The New York Daily News - May 1992

Making His Mark in Ragtime

For his doctoral thesis at Columbia University, Mark Birnbaum composed a little thing entitled "Composition for 13 Instruments," which musically is a far piece from what he is playing now. "I'm into ragtime bigtime," he says. "I love it."

Birnbaum, 39 plays it Monday through Thursday at Rossini's, in midtown Manhattan, and Friday and Saturday at Charmont, on the West Side.

This is a big ragtime year. Most historians agree it's the 100th anniversary of the first published rag - "Pallet on the Floor." Birnbaum says he is one