When George Roy Hill’s 1973 blockbuster movie The Sting used Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer as its theme tune it sent people dashing off to CD stores – remember those? – to buy the music, especially Joshua Rifkin’s album of the previous year which “rediscovered” the Ragtime King’s works. Joplin’s influence pervades Rhythms of Green & Gold, an aptly entertaining collection of jazz-tinged piano pieces by contemporary Australian composers on Melbourne’s Move label, played by versatile Mudgee pianist-composer John Martin.

It gets off to a gentle, almost genteel start, with three cameos by piano teacher Amanda Handel of Penrith Conservatorium in Sydney. There are hints of WC Handy’s St Louis Blues in the ambling Blue Laze. Canberra-based Matthew Dennett, who plays with the band Monsieur Camembert, pays homage to Thelonius Monk with Round Midday, while Rod Heard, from NSW’s Hunter Valley, draws on his jazz piano experience for his Rags To Riches Suite...