To celebrate Black History Month, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church presents “Scott Joplin: American Trailblazer,” a musical tribute to Black American composer/pianist Scott Joplin (1868-1917), on Saturday, February 17, at 5:30 p.m. Guest vocalists and instrumentalists will perform Joplin’s ragtime music and selections from his opera “Treemonisha.”
Among the guest artists will be pianist/composer/bandleader Joe Block, who has been hailed by Jazz at Lincoln Center as one of "jazz's most promising young composers." He will perform some favorites among Joplin’s 40 ragtime pieces, including “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag”, both featured in “The Sting”, 1974’s Best Picture Oscar winner. Block has worked and played with many esteemed musicians, including Wynton Marsalis, Chris Potter, Leslie Odom Jr., Ari Hoenig, Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, among others. He has received numerous awards and national recognition, including from Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Telluride Jazz Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival, to name a few.