The Best of Tom Brier: Pianist & Ragtime Legend

Born on October 3rd, 1971 in Oakdale, California, Tom Brier was exposed to ragtime in his earliest years when his parents purchased a player piano. He was all of four years old at the time. Soon, he was picking out on the piano keyboard the ragtime tunes he’d heard off the piano rolls. His parents found him a music teacher when he was five, and very shortly, he was composing and notating his own piano pieces. By the age of 11, he had composed and written the scores to some two dozen rags. His first “serious“ ragtime piece was the “Pine Cone Rag“ of 1982, when Brier was 11 years old. Three years later, he began attending gatherings of the Sacramento Ragtime Society. The 14-year-old prodigy amazed everyone within earshot with his articulate renderings of the ragtime classics, and with his own highly original piano compositions. Eventually making his way as a performer at his first West Coast Ragtime Festival in 1989, he had been a headliner every year since, astounding onlookers with his machine-like precision, sensitive interpretations of more lyrical pieces, and nearly flawless sight-reading technique. Over the last few years, Brier has also begun to augment his collection of original pieces of ragtime sheet music, with a collection numbering over 1,000. And since 1982, he has composed and printed complete, notated scores to over 100 original ragtime compositions, alongside his collaborations with ragtime composers Eric Marchese, Neil Blaze, Gil Lieberknecht, and Kathi Backus. Mr. Brier has also headlined at the annual ragtime festivals in Sutter Creek and Fullerton, California. He has been a regular performer at the “Ragtime Corner“ sponsored by the Sacramento Ragtime Society each Memorial Day weekend at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. He has also appeared in Sedalia and Columbia, Missouri; Phoenix, Arizona; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Vienna, Virginia (Washington, D.C. area). Unfortunately however on August 6th 2016, Mr. Brier was injured in a rear-end collision that left him severely brain damaged, costing him his ability to write, walk, speak, and play piano. He currently resides with his parents in Oakdale, and is receiving ongoing support for his condition from UC Davis. Tom’s family is hopeful that his recovery will continue to improve onward into the future and his friends hope that he may one day return to the piano to continue his love for composition for many more years to come. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Over the Top (2012) 0:03:52 - Parallelograms (2009) 0:07:50 - The Cake Walk at Boomblestein’s Ball (1994) 0:10:47 - Corn-Shucks (1994) 0:13:35 - Three Sisters (1994) 0:16:45 - Elephant Tracks (2012) 0:19:35 - Triangulum (2012) 0:22:44 - That American Rag (2006) 0:25:42 - Skunk Hollow Rag (2012) 0:29:05 - Cookie-Cutter Rag (2009) 0:32:21 - Get This (2006) 0:35:22 - The Wish-Bone Rag (1994) 0:38:24 - Strollin’ (2012) 0:43:10 - Blackberry Fox Trot (2012) 0:48:18 - Texas Tommy Swing (1994) 0:51:15 - Olympia Rag (1994) 0:55:53 - Squirrel Food Rag (2006) 0:58:53 - Balderdash! (2012) 1:02:07 - Blue Lampshade (2012) 1:06:59 Cepheus (2012) 1:11:36 - Olivewood Fox Trot (2009) 1:16:58 - Rising Star (1994) 1:20:01 - S. O. S. [Musician’s Distress] (2006) 1:23:33 - Jelly Roll Fox-Trot (2006) 1:26:35 - Cassiopeia (2012) 1:30:36 - Shiftless Sam (1994) 1:33:51 - Sunlight and Shadow (2012) 1:38:07 - Brier Patch Rag (1994) 1:41:16 - Doghouse Blues (2009) 1:46:54 - A Certain Party (1994) 1:50:06 - Meditation (2012) 1:55:27 - Just Peachy (1994) 1:58:23 - The Alabama Blues (2006) 2:02:40 - Breadline Blues (2012) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music composed by and performed by Tom Brier under his albums “Constellations,“ “Rising Star,“ “Rewind,“ & “Blue Sahara“ featuring Stomp Off Records. (1994) This video is solely for the purposes of compiling and sharing the music of Tom Brier and in no way or means is being used for monetary purposes.