Lamb, Joseph F(rancis)
Lamb, Joseph F(rancis)
Lamb, Joseph F(rancis), remarkable American ragtime pianist and composer; b. Montclair, N.J., Dec. 6, 1887; d. N.Y., Sept. 3, 1960. Although he had no formal music training and spent most of his life in the textile import business, he was one of the most important composers of piano rags during the heyday of ragtime; also wrote a number of songs for Tin Pan Alley. After almost 30 years, he was rediscovered in 1949 and began composing rags again; also appeared as a ragtime pianist. His most notable piano rags were Sensation (1908), Ethiopia Rag (1909), Excelsior Rag (1909), Champagne Rag (1910), American Beauty Rag (1913), Cleopatra Rag (1915), Contentment Rag (1915), The Ragtime Nightingale (1915), Reindeer (1915), Patricia Rag (1916), Top Liner Rag (1916), and Bohemia Rag (1919). An anthology of his works appeared in N.Y. in 1964.
Bibliography
M. Den, J.F.L, a Ragtime Composer Recalled (thesis, Brooklyn Coll., City Univ. of N.Y., 1975); J. Scotti, J. L: A Study of Ragtime’s Paradox (diss., Univ. of Cincinnati, 1977; with list of works).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire