"You’ve Got To Be Modernistic," James P. Johnson (1930)

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James P. Johnson is, without question, the father of Harlem Stride piano. Harlem Stride piano playing evolved out of ragtime, with the left hand playing an alternation of a bass note on beats one and three and a chord on beats two and four. The right hand typically performed inventive, often virtuosic melodies. Many New Yorkers had a piano at the turn of the twentieth century in their sitting rooms. Along with his recording of “Carolina Shout,” Johnson’s recording of “You’ve Got To Be Modernistic” from 1930 was decidedly modern—forward thinking, propulsive, energizing, and innovative. Text by James Saltzman, Faculty, Manhattan School of Music

http://www.folkways.si.edu/james-p-johnson/youve-got-to-be-modernistic-2/jazz-ragtime/music/track/smithsonian