Entertainer / Various - The Entertainer [CD]

The first guitar ragtime recording, by Dave Laibman and Eric Schoenburg, was released in the late 1960s and shows how high a level of skill young finger pickers had reached in their attempts to master the idiom. This present collection features recordings made in the 1970s. Some of the arrangements feature slightly younger Europeans inspired by Laibman, Schoenburg and Stefan Grossman. Two Dutch soloists are presented here - Ton Van Bergeyk and Leo Wijnkamp Jr. - two of the finest finger picking virtuosi of the day. Canada is represented by Jim McLennan and Bob Evans. Tim Nicolai is from the United Kingdom. Dick Fegy has remained very much on the scene as David Bromberg's most dependable band member over the years, playing mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and acoustic and electric guitars. He is also a first-rate solo finger picker, as you will hear. He must toss off Paganini encores in his spare time! An enhanced CD with tab/music PDF file which includes transcriptions of most of the arrangements.