William Krell

American musician

PersonhumanQ550366

Also known as William Henry Krell

Born: May 1868
Died: September 30, 1933
1
Sources
1.Stated in BnF authorities
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Place of death: Miami
Citizenship: United States
Occupation: composer
1
Sources
1.Stated in Classical ArchivesRetrieved 2022-04-05
View statement on Wikidata ↗
, jazz musician

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

William Henry Krell (1868–1933) composed one of the early mature rag or ragtime compositions in 1897 called Mississippi Rag, published in New York by S. Brainard's Sons and copyrighted on January 27, 1897. The sheet music stated that it was the first rag-time two step ever written and was first played by Krell's Orchestra in Chicago although the structure is in the form of a patrol march. Many historians believe that "Mississippi Rag" was more so of a cake walk composition than a ragtime. The cover shows a group of all ages dancing to a banjo player before onlookers sitting on a pile of stacked cotton bales on a dock on the Mississippi River. Krell also composed the rag Shake Yo' Dusters! or Piccaninny Rag in 1898. "Mississippi Rag" was one of the compositions that help popularize the genre known as ragtime.

Overview

All data

25 statements · 32% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Sex or gender: male
1
Sources
1.Stated in general catalog of BnFRetrieved 2026-07-23
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Given name: William
Instrument: piano
Genre: ragtime
Family name: Krell

On other databases

13 identifiers linking William Krell across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

32%

externally sourced

Source last edited July 23, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). William Krell (Q550366). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/william-krell-Q550366