Barbary Coast Piano Man Sid LeProtti in Rare Performances

San Francisco's Barbary Coast was a waterfront hub of dance crazy clubbers and wild new music when piano man Sid LeProtti led his band at Lew Purcell's So Different Cafe on Pacific Street in the heyday of the district - 1907 to 1917.

Thanks to the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation for permission to present these recordings of LeProtti performing tunes he said he played there.

Ballin' the Jack by Chris Smith with lyrics by Jim Burris—a smash hit of the 1913 Ziegfeld Follies, the tune launched a national dance craze.

Darktown Strutters' Ball, by Shelton Brooks—a 1917 Columbia Records release by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band was one of the first hit recordings of the hot new music called jazz.

The Crave,  by Jelly Roll Morton—Sid LeProtti created a sensation on the 1917 Hollywood nightclub scene leading his band performing Morton's as yet unpublished composition with its volatile 'Spanish tinge' or tango dance style.

Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble, by Spencer Williams, published in 1917, the tune became a Jazz Age standard.

Four O'Clock, by Sid LeProtti and performed regularly at Purcell's on Pacific Street in San Francisco.