[Dixielandjazz] Re: Wild Cat Blues

[John Farrell]

Greetings Bill,

Right now I'm fighting jetlag (returned last night after two weeks in Reno)
but will try to answer some of your questions sensibly before I fall off my
chair.

Yes, the Automatic music rolls were used in nickelodeons and similar
machines - there were several companies making this type of multi-tune roll
including Columbia, Capitol, Clark and Wurlitzer. A nickel would be dropped
into the machine, the roll would play one tune then stop until another coin
was received.

There is some terrific jazz material on some of these rolls, the most
notable being those manufactured by Capitol who employed wonderful black
artists such as Jimmy Blythe (who you have mentioned) and Harry Geise
playing a style of piano music which became known as Southside Chicago - a
direct relation to stride piano. It is thought that this type of thing was
put mostly into machines installed in bars frequented by the black
community, in other words it was aimed at the black market in similar
fashion to race recordings.

Piano roll collecting is still very much a thriving hobby, particularly in
USA. I have seen some truly enormous collections there - I thought that my
own collection was pretty impressive until I saw those ! The principal
online mailing list is MMD (Mechanical Music Digest) to which I belong, the
list is moderated by my old friend, respected pianist Robbie Rhodes. Check
out http://mmd.foxtail.com/ - there you will find a wealth of subject matter
covering all aspects of music produced by mechanical means and the machines
which played it together with a mine of information on how to fix your
machine when it goes wrong. My own Fats rollography is in the MMD archives
if you would care to take a peek at it.

There are a number of books on piano rolls, mostly rollographies, and
several comprehensive manuals on rebuilding and repairing player pianos,
nickelodeons, music boxes and the like. Any other expert information can be
obtained on MMD, someone on the list is sure to know the answer to the most
esoteric problems which arise.

Not being a record collector I do not know what piano roll recordings are
available - except mine, of course! So far as I know the "Queen of the
Blues" roll has never been issued as a recording although the roll itself
has been copied a number of times and should not be too difficult to find. I
have listened to it over and over, believe me - that version of Wild Cat
Blues came straight off the published (by Clarence Williams) sheet music and
is certainly not the work of Fats.

I'm going to bed 'cos I'm knackered - take care,

John Farrell
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au>
To: "John Farrell" <stridepiano at tesco.net>; "dixieland jazz mail list"
<dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 8:22 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Wild Cat Blues


> Dear John,
> Thank you for that piano roll information.
> These things (as you know) fascinate me.
> Were the Automatic Music Rolls the same as used in the coin-operated
> nickelodeon special electric player pianos popular in US public places
> during the 1920s?
> (I have two Jimmy Blythe LPs of Capitol Music Roll Company nickelodeon
> material issued by Euphonic many years ago.)
> Unfortunately, for most of us, the world of piano roll research appears to
> be a closed shop and is rarely mentioned in a jazz sense.
> I am sure there is an underground movement of piano roll enthusiasts out
> there, but we only hear of it, and the handful of acknowledged experts,
> occasionally.
> Much like we discographal researchers were in the 1940s. Beavering away
> silently.
> Reissues of piano roll material (apart from the obvious - Joplin, Morton,
> Waller, James P, etc.) appear to be almost non-existent, apart from a few
> LPs in the 70s.
> Are there any available books on the subject?
> Is there an email list (like DJML)?
> How do we hear "Queen Of The Blues (Wildcat Blues)"?
> Has anyone issued it on CD yet.
> In fact (apart from Biograph) what piano roll CDs are currently available?
> Thank goodness for your great web site, which has opened up the genre to
> many on the DJML.
> Very kind regards,
> Bill.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz