jazz: Ragtime

The earliest form of jazz to exert a wide appeal, ragtime was basically a piano style emphasizing syncopation and polyrhythm. Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, and Eubie Blake were major composers and performers of ragtime. From about 1893 to the beginning of World War I this music was popularized through sheet music and player-piano rolls. In the early 1970s, ragtime, particularly Joplin's works, had a popular revival.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Jazz Since the 1990s
• Jazz Goes International
• The 1970-'80s: From Smooth Jazz to the Neo-Cons
• The 1960s: From Free Jazz to Jazz-Rock Fusion
• Jazz in the '50s
• Bop
• Swing
• New Orleans Jazz
• Ragtime
• Blues
• Origins of Jazz

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