Thank you for viewing my channel. About my piano, it is a beautiful ... and sometimes out of tune... 😉 ... Smith & Barnes upright player. Built in 1914, it has been in my family for nearly 100 years. It was fully restored in 2021, including reconditioning of the cabinet and original bench to what it looked like brand new. We matched the cabinet stain to the original as well. I opted to keep the foot pumped action as opposed to the electric vacuum system. Thus, the slight movements in the camera as I'm filming because I'm holding the camera as I operate the foot pedals. I did keep the original ivory keys, and they don't look too bad at all with a clean-up. All new German Abel hammers were installed during the restoration. I'll continue to post well-known and some not so well known rolls. Some you'll like, some you won't and that's OK. I feel like these musical works of art, by roll artists long since gone, should be preserved and shared with the world! Thanks, and enjoy.
@@PiotrBarcz I might already have it. I'll have to check. She was a fascinating lady. There's a photo of her and JLC at a festival sitting together at a table in the early 1970s. Her story is interesting.
@@SevenPlus65 Yeah, and then there's that footage of her playing at the Amica convention in the 1970s! That's probably where Skw's signature roll was signed.
@@PiotrBarczI looked at my rolls. I don't have the Pauline A version but I do have a rare Ideal roll of this song. No artist is listed, but its most likely Ed Sheppard. I need to play it again.
@@rowanbelt3612 Yeah but at QRS he started working after they bought out US Music which I can't remember which year that was but in the whole scheme of things, this is an early roll considering Cook arranged some of the last rolls in the *9000* series decades later.
@@PiotrBarcz He worked at QRS before they bought US, that's why he initially had to moonlight under different names like Eubie Jones, Jack Pierce etc. He was contracted to QRS at that point. But yes, it is early in the scheme of things when you consider he was working until the 1960s!
@@lawriefoster5587 Thank you so very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully there are other rolls I've posted that will be of interest to you as well.
@@SevenPlus65 Ah so I was reasonably close XD Actually, I may have commented on the wrong video. I thought I wrote this referring to what was previously a 6000 series roll not an Imperial 08 series roll.
This piano doesn't appear to be equipped with a Duo-Art system, so I presume either it is one from the mid to late 20s with no pneumatics for the top and bottom several notes (to allow reproducing rolls to play without thumping and tinkling), OR they did possibly tape the top and bottom few holes on the tracker bar.
@OttoVonChesterfield234 It is not a Duo-Art piano nor an AMPICO. It's a standard 88 note 2 valve player that was built in 1914. I do put tape over the last 5 holes on both bass and treble. I'm able to use the hand operated expression buttons to help enhance the song.
Wow! Thank you so very much for this information. I very much appreciate it. This isn't a very good recording... I was in the earliest of stages of posting when I posted this one, and the piano was out of tune. If you'd like, I'd be happy to rerecord it and post it again? I also have McPhails Supertone roll 5678 of the same song. I also own the Supertone Yearning roll by McPhail #5572 if that's of interest to you? You mentioned you are collecting, scanning and making digital copies. I'm highly interested in what you have going on! My collection of rolls isn't that big, only about 800, but amongst them, there might be rolls collectors and archivists might be interested in?...I don't know, just a guess. Please let me know if you're looking for anything soecific or would like to hear more McPhail rolls. I will read and reread what you've written. You mentioned Dave Junchen. I love his arrangements and plan on posting a few this year at Christmas time. (Silver Bells) and Santa Claus is coming To town. Its not credited to him, but I believe its his arrangements.
