Trebor Jay Tichenor

Trebor Jay Tichenor (January 28, 1940–February 22, 2014) was a recognized authority on Scott Joplin and the ragtime era. He collected and published others' ragtime piano compositions and composed his own. He authored books about ragtime, and both on his own and as a member of The St. Louis Ragtimers, became a widely known ragtime pianist.

Biography Trebor Jay Tichenor was born in St. Louis, to Robert and Letitia Tichenor. His first name was formed by reversing the letters in his father's first name. He studied piano from the age of five and was influenced by hearing the ragtime piano playing of his mother in her band, Lettie's Collegiate Syncopators.

During the early 1950s, Lou Busch adopted the personality of Joe "Fingers" Carr, and made a series of ragtime recordings. These recordings mightily influenced Trebor's interests in the direction of ragtime. According to the noted sources, in the time frame from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, when Tichenor wasn't acquiring first a high school degree from Country Day School (1958) and then a bachelor of arts from Washington University in St. Louis (1963), he was spending his time acquiring notable collections of original ragtime sheet music and piano rolls and making contact with the active members and legends of the continuing ragtime tradition.

By 1960, Tichenor's house had become renowned in the area as a place where one could hear hours of excellent music by both amateur and professional ragtime musicians. He received encouragement to himself become a professional musician. In 1966 he married Jeanette. They had two children, Virginia (1966) and Andy (1969). Jeanette died in 1986.

In December 2013, Tichenor suffered cerebral hemorrhage that left him debilitated and hospitalized. In the process of recovery, he died at LaClede Groves Rehabilitation Center on the afternoon of February 22, 2014. Starting in 1965, the St. Louis Ragtimers began to perform on the Goldenrod Showboat. According to Terry Waldo, the Ragtimers' forte is the performance of folk ragtime and ragtime songs which reflect the spirit and humor of the ragtime era. The tables at the end of this article show that Tichenor regularly recorded ragtime music, both solo and with others, during a period of over 52 years, starting in 1962. For decades, Tichenor and the St. Louis Ragtimers appeared at various early jazz and ragtime festivals throughout the United States, notably the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival and the West Coast Ragtime Festival.

Expertise and publication Tichenor was an acknowledged expert on aspects of ragtime and the ragtime era. He co-founded and co-edited the Ragtime Review in 1961. He co-authored an article on ragtime piano rolls. Various authors have noted that he had either the largest collection of ragtime piano rolls in the world, or one of them. In addition, he often made his significant collection of ragtime piano sheet music available, e.g., as in the publication of a definitive, two-volume set of Scott Joplin's collected rags. His relatively early conversations with ragtime figures such as Bob Darch and Arthur Marshall have led to discoveries in the history of ragtime. Attendant on the film The Sting, popular interest in ragtime was powerfully renewed. During his performance years at the Showboat Goldenrod, Tichenor did a brief stint around 1971 at community radio station KDNA-FM, St. Louis. In a one-hour weekly program, he introduced the radio audience to the history of ragtime. He contributed two volumes of a total of 127 rags which gave a broader perspective on the kind and quality of ragtime piano music of the years between 1897 and 1917. Ragtime Rarities was published in 1975, and Ragtime Rediscoveries was published in 1979. With David A. Jasen, in 1978 Tichenor published a widely read compendium Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. Tichenor has also written a number of short articles for various ragtime publications under the topics ragtime history, ragtime figures, and ragtime piano repertory. Finally, he has himself been the subject of various short articles as well as bibliographical citations. Tichenor had the weekly radio program Ragophile in St. Louis from 1973-1987. He taught the Ragtime course for many years as a Lecturer in Music at Washington University.

Composition Tichenor began composing his own brand of country ragtime, completing about 2 dozen of them in a 25-year period. He was an acknowledged exponent of this folk ragtime. His three folios of rags are noted at the end of this article.

Solo Recordings

Recordings with others Title ID Place/DateThe St. Louis Ragtimers' First Major AppearanceRagophile Collectable SeriesTS81-359/360; LPrecording of the band's first major appearance, September 30, 1961, in Pierce City, MissouriThe St. Louis RagtimersAudiophile AP 75; LPRecorded in 1962The St. Louis Ragtimers Volume 2Audiophile AP 81; LPRecorded in 1964The St. Louis Ragtimers Volume 3Paseo Stereo DF 102; LPThe St. Louis Ragtimers Volume 4Audex Stereo AX 102; LPRecorded in 1973The St. Louis Ragtimers Volume 5Audiophile AP 122; LPRecorded in 1977The St. Louis Ragtimers Volume 6 "Early Portraits"Technisonic TS80-46-47; LPRecorded September 29, 1979The St. Louis Ragtimers Volume 7Ragophile TSLR-007; LPRecorded September 6, 1986The St. Louis Ragtimers "Full Steam Ahead and Loaded Up"Stomp Off Records 1267; CDRecorded in 199357 Diff'rent Kinds of BluesPianoMania Music PM130; CD1996. Tichenor contributed one track.Virginia's FavoritesPianoMania Music PM133A; CDRecorded in 1996. Tichenor plays 4 tracks with daughter Virginia.The Family Album - The Tichenor Family TrioRagophile 1002; CDRecorded in 2000.A Circle of Friends - Friends of Scott JoplinFOSJ-001; CDRecorded in 2002. Tichenor contributed two tracks.Ragtime Reunion - The Tichenor Family FiveRagophile 1003; CDRecorded in 2004.Music of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair: Meet Me at the FairGaslight Records GSL-S102; CDReleased in 2004. Tichenor contributed one track.

Music folios Tichenor, T (1996). "Tempus Ragorum", Morgan Publishing. Tichenor, T (2002). "Mississippi Valley Ragtime", Morgan Publishing. Tichenor, T (2005). "Missouri Rags", Morgan Publishing.