Stride was always a cutting-edge style, hard to play and, to judge
by the paucity of recordings, not a commercial proposition.  That's
probably why its origins are obscure.  It's a shame there's not more
pure Stride Piano on roll.

There's not a lot on record either -- even James P. Johnson only
recorded a very few of his pure compositions at his peak in the 1920s
-- virtually his whole output on roll was of Tin Pan Alley tunes with
a few stride breaks.

One of the great Stride pianists represented on roll is Luckey Roberts.
I have certainly seen at least one reference book credit him as inspir-
ing James P. Johnson's style.

Roberts made very few disc recordings -- a set from 1916 were never
issued and appear to be lost (which is a real shame).  Two of his rolls
of 1919 for Vocalstyle are wonderful (Blue Fever and Railroad Blues).
Years later, in 1958, he recorded an LP 'Luckey and the Lion', with
Willie 'The Lion' Smith, now available on CD.  Railroad Blues on that,
40 years later, is uncannily similar to the roll.  His best Stride
roll is 'Mo'lasses' on QRS from 1923.

Aeolian recorded a series of James P. Johnson playing his own
compositions in 1917, but although not apparently commercially-
compromised, they still show a fairly early style.  The handful of
QRS 'instrumental' rolls from the early 1920s show his mature style --
Harlem Strut and Carolina Shout are two of the best.  Harlem Strut
is pretty well an exact match for the contemporary Black Swan disc
recording.

I'm not really sure that I would count Jimmy Blythe as a Stride
pianist.  Semantics, really -- perhaps I just think of Stride in an
over-narrow sense of Harlem Stride as played by Johnson and Waller.

Blythe is a major early boogie pianist -- a style that Waller, at
least, held in very low esteem.  Blythe's extraordinary infectious
rhythms and very free phrasing are quite different to the driving
beat of Stride.

Peter Silvester's book, 'A left hand like God', goes into Blythe and
these early boogie pianists in fascinating detail.  This early boogie
style is better represented on roll -- particularly those wonderful
Capitol rolls (which Rob DeLand has recut in abundance for his
BluesTone label; get his latest list for a real feast).  The Chicago
style they represent is quite different to the Harlem pianists.

Outside the jazz pioneers, another strongly stride-influenced pianist
is Rube Bloom, whose Duo-Art and Melodee rolls are pretty well unique
in the Aeolian repertoire.  Paul Johnson has recut a good selection
of Bloom's rolls of his own compositions over the last year or so.

Modern era recordings serve Stride better, mostly being driven by non-
commercial enthusiasts who gravitate to stylistic extremes!  Look out
for Play-Rite's Ralph Sutton and Johnny Guarnieri rolls from the 1970s,
the Neville Dickie series recorded by Autoplayer in the UK in the 1980s
(and intermittently available from Mike Boyd's Universal label), QRS's
Celebrity Series (the recent Judy Carmichael rolls, for example), and
of course John Farrell's ongoing Hot Piano Classics.

I've been trying to filter the Stride Piano rolls from the more
commercial offerings for some years now.  What other recommendations
can others make for 'must have' rolls of this type?  I'd love to know,
particularly if there are other pioneers' rolls just waiting to be
recut.

Julian Dyer