Home | Recorder Music | Composers W | Percy Wenrich (1880-1952) |
According to the Internet sources given below, Percy Wenrich was an American composer of popular music born in Joplin, Missouri. His father was postmaster and his mother was a gifted amateur pianist who taught him piano and organ at an early age. Influenced both by "classic" and the then prevalent folk ragtime music, he began writing his own compositions, his father helping out with the lyrics. He acquired the sobriquet "The Joplin Kid" whilst playing around the Joplin bars (a double meaning for either his home town Scott Joplin or both). His first published work L'Inconnu (1897) was printed when he was just 17. In 1901 he studied music at the Chicago Musical College at the same continuing to write popular music. Whilst in Chicago, two works were published: Ashy Africa (1903) and Just Because I'm From Missouri (1903)
In his early years, although writing in many genres, his ragtime music made the greatest impact with such titles as Peaches and Cream (1905) and The Smiler (1905). In or around 1907, he met and married Dolly Connolly (1888-1965), a vaudeville performer. From the 1910s until the 1920s, Wenrich both wrote for and toured with Dolly Connolly and he also accompanied her when she was a recording star with Columbia Records. Although he wrote mostly for her he still found time to write a number of stage musicals. In 1930 they both retired to New York. He, too, was another prolific composer with a penchant for pseudonyms, the most often used being Earl la Farge.
List of Percy Wenrich works.
Sheet Music:
Midi Ragtime Recorder Ensemble on "Recorder Ragtime: Curiosities"
American Ragtime Ensemble on "Ragtime Chamber Music"
Black Swan Classic Jazz Band on "Ragtime Revelry" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Budapest Ragtime Band on "Elite Syncopations"
Joe "Fingers" Carr on "Honky Tonk Hits of Joe "Fingers" Carr"
Eddie Condon on "Eddie Condon 1947-1950"
Chrysanthemum Ragtime Band on "Preserves"
Dawn of the Century Ragtime Orchestra on "The Dawn of the Century Ragtime Orchestra" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Paul Dean on "15 Ragtime Favorites"
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards on "A Bag of Rags"
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards on "Music for Muskoka"
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards on "Perfessor Bill Sings Volume 1"
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards on "Perfessor Bill Sings Volume 2"
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards on "The Rag's the Thing"
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards on "Whipped Cream Rag"
Elite Syncopators on "American Sampler Rag" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Elite Syncopators on "Ragtime Special"
Meg Graf on "Eatin' Time -- A Ragtime Feast" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Heidelberg Quintet on "Floating Down the River"
Jenks/Grinstead on "Ragtime Bigtime"
Sue Keller on "Ragtime Reflections" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Johnny Maddox on "Red Hot Ragtime Volume 2" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Various Artists on "American Sketches"
Various Artists on "A Century of Ragtime 1897-1997"
Various Artists on "Echoes from Asbury Park"
Various Artists on "Kings of the Ragtime Banjo"
Various Artists on "Rags to Rhythms"
Various Artists on "Real Ragtime" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Various Artists on "The Roots of Rag-Time" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Various Artists on "Shine on Harvest Moon"
Various Artists on "Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Various Artists on "Thatsum Rag!"
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra on "Knockout Drops"
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra on "More Candy"
Joan Reynolds on "Deep Hollow" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
St. Louis Ragtimers on "Full Steam Ahead and Loaded Up!"
St. Louis Ragtimers on " The St. Louis Ragtimers: Volume 4"
St. Louis Ragtimers on " The St. Louis Ragtimers: Volume 5"
Symphonic Winds on "Ragging the Baby to Sleep"
Turpintyme Ragsters on "Chicken Chowder"
Terry Waldo on "Kinky and Sweet"
Richard Zimmerman on "Ragtime Favorites - Richard Zimmerman"
Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass on "Classics, Vol. 1"
Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass on "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass on "Four Sider"