King of the ivories Eubie Blake was a ragtime virtuoso and a pioneer of stride—a syncopated style of playing jazz piano that first found footing in Harlem in the ‘20s and '30s. His jubilant, hard-hitting covers of sprightly standards like “Maple Leaf Rag” display his deeply held love for ragtime revolutionary Scott Joplin, while “Baltimore Buzz / In Honeysuckle Time” (from Blake's trailblazing Broadway musical Shuffle Along) illustrate how his traditional influences could be taken to a whole new arena.