Andy and Chris Taylor visited Ellen and I last week, and brought us
some of Andy's new rolls.  He has really put a lot of work into them.
One in particular that I especially liked was Tempola Breakdown.  It's
a kind of music that you have never heard before on player rolls.  It
sounds just like a Southern Missouri hill-country band.  In Tempola
Breakdown there's a banjo -- just as clear as day -- and a good one,
too.  I think that was my favorite.  It is very authentic music direct
from the area of the country that performs it.

But he has quite a few others as well.  One that was well done was the
TV series theme songs roll.  On that roll was included the theme song
from Perry Mason and Get Smart.  Difficult music to play, but comes off
well!

And of course, he sells recuts of some of the greatest rolls that were
ever made, like (in my opinion) Ching Chong.  I hope they will be
issued with a word sheet, too.  My copy didn't have the words with it,
but I understand that he had mistakenly omitted them.  You just gotta
get the words with that roll!  It's a story of an opium den in San
Francisco.  Fantastic!  (No player piano collection is complete
without that roll!  You're missing too much fun.)

Overall, not everyone will like Andy's Bluegrass if they don't like
that kind of music, not because it isn't authentic.  And I suspect that
as a musician, Andy will be turning out all kinds of new roll ideas as
well as great recuts of the rolls that were played so much there are no
copies left!  Andy-- be sure to include the words!  Maybe sometime he
will cut the QRS roll "Freckles," or MelOdee Roll "Afghanistan." Stuff
many of us may have never heard of, because the rolls were all torn up
and thrown away before we were old enough to hear it!  I also suspect
that Andy would appreciate any suggestions or ideas you may have
regarding music to record.

Andy Taylor's rolls are mostly fast, busy, complicated music --
definitely typical of the player piano art form that no human could
perform.  They're fun and should really be a hoot at a party, sometime!

Craig Brougher