Recent chats with friends who had heard him play made me wonder what
has happened to Johnny Maddox.  He was one heckuva player of rags and
blues, believe me.

Somewhere back, I guess it was in the 1950s, he recorded a musical
hodgepodge called "The Crazy Otto".  It actually rose to the
"top of the charts" for a while.  When I used to visit "il Porto" (a
restaurant in Alexandