Adam Swanson performing "Alexander's Ragtime Band" by Irving Berlin

Performed in May, 2016 in the Cutting Contest of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, held every Memorial Day Weekend at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi.

[@manuelc.3286]

Superb!!!

[@redblack8414]

Music from a time when melody was important.

[@muffinconsumer4431]

Is melody still not important?

[@joejesko7410]

Adam is just a great piano player. I'm always blown away by his talent.

[@m139139]

Fantastic!

[@BillMasters56]

Wow, that man can play

[@SenorN2000]

Adam, You are SO wonderful! Your heart sounds through.

[@prebooomer]

What a great piano player!! Just love it!! Can listen to him for hours!!

[@MasDouc]

Holy crap

[@charlieb.8518]

In enjoyed hearing all these old time songs. A wonderful medley.

[@ianwhiddett4782]

Absolutely incredible. I can play this song at about 1/25 as fast as he does.

[@KinoDerToaster]

Breathtaking talent that reminds me of Winifred Atwell! So brilliant

[@dietholfrothert8648]

Welche Emotion, dieser Pianoplayer!!!

[@susancochran8114]

I could listen to him play all day!!

[@jerrygroen8163]

What talent Thanks Adam..

[@shirleyjennings5787]

Awesome!

[@charlesbenedetti8607]

In 1950 our church choir put on an old time Minstrel Show, in which we sang the Ragtime Band song......we were tapping our feet and swaying left and right.........even when it w as over. Delightful, indeed !

[@markt1387]

Amazing talent Adam, fabulous. You really made that piano sing👌😊

[@davef.2811]

Wunderbar!!

[@SenorN2000]

When you transitioned to the reprise of "Alexander's..." at the end, it almost brought tears and then a broad smile instead, because I could feel you speaking so clearly and emotionally thru the music! (For that matter, the whole last minute or so is just extraordinary!) Thanks, again, Adam.

[@MrRosendal]

This is perfection!

[@rickmeyers401]

Amazing! Bravo!!!

[@francescad.4916]

You are fantastic!

[@jean-pierregeraux8695]

Une bête ! quel plaisir il doit avoir !

[@doumelepirate6867]

Marvelous thank you !

[@MsGrandunion]

Love the sneaky counterpoint at 4:00!! And the Gershwin line at the end was inspired.

[@jakepatty4350]

Funny thing about that, I don’t know if playing Yankee Doodle and Dixie together has any ragtime piano precedent, but I know of that from the guitar playing of Chet Atkins!

[@josephdezarn139]

@@jakepatty4350It does, actually! Simultaneously in Jay Robert’s “The Entertainer’s Rag”

[@diegobarbieri5285]

Un genio total

[@HelenWietlisbach]

Fantastic entertainment

[@drgaryb13]

Trivia: "Dixie," the anthem of the Civil War south, was also Lincoln's favorite tune.

[@ryantimm92]

I REALLY struggle with those left hand jumps in a lot of ragtime music. 😭

[@billjanksy6522]

I read this is the first popular ragtime song in America, and it's Irving Berlin, so I figured I would recognize the tune. Nope. I only recognized the old Civil War song snippets. It's ragtime, sure, but it doesn't quite worm its way into your eardrums like Scott Joplin.

[@pennagainagain7491]

Ragtime isn't confined to one style and it's quite impossible to compare them. While Joplin, Joseph Lamb, James Scott -- the latter is my 1st choice for the classical style of earworm -- had the good fortune to catch the ear of music publisher John Stark -- the other kinds of ragtime (the "shameless music" as the Music Man called it) had been pushing up through the earth at the same time. For the past six decades composers like Tom Shea, Trebor Tichenor, William Bolcoml, Tom Brier, David Thomas Roberts and dozens of others have been composing ragtime for new generations of performers. Enjoy them all.

[@MrPetrusfilippus]

You sense it correctly, it is not ragtime in spite of its title.

[@pennagain6207]

Swanson on a Steinway - that's all!

[@Cruz474]

That's amazing wtf. How long does it take to get that good...

[@MrCrowebobby]

Not very long in his case. In anyone else's . . . ?????????

[@felixchaplin]

2:48 The Three Stooges (Listen to the Mockingbird)

[@mariannahegyinenagy6981]

JÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓ Szülessél előbb mint Én

[@billcottham9937]

X

[@PiotrBarcz]

Some Steinway... sounds like every other damn grand out there but costs 100 grand as opposed to 15.

[@AlexJames-mj1bz]

I think it's the mics/recording setup they had going on...the left hand is muddy...very difficult to transcribe parts because of it. And it's not the playing that is muddy, it's the recording quality.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@AlexJames-mj1bz I'm not talking about the mics, this piano is ordinary. I don't understand why Steinways are so popular when they sound like every other piano that you can get for half the price.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@AlexJames-mj1bz The camera mic was used, and you'd think that for a channel like this the audio would at least be good

[@AlexJames-mj1bz]

@@PiotrBarcz I have played on Steinway pianos before and they do have a rich and full tone on the low notes. The higher register is also not "screachy", so to speak. Definitely noticeable...whether it's worth it is a different question.

[@PiotrBarcz]

@@AlexJames-mj1bz I played several Steinways at a Steinway gallery in Zurich. I was unimpressed. The tone was nearly exactly the same from piano to piano and I also played a couple yamahas as well. Tone wise, there was absolutely no difference. And the prices of the Steinways were astronomical. I played a 150,000 dollar piano that sounded like one for 10 grand.

[@34jared]

Too fast, in my opinion.

[@bemyremedylove]

I agree he is extraordinarily good pianist although I think personally faster doesn’t mean better in Ragtime.

[@tairdudeusa7981]

I'm sorry you just can't play rag on a classical piano it does not sound right

[@corrigenda70]

Too many missed notes - sadly

[@pennagainagain7491]

What a strange criterion for ragtime! Sorry you're missing so much.

[@MsGrandunion]

Patrick Powers please demonstrate on the piano score where you think there are missed notes. And btw, there isn't a score as its all improvised. So sad that you are finding fault with such a skilled and joyful performance.

[@rimski7265]

Too many jealous people….sadly

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Tom Brier is better.

[@pennagainagain7491]

Adam was one of Tom's greatest friends and admirers ... and the feeling was mutual. I don't think Tom ever entered a Cutting Contest, though - which is what this performance is for.

[@gustavobraga582]

It's not about who is better, but what they have within themselves. Adam is great, Tom is great! I love watching videos of both! Each of them on it's own way. Ragtime is (way more) about fun, not (or way less) about competition. Cheers