James P. Johnson, Jazz Pianist & Composer 

Really wonderful upload!

James P. Johnson, soft-spoken as he was, was known in the Harlem cutting contests (the improvisatory piano "rap battles" of yesteryear) as "The Brute". He played bold chords with dazzling yet delicate passages in between that completely destroyed the competition in those days and he was known to use deep cuts of Liszt, Chopin and other classical masters as introductions in combat to intimidate the competition. His counterpoint is unrivalled in its speed, inventiveness and balance, evoking Bach from his deep classical training (see Jingles, Keep Off The Grass, Caprice Rag, and others). To play and lose to Johnson was expected, and yet it would still cost you your career. Or so the legends go.

Fascinating!

Very nice

This era of jazz also had a lot of European influence from immigrants coming to New York City, New York City was the melting pot of people, music, culture etc. ..