Review by "Coney Island" Todd Robbins - Hot Piano Society of New York

Brent Watkins should be nicknamed ‘Bring ‘Em Back Alive’ Watkins.  His recording The Heroes of Parlor Town Volume 2 presents a banquet of musical treats.  He doesn’t just play the music, he breathes life into each composition.  Brent’s approach to the tunes blends respect for the intent of the composer with his own variations and embellishments.  It is a skillful balancing act, and he pulls it off admirably.  One listen to this album and you understand why this music was THE music of the early part of 20th Century.  But you won’t want to stop with a single listen.  You will be drawn back to this album and listen to it over and over again. 

The Heroes of Parlor Town Volume 2 has it all.  There is the prancing Harlem Rag and the shifting moods of Cole Smoak.  The ubiquitous Entertainer is played with a freshness that will make you enjoy this tune as if you are hearing it for the first time.  Scott Joplin is also represented with two other important compositions, the heartbreakingly beautiful waltz Bethena and the lush Gladiolus Rag.  James Scott’s Ragtime Oriole is played by Brent with a true command and understanding of this intricate tune.  Princess Rag is an obscure tune that in Brent’s hands is a real find.  Brent’s take on W. C. Simon’s Sponge is a nice change and a haunting surprise.  St. Louis Blues has both class and nice dose of the low down in it.  James White’s Original Chicago Blues reminds us that the popularity of the blues came forth during the ragtime era.  Eubie Blake’s Baltimore Todolo will put a smile on your face or there is something wrong with your smiling apparatus!  Brent’s Broadway Medley shows the musical theater’s debt to ragtime and the great artists that created this music.  In a Mist and In the Dark are two rich piano compositions by the great and tragic Bix Beiderbecke.  They are another branch of the musical tree that has ragtime at its roots.  Brent tackles the challenge of playing a transcription of James P. Johnson’s arrangement of Cryin’ for the Carolines, and he succeeds in doing justice to this master musician.  The album finishes off with a romping original composition by Brent called Cedar River Ramble.  It shows that Brent can not only play the music well but write it well too.

Heroes of Parlor Town Volume 2 continues Brent Watkins quest to pay tribute to some neglected American artists that made major contributions to world of music, but have now all but been forgotten.  He captures all the strut and swagger of their music and evokes images the time and place from which their compositions came.  Brent has undertaken an ambition task with his Heroes of Parlor Town project and he completely succeeds in achieving his goals.