Bob Milne in Concert: Volume 1

Detroit pianist Bob Milne, a music history instructor by day, plays ragtime and boogie-woogie songs while also telling the stories behind the music in this engaging concert, speaking slowly and quietly in a style that recalls Garrison Keillor. Some of the selections are likely to be familiar, such as Richard M. Jones's "Trouble in Mind” and Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer,” which found new fans after being featured in The Sting, but others are more obscure. When Milne mentions specific songwriters, like Joe "King" Oliver ("Canal Street Blues") and James P. Johnson ("Steeplechase Rag"), illustrative photographs accompany his comments. As Milne notes about the Louisiana numbers, "New Orleans didn't invent the blues, but they sure played the heck out of them." When he introduces the traditional "Stack O' Lee Blues," he shares information about the title subject, a riverboat gambler (subsequent versions would shorten the name to Stagger Lee). Milne's gentle humor, which stays on the right side of corny, enhances the entertainment aspect of this 16-song set that ends with a couple of New Orleans parade band tunes, notably an expansive rendition of "When the Saints Go Marchin' In." Recommended. (K. Fennessy)