For the second week in a row, this column will acknowledge the importance of American jazz music.
With such a rich and colorful history, enjoying jazz and studying its early contributors and its time and place in early entertainment is as valuable and valid of an educational pursuit as studying the life of Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass or Mark Twain.
History will be on display starting today and through the weekend as the Strater Hotel hosts the second annual Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival. The weekend will feature live sets of music, symposiums, workshops and a silent film with live music accompaniment.
Spearheading the event is Adam Swanson, a walking history book and ambassador of ragtime and early jazz music. The 21-year-old Fort Lewis College music major’s knowledge of the subject in relation to his age is astounding. His motivation for organizing the festival comes from years of playing similar events around the country.
“I’ve been doing it for more than 10 years,” Swanson said in a February interview at the KDUR studios. “We realized the Strater Hotel and Durango is an ideal place for this kind of music.”
Swanson fell in love with ragtime during piano lessons and eventually discovered ragtime on the Internet. He began playing at the Diamond Belle Saloon as a kid, inspired by the great Johnny Maddox.
“When I was about 12 years old, I discovered Johnny Maddox,” Swanson said. “The only place he played was the Diamond Belle in the Strater Hotel. Between that and my love for old steam trains, I talked my parents into bringing me out here. I was lucky enough to get to play for him. A couple years later, they hired me to play.”
Like Maddox, Swanson has no interest in today’s music.
“That’s my negative side. I don’t care for modern music,” he said. “As Johnny says, ‘If you go past 1950, I’m out of business.’ I’m the same way. I’m 21, but I don’t care.”
His résumé of playing similar events around the country helped get top-notch entertainers for this festival. Some of the other musicians playing are Grammy-winning drummer Danny Coots, former Diamond Belle pianist and FLC alumnus Bill Edwards, and Frederick Hodges, who will play the piano accompaniment to the screening of the silent film “The General” starring Buster Keaton.
Also performing will be former drummer for Art Tatum and a player from ragtime’s early era, Bob Seely, young pianists Max Keenlyside, Frank Livolsi and Domingo Mancuello, and former Coney Island vaudevillian and musician Todd Robbins. Durango’s own Lacey Black will add some local flavor, as well.
Festivals like this are important. They are a preservation of early entertainment that’s timeless and identifiable.
“The number one thing is it’s good. It really is. It’s Americana,” Swanson said. “It is the first form of popular music, first original American music. All types of music that came after ragtime developed from it in one way or another. Jazz, swing, rock and roll – everything can be traced back to ragtime.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
Bryant’s Best
Today: Ras Daws, IntelliGents, Dirty Habitz, 10 p.m., $5, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, 799-2281.
Today-Sunday: Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival. Single-day tickets $55, weekend pass $85, Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.