I remember this song from a movie years ago. It was rather slower and perhaps wistful? When I remember where I can place it and by whom I will let you know. Terrific tune! 💕👍😊
Thanks for posting this great roll! The original Capitol editions of these arrangements (which are the most complete versions issued) can be hard to find, due to the quality of the paper, and lesser numbers originally sold than the equivalent Sears-Roebuck "Supertone" versions (if any). So of course I collect them to have them scanned and preserved. Listening to this arrangement, after JUST having heard Lindsay McPhail's 1921 "Olympic" brand 78 rpm record of his song "San", I can now actually hear some of McPhail's actual piano style (which I consider at least partially influenced by Felix Arndt and Roy Bargy, from listening critically) underneath all the accretions of editor/arranger Roy Rodocker (who loved to add his own 'ingredients' to just about every pianist's performance/arrangement that they recorded for Columbia/Capitol, presumably to 'spice it up'. These additions include all the bluesy 'swoops' up and down, various other bluesy slurs and grace notes here and there, and sudden, jolting rhythmic breaks in the bass. We have so few actual audio recordings of Mr McPhail, it is almost impossible to say how he would have actually played a blues (for example), so perhaps he used more of these slurs and swoops when actually playing a blues. But the fact that those particular pianistic devices are identical on all Columbia/Capitol rolls, regardless of which pianist is named, makes me seriously believe that Mr. Rodocker added them himself. Indeed, from later interviews with people close to Mr. Rodocker (like Capitol arranger/editor P. M. Keast) and/or regular recording Capitol pianists (like Johnny Honnert and Pearl White), it seems that Mr. Rodocker did love to add his own musical ingredients, with the result that all popular Columbia / Capitol rolls are about 50% editor/arranger (usually Mr. Rodocker, less commonly Mr. Keast or Ralph Goolman) and about 50% the credited pianist(!!!) While this sort of monkeying was not unusual on vintage rolls (which were made as commercial items, not thought of then as immortal documents or recordings, at least the pop rolls weren't), the ratio of arranger vs pianist was a bit extreme here, but I agree with the late Dave Junchen that 'this editing was in excellent musical taste'. For folks who like hot jazz, Columbia and Capitol rolls are real toe-tappers! The only recorded known Columbia/Capitol pianists whose work I've heard, that actually included those swoops and slurs in their contemporary and earlier audio recordings, are blues/jazz pianists Clarence Johnson, James Blythe, and Alex Hill, as well as Clarence M. Jones. Jones, being Blythe's piano teacher and also highly influential on the Chicago scene, probably originated at least a few of those devices, with no doubt others coming from unrecorded or later-recorded itinerant blues pianists who performed in Chicago and greatly influenced the more schooled musicians listed above. (so, for example, probably Jimmy Yancey and 'Cripple' Clarence Lofton who were of an older generation, and whose later audio recordings show a clear link with these mentioned artists). P. M. Keast in his interview with Art Reblitz (in the 1970s) recalled that a couple of Black pianists used to come to the factory to record blues and other music (pop songs of the day), with all these recording sessions personally supervised by Mr. Rodocker because 'he loved their styles'. So no doubt this included mainstay/house artists James Blythe, Clarence Johnson and (later) Alex Hill, as well as guest(?) pianists Sam Williams, Everett Robbins, Clarence M. Jones, Lloyd Smith, and (audibly) William E. "Buddy" Burton. No doubt their music rubbed off on Rodocker so much, that he couldn't resist 'doctoring' up other performances by the likes of McPhail, Marg Thompson, Kyle Pierce, and several others, with these ideas.
@PiotrBarcz They sure did! Those pianists at Ideal (Rose Valley) knew a piano had 88 keys, and there was no reason why they shouldn't try using as many of them in one song as they could. Compare these Ideal rolls to some of those sleeper/ boring Hi Babbitt arrangements 😴. You do a lot of runs & scales when you play, and I always enjoy that. They are in the Ideal rolls too.
@@SevenPlus65 Hi Babit's rolls of Granada and Beer Barrell Polka are his only decent ones xD The polka one especially, I love it. I still like to play more like these old 20s rolls, arpeggios are my life!
Great roll and great player, this guy recorded under a number of names,but I've heard are all superior playing...tatum recorded this piece,but I like this roll better...
@@PiotrBarcz I hesitated if I should even post it....it has always seemed like a kind of boring arrangement to me, but like you, I love the song! Thanks for watching 😁
@@SevenPlus65 Boring... perfect description xD Sounds like a Hi Babit arrangement, dry, uninteresting, I wonder if George Holmes is his pseudonym maybe? Hey at least the piano makes up for it xD
@@PiotrBarcz Well that's a very appreciated way of looking at it! Thanks. 😄 George Holmes was a pseudonym for Dick Watson. According to Billings, there were 35 "George Holmes" rolls issued at QRS. To further complicate things, Dick Watsons real name was Richard Wolfson, born in 1915. He was the chief arranger at QRS from 1963 - 1968. He needed JLC back to help him with Flowers on the Wall in my humble opinion.
@@SevenPlus65 Dick Watson? Yeah I don't know, he rarely made a truly boring roll, this sounds nothing like him. Dick Watson was a pseudonym too, Richard Wolfson was the pianist behind it.
This sounds wonderful on your old piano. I don't know / didn't know this song. I'll keep an eye for it. This is another one of those great early 1930s songs.
I remember hearing that Max Kortlander recorded his last roll sometime earlier, and anything later that used his name would have been someone else's work. Maybe I am wrong about the date though. Somehow 1931 sticks in my mind. I guess this would be Cook since I'm assuming QRS had to lay off all their extra staff by 1933 due to the Depression? Anyway, I really enjoyed this. I detect influences from various great artists of the previous decade. Thanks for an excellent post!!
I have no reason to doubt the Cook & Kortlander story. That could've easily been the case I'm curious what artists you might be hearing from previous times? Cook?... anyone else?
@@OttoVonChesterfield234 I just checked your channel but don't see any videos. Do you post any? I would love to see your JLC version if possible! Also, would love to see your piano too. I'm always interested in the pianos people own.
This was transcribed into a roll master by the late John Farrell. There's a LOT of JAM rolls and other brands that you'll like is Jazz Master, Collector's Classics and BAM-BAM! They all feature some of the best arrangements known to man!
@PiotrBarcz Then in that case, I am even more happy to be able to share this with people who might not otherwise ever get the chance to hear Schutts arrangements..
@@PiotrBarcz Yes this came from one of the legendary reel-to-reel tape recordings of Schutt from c. 1962 where he played as a guest for (dinner?) parties at a couple's house in San Francisco. They recorded him playing solo on their Steinway grand piano, and then the tapes were saved by a local piano technician / restorer who bought the piano from the widow of the couple. There are supposedly hours of his solo playing on these, although the only selections made public or circulated, to my knowledge, were dubbed to a cassette tape, several copies of which were distributed to some vintage pianist/ragtime/jazz enthusiasts in the SF Bay area and beyond, in the 1980s(?) and 90s. A dozen or so selections from this cassette were digitized by George Bogatko in the 90s and posted as RealAudio files to his "Inlux Editions" website at that time. They do not appear to currently be on his website, and I haven't heard them in over a decade. One of my current projects is to try to track down those tapes and get them all professionally digitized. I have a lead on where they might be, that I need to pursue (after first helping my parents move out of their house... the current project!)
Yes, John Farrell (d. 2007) had absolute pitch, I *think*, and was reportedly a very good trad jazz pianist himself, although I have never heard an actual recording of him actually playing. He transcribed a great number of original solo audio recordings of legendary pianists of the 20s and 30s, directly into piano roll masters, and also arranged dozens of other pieces (mostly novelty rags etc) into rolls in his _own_ arrangements, based on the published sheet music. This includes some very rare pieces never previously known to have been cut into rolls. I don't have a catalog of all the rolls he did, on the "JazzMaster", "RagMaster", and "JAM" roll labels, among others (I think Bob Pinsker does), but it certainly numbers in the hundreds. I believe John got copies of sheet music from the late Frank Himpsl, as well as Alex Hassan and Robbie Rhodes. He most likely bought the record reissues (from which he transcribed the recorded performances) direct from the UK outlets stocking them (on the Folkways, Herwin, Euphonic, and Black & White record labels, among others), but I'm not positive.
Arthur made some two (duet) piano recordings with a woman named Marlene Fingerle. They're on Lps called "Songs of Our times". One is songs of 1929 the other songs of 1926, and one for 1936. The series was actually recorded on 78's in about 1946 and then later transferred to Lps.
