Jared DiBartolomeo

An engineering graduate of University of California at Irvine, Jared DiBartolomeo helps revive ragtime for a new generation.

Jared was first exposed to ragtime at the age of two when his father played the Maple Leaf Rag on the home piano. The syncopated rhythms left an impression on Jared, and at age eight he started taking formal piano lessons. Within a year and a half, he was playing The Entertainer. After receiving a folio of Scott Joplin’s rags and some recordings, Jared dove deeper into ragtime enthusiasm, and over the next nine years expanded his repertoire to include the works of other ragtime composers, as well as novelty and stride piano.

A major turning point occurred in 2004 when Jared chose ragtime as the subject of a research paper for a music literature class at Diablo Valley College. He attended the West Coast Ragtime Festival for the first time and had the opportunity to interview six musicians, one of whom was Marty Eggers, known for his vast knowledge of ragtime and traditional jazz. Portions of Jared’s paper were later published in the West Coast Ragtimer. Jared began studying ragtime with Marty Eggers in early 2005, and since then has had numerous opportunities to perform at San Francisco’s Pier 23, the SRS Ragtime Corner at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, and the Eau Claire Ragtime Festival.

"Ragtime puts smiles on people's faces. The music is very joyful.", Jared says. "Engineering and ragtime both involve solving problems, figuring out how to go from an idea to a finished product. There's a set of rules and a structure. I like being able to work creatively within a framework."