New Attempt (Nuevo Intento) (Ezequiel Pallejá, 2001). When everything in life seems to be lost, a new attempt may be the magic bullet to reverse the situation. [Ezequiel Pallejá]

Niggerpiccolo - Ragtime (Siegwart Ehrlich, 1919). This nice little rag was written in 1919 by the German composer Siegwart Ehrlich. Born on December 17, 1881 in Leipzig, he lived in Berlin and since 1933 in Barcelona, Spain. His pseudonyms were: "Victorio" and Sydney Ward. This piece was discovered by Christian Reichel in one of his old parlour music albums.

Nonpareil - None to Equal (Scott Joplin, 1907). There is no copyright date registered for "Nonpareil", but according to notice on music it was published in 1907 by John Stark Co., New York and St. Louis. It's dedicated to Miss Mildred Ponder of whom nothing is known. The front page of the sheet music has a slightly different title, namely "The Nonpareil - A Rag & Two Step".

This MIDI sequence of "Nonpareil" was recorded at Jere Debacker's in Denver, Colorado by Frank French in March, 2004. [Oleg Mezjuev]

North Star (Brian Keenan, 1994-95). My awareness of the tango and habanera rhythms as a means of expression was enforced by being exposed to so much masterpieces as Scott Kirby's "Ravenna" and Butch Thompson's "A Solas". These rhythms subsequently played a major role in my "Piano Concertino" (1992-93). "North Star", then, is my first fully Latin-American solo effort, with slight touches of the chromaticism that creeps up in much of today's compositional practices. [Brian Keenan]