Ragtime Rick and the Chefs of Dixieland is a 7-piece Traditional Jazz Band  "sure to make
you smile!"    Rick Grafing operated his own club,  Ragtime Rick's First Draught,  for over 22
years in Toledo,  Ohio.    After the popular landmark closed in 2003,  he resumed his career

as a ragtime performer, playing at concert halls, private parties, Jazz Festivals, Senior Citizen

Centers – and anywhere that folks gathered to be entertained and have fun.

    His son John Grafing, at the time a trumpet student at the University of Toledo, and Ben
Herrick, a UT Graduate and trombone player, suggested that they form a "hot jass band." 
The restaurant attire and aprons from the First Draught were recycled as band uniforms,

and the Chefs of Dixieland were born.   Rick's wife, "Banjo Betsy " Grafing,  moved from
kitchen to the banjo chair and Wes Linenkugel, a crowd favorite on several instruments,

began a new musical career as the band’s drummer.    Gene Giesige joined the rhythm

section on the string bass, and Jan Mudica completed the front line on soprano sax (the

Chefs call it a "fish horn").

   In September, 2005, the Chefs were hired to play at Sodbusters Saloon in Sylvania, Ohio.

On their very first night, the band performed New Orleans Jazz while the city of New Orleans

was devastated by  Hurricane Katrina's flood waters.  Fortunately, the climate in Ohio was

much more considerate.   The Chefs continued playing there every week for over five years,
until the club (then renamed the Main Street Bar & Grill) closed.
 
    But the band didn't sit idle.  The Chefs of Dixieland returned to South Toledo, to Trotter’s

Tavern, just around the corner from the former Ragtime Rick’s.  They play once a month on 
Wednesday Nights from 8 to 10:30 PM.  

    For more information about Trotter’s Tavern or any public performance by  Ragtime Rick

and the Chefs of Dixieland, see the information posted on the EVENTS page of this Website.