William Bolcom is a Washington state native who studied on the west coast and in Paris. He taught at the University of Michigan’s School of Music for 35 years. His compositions cover all genres including operas, symphonies, concertos, film scores, chamber music, songs, and solo piano works. He often performs with his musical partner and wife, Joan Morris. Their most recent album was released in 2015. 

Bolcom composed a set of three Ghost Rags in a converted garage next to a cemetery along the Hudson River in Newburgh, New York. The year was 1971, not long before he joined the Michigan faculty. The first of the three has become one of his most popular works. The “Graceful Ghost” is dedicated to his late father, whose presence he always felt around the piano when he played at night. In the late 1960s, there was a revival of Scott Joplin’s music, including his well-known rags. Bolcom was one of many composers who wrote rags in response to this revival. Unlike the Joplin rags, Bolcom’s piece is quite relaxed and melancholy. Bolcom has arranged the rag for band, and there are many transcriptions available for various instrument combinations.