Craig Ventresco, The Past Is Yet To Come - 1h 4m 53s

Tracks & Durations

1. Shuffle Rag	2:54
2. An Operatic Rag	3:37
3. Goodnight Angeline	4:14
4. Whoa You Heifer	3:28
5. Tobasco	3:46
6. Ragtime Oriole	3:44
7. Oysters and Clams	3:55
8. Dance of the Nile Maidens	2:40
9. A Black Smoke	3:45
10. Sunflower Slow Drag	3:42
11. Shadow Blues	3:08
12. Handsome Harry	2:39
13. Lingering Love	3:37
14. The Georgia Grind	3:45
15. Salome	1:52
16. High Brown Blues	3:38
17. Junk Man Rag	3:45
18. Back to Baltimore	6:33

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

Guitarist Craig Ventresco may be one of the best ragtime pickers alive today. He was heard fingerpicking on the Crumb soundtrack, but with The Past Is Yet to Come, we get an entire disc of his dizzying guitar solos. The results are stunning. Ventresco's ability to perform rags by Big Bill Broonzy, Eubie Blake, and Scott Joplin is awe-inspiring; his dense arrangements sound impossibly difficult to play, but they are a sheer pleasure to hear. Craig tends to play these old blues, jazz, and Tin Pan Alley tunes fast (his dazzling take on Will Fiedler's "Handsome Harry" may even be too fast), but his energized playing breaths new life into the works. Ventresco's a real talent and ragtime lovers couldn't ask for a finer disc of guitar music. It may be sacrilegious to admit, but Ventresco's technical ability is right up there with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake--the only things missing are the pops and hisses of the 78s. An incredible disc. --Jason VerlindeAcoustic guitarist Craig Ventresco's style is a unique combination of Ragtime, rural Blues, early Jazz guitar and traditional String Band influences. His playing is at once fiery, melodic and inventive. Ventresco's tastes are unfettered by music in the modern era; he has instead concentrated on early 20th century vaudeville, ragtime, and popular songs as recorded on obscure 78s and cylinders from the dawn of the recorded music era. The CD includes music written by Eubie Blake, Scott Joplin, Big Bill Broonzy, James Scott, Lucky Roberts, and a Ventresco original as well. Ventresco's style brings forth images of Blind Blake, Lemon Jefferson, and other street performers of the '20s and '30s. He learns most of his repertoire by ear, and his raucous yet sensitive playing style (developed by playing on the streets of San Francisco) is a welcome alternative to the scholarly, delicate approach that usually characterizes ragtime guitar recordings. His playing was featured on the soundtrack album for the film "Crumb."

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