William Bolcom (b. 1938) is an award-winning composer whose music spans many genres, from the wind band to piano works to opera. Those awards include four Grammy Awards for a recording of his setting of Williams Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience on the Naxos label, a Pulitzer Prize, and the National Medal of Arts. He taught at the University of Michigan for 35 years before retiring in 2008. His official website, with many many links, is easily the best portal to understanding him on the web. Also check out this interview with Bolcom and his page on NPR.com. In addition to composing, he performs alongside his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, as part of the cabaret duo Bolcom and Morris.
Bolcom originally wrote Graceful Ghost Rag in 1970 as part of a trio of piano pieces inspired by a renewed interest at the time in Scott Joplin’s music. Graceful Ghost was the first of the set. It is a melancholy piece infused with reminiscences of the composer’s late father. The 3 Ghost Rags set became Bolcom’s most popular piano set. In 2011, he created a wind band version that he scored with the sound of a ragtime band in mind.
The North Texas Wind Symphony performs the wind band version:
Here is the piano original:
See more at Keiser Southern Music, JW Pepper, Hal Leonard, the Wind Repertory Project, and Classical FM.