Glenn Jenks

Jenks was a "prolific ragtime composer, teacher and performer from Maine who fused traditional ragtime with classical music themes".^[7] He attended the New England Conservatory^[6] before going on to receive a degree in music from Earlham College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Jenks toured with singer-songwriter Jud Strunk between 1975 and 1978.^[8] He also performed with such acts as Manhattan Transfer, Dick Hyman, Gordon Bok, Doc Watson^[9] and Andy Williams.^[2] In 1978, Jenks began his solo performing career and in 1979 released his first album entitled Antidote on the Bonnie Banks record label.^[6]

Throughout the 1980s, Jenks served as pianist for the New England Vaudeville Review, the New Vaudeville Revival,^[10] and husband and wife dance duo Tony and Karen Montanaro.^[2] Jenks was an original founding member of numerous ragtime festivals and between 1989 and 2000 he produced the Harvest Ragtime Revue in Camden, Maine.^[11][10][6] Jenks was a noted ornithologist and botany specialist on roses who conducted tours of gardens throughout the Camden area.^[12] He founded the annual Rose Day celebration at the Merryspring Nature Center.^[13]

“As a performer, Jenks was known for his energetic playing, focusing mostly on traditional ragtime idioms. As a composer, he wrote wonderfully sensitive rags, sticking close to the traditional ragtime form, but blending in sophisticated contemporary harmonies. He wrote over 30 piano rags, a string quartet, a ragtime piano concerto and many non-ragtime compositions as well.”

— Corte Swearingen^[6]

Jenks was commissioned by Down East Singers to compose Heaven and Earth are Full of Thy Glory for their concert tour of Russia.^[14] His String Quartet in Ragtime has been recorded and performed by several string quartets including the Laurentian Quartet,^[15][16] Vancadium Quartet and the Halcyon Quartet.^[12]

Jenks died on January 21, 2016, in Portland, Maine.^[1]

In 2019, the Glenn Jenks Ragtime Revue premiered at the Camden Opera House in Camden, Maine.^[11] The Revue revived a tradition that Jenks started 30 years prior which brought nationally-known artists together in "song, dance, humor and ragtime."^[11][17] The Revue has presented awards to various ragtime performers including Sue Keller, Edward A. Berlin and Max Morath.^[11][18] It also sponsors the "Glenn Jenks Future in Music Prize" in association with the Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School in Rockport, Maine.^[19][5]

In 2020, a collection of Jenk’s complete rags for piano was released.^[20][21] In May 2024, American pianist Corte Swearingen released the album The Complete Ragtime Works for Piano by Glenn Jenks - Vol. 1.^[22] The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri posthumously awarded Jenks their 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award.^[23]

• Jenks, Glenn (1993). A Garden of Ragtime, Squanlake Music. 68 pages.^[28]
• Jenks, Glenn (2020). The Complete Ragtime Works For Piano by Glenn Jenks. 265 pages.^[29]

• Glenn Jenks at IMDb
• Maine Public Radio: An Exploration of Ragtime - Glenn Jenks
• List of Piano Compositions Archived 2023-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Glenn Jenks Archived 2023-04-30 at the Wayback Machine at YouTube