album Ragtime Man , included his own composition "Cripple Creek Suite", capturing the mood of the region's gold rush days. Morath also composed and recorded several of his own rags over the years.
Morath's work in the 1960s helped lay the groundwork for the 1970s ragtime revival, and had an influence on how it was constituted. Commenting on the significance of ragtime, Morath stated, "Scorned by the establishment as ephemeral at best, trashy at worst, ragtime was the fountainhead of every rhythmic and stylistic upheaval that has followed in a century of ever-evolving American popular music."cite book | first= Paul | last= Du Noyer | year= 2003 | title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music | edition= 1st | publisher= Flame Tree Publishing | location= Fulham, London | isbn= 1-904041-96-5 | page= 122
Partial bibliography
cite book |title=Best of Ragtime Piano |publisher=Mel Bay Productions |year=1987 |isbn=0-7866-8137-3
cite book |title=Max Morath: The Road To Ragtime |publisher=Donning Co. Publishers |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-57864-068-3
cite book |title=The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Popular Standards |publisher=Penguin-Perigee Trade |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-399-52744-9
cite book |title=Original Rags for Piano |publisher=Hal Leonard |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4234-5816-6
cite book|title=I Love You Truly: A Biographical Novel |publisher=iUniverse |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-595-53017-5
Partial discography
Albums
Title
1957
1959
1960
1963
1964
1969
1972
1973
1974
1975
1975
1976
1976
1977
1977
1978
1978
1979
1979
1981
1983
1987
1991
1992
1994
1995
1995
2003
2004
2005
See also
List of ragtime composers
List of people from Colorado Springs, Colorado
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.adventuresinmusic.biz/Archives/Interviews/maxmorath.html Interview with Morath
IMDb name|0603148
Persondata | NAME = Morath, Max | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = United States|American ragtime pianist, composer, actor and author | DATE OF BIRTH = October 1, 1926 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Colorado Springs, Colorado , United States | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Morath, Max Category:1926 births Category:Living people Category:American classical composers Category:American jazz pianists Category:American classical musicians Category:American television personalities Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:Writers from Colorado Category:Radio personalities from Colorado Category:Actors from Colorado Category:Songwriters from Colorado Category:Musicians from Colorado Category:People from Colorado Springs, Colorado Category:Ragtime composers Category:20th-century classical composers
Copyright Citations
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