Definitive history traces the genre's growth and diversification from its 19th-century origins through its heyday and modern revival. Discusses 48 major composers and 800 rags. More than 100 photos.

Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography is the definitive reference work for this important popular form of music that flourished from the 1890s through the 1920s, and was one of the key predecessors of jazz. It collects for the first time entries on all the important composers and performers, and descriptions of their works; a complete listing of all known published ragtime compositions, even those self-published and known only in single copies; and a complete discography from the cylinder era to today. It also represents the culmination of a lifetime’s research for its author, considered to be the foremost scholar of ragtime and early twentiethh-century popular music. Rare photographs accompany most entries, taken from the original sheets, newspapers, and other archival sources.

(Limelight). "...his economical writing style ... manages to pack lots of information and opinion into a few carefully chosen words ... Besides detail work well-grounded in scholarship...the author isn't afraid to interpolate such generalizations and speculations as he sees fit; he may be the Stephen Hawking of jazz criticism." Bob Tarte, The Beat

This book is about American jazz history and a very special place in San Francisco that was called Earthquake McGoon's, which was one of the longest running jazz clubs in America. Included in Meet Me At McGoon's are some 860 photos and illustrations, a complete index and an updated list of Turk Murphy recordings at the time of writing this book.