Maple Leaf Rag

about this song

"Maple Leaf Rag" is a multi-strain ragtime march with athletic bass lines and upbeat melodies. Each of the four parts features a recurring theme and a striding bass line with copious seventh chords. Published in 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag" was not an immediate hit. It wasn't until 1907 that two recorded versions of it sold a modest number of copies--one by the U.S. Marine Band and the other by Vess L. Ossman. Scott Joplin himself never recorded "Maple Leaf Rag" but did make a piano roll of it for player pianos in 1916, a year before his death.

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