Search - Eubie Blake :: Tricky Fingers

Good music, terrible production.

B. D. Tutt | London, UK. | 10/13/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Baltimore Eubie Blake (1883 - 1983) was a magnificent ragtime pianist whose virtuoistic style was one of the influences on James P. Johnson and the Harlem stride pianists which whom he is usually (but deceptively) catalogued.These recordings feature Blake late in life, playing some of his greatest hits and compositions by colleagues. Highlights include a driving "Charleston Rag", a delightful performance of his hit song "You're Lucky to Me", a concert version of his other hit, "Memories of You", a version of Luckey Roberts' "Spanish Venus" and a ragtime rendition of "Stars and Stripes Forever". Some of the other tracks are either insignificant (a 1 minute 21 second "Poor Jimmy Green") or have been recorded better elsewhere (Tricky Fingers").However, the CD is very shoddily produced. The track listings are wrong, with tracks 1 - 6 appearing on the label as 7 - 12 and vice versa. No recording dates are given (which is unfortunate as the tracks seem to be drawn form a number of sessions), and no sleeve notes are included. The whole disc is only 35 minutes long - poor for an LP, ludicrously mean for a CD.This is a good introduction to Blake, although he is in better form in the Chiaroscuro Wilson/Hopkins/Blake disc. Many of his best recordings are still unissued on CD. Still, at this price, this CD is a bargain for lovers of ragtime and stride piano, bargain basement production values aside."