Ragtime pianist Ethan Uslan to perform during annual Fans' Bash

HUNTINGTON -- When 20-somethings say they like old music, get ready to hear somebody howling Duran Duran's "Hungry Like A Wolf" or George Michael's "Careless Whisper."

But when 28-year-old Ethan Uslan says he likes old music, well, he means it -- old like Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton.

Uslan, the son of Mark and Niza Uslan of Huntington, makes his living as a ragtime pianist who has been on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," featured among other places.

This weekend, Uslan, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C., is back in Huntington as one of the guest artists for the 41st annual Coon Sanders Nighthawks Fans Bash at The Ramada Inn Limited at Exit 11.

Uslan plays Friday and Saturday night along with guitarist Vince Lewis and a slew of top-notch Dixieland Jazz bands including The West End Jazz Band (Chicago) with Leah Labrea, the Windy City Songbird, The Tollhouse Jazz Band (Columbus), The Seven of Jazz, and The Coon Sanders All-Stars.

Uslan also fires up the ivories at 11 a.m. Saturday, for a special musical performance during Buster Keaton's 20-minute-long silent movie, "The Playhouse."

Uslan, who took first place at the 2007 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Peoria, Ill., is one of the hottest names on the ragtime/traditional jazz scene today. He said although he was classically trained, he fell in love with the energy and showmanship of ragtime.

"As a piano player, it's just a lot of fun to play because it has this high energy," Uslan said. "It has a pulse, and it's a lot of fun for me to play. It's flashy, and I like to play the flash stuff. It's as high energy or more high energy than the music you hear on the radio today. Maybe speed metal has higher energy."

Interestingly, Uslan first got full-throttle into ragtime by exploring the genre on the Internet.

"I think what helped a lot was as the Internet came along, like in the late 1990s. I was able to have more access and learn there was more of this music than I knew ever existed," Uslan said. "I was able to get my hands on it and find other people who liked the music as well."

Scouring the Net, Uslan, who lived with his folks here after college for a while, found that one of the country's older fests was right here in Huntington.

"It was something I liked but it wasn't like I was a hardcore addict," Uslan said. "I met the other people who were hardcore ragtime addicts, connected with them and I've become one of them."

Uslan, who's been coming to the Coon Sanders Bash for the past few years, said he just showed up his first year at the jazz fest to jam and was asked to join in on the nighttime concert sessions.

Each year, he's played a little more, and this year, will be providing a live soundtrack to Buster Keaton's 1921 silent movie "The Playhouse."

Uslan, who first saw a silent movie at Coon Sanders Bash a few years ago, said he loved the experience so much that he went home to Charlotte and asked the library to do a program.

He's since done silent movie programs at the library in Charlotte as well as Davidson College.

In October of last year, Uslan, who grew up in South Orange, N.J. and later studied classical piano at Indiana University, was one of the guests on Garrison Keillor's internationally heard radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion."

Playing at Oven Auditorium in Charlotte, Uslan got to play a number of songs on the show including, "My Old Kentucky Home," as well as "Carolina Moon," the title of his 2006 CD.

Uslan said early in the show he was nervous and shivering but ended up giving one of his best performances ever.

"As the show went on, I saw live how much they love the music and how inspired they are," Uslan said of Keillor and the staff. "They're enjoying every second of it, and that is contagious. I found that once I got my jitters out, I was at a level where I was incredibly inspired and playing the best I ever did because I was enjoying myself along with everybody else there."

Uslan, who supports his family playing music full-time, said everyone should come out to take part in Coon Sanders, a rare first-class blast of ragtime and early jazz that transports listeners back to the 1920s and '30s.

"People don't get to hear a lot of live music anymore because we've got 'American Idol' or whatever," Uslan said. "We forget how much more exciting it is to hear music live and to watch people play. The quality of musicianship at Coon Sanders is very high and really has the greats of this genre. Just getting to watch them is awe inspiring."