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MMD > Archives > November 1999 > 1999.11.06 > 04Prev  Next


New Piano Rolls of Jelly Roll Morton Songs
By Karl Ellison

Dear Jelly Roll Morton fans -- For the last three months I have been
working on a special project here at New England Music Rolls, where
I've been in close contact with Mike Meddings of Monrovia Sound Studio
in Staffordshire, England.

In the 1980's Mike used his hand-built Leabarjan-like perforator
to make stunning transcriptions of 18 Jelly Roll Morton piano rolls.
He used 78 rpm recordings and, like Douglas Henderson, played the
recordings over and over to reproduce the exact note and striking
nuances of these recorded performances by Morton.

The culmination of this effort, each taking up to seven months
to complete, are 18 one-of-a-kind piano rolls that NEMR is proud
to produce here in the United States.

Mike was a big part of the jazz piano scene in the UK in the 1980's,
playing his rolls on BBC television, radio, and live concerts at the
Stratford-upon-Avon International Music Festivals.  It is these exact
rolls that I will be producing here in the U.S.  The performances
produced rave reviews, many of which can be seen on Mike's Ragtime-
Blues-Hot Piano web site.  The link may be found at

  http://members.aol.com/NEMRoll/home.html

The titles that NEMR will be producing in December include: Frog-I-More
Rag, Finger Buster, New Orleans (Blues) Joys, Mamanita, King Porter
Stomp, Pep, Big Foot Ham, Wolverine Blues (Joys), Tom Cat Blues, Sweet
Peter, Shreveport Stomps, Stratford Hunch, State and Madison, Seattle
Hunch, Perfect Rag, Original Rags Transformations, and Kansas City
Stomp.  Each one a _gem!_  Each tune will be accompanied by
little-known history of each of the pieces.

If you have purchased the John Farrell JRM rolls from Frank Himpsl,
you'll find these tunes to be a perfect compliment to the titles he
has offered.

So starting in December, watch the NEMR web site; all titles will be
available within a 2 week period of each other, accompanied by facts
about both the author and the artist.  These will not be one-time
offers, but will become a part of the growing NEMR library of roll
offerings available for year-round sale.

As a reminder, NEMR rolls are available in Australia from "Cooling-
Miller Pianos", and soon from "The Pianola Shop" in East Sussex, UK
(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pianola_shop/)

Karl Ellison
Salem, Massachusetts


(Message sent Sat 6 Nov 1999, 12:43:16 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Jelly, Morton, New, Piano, Roll, Rolls, Songs

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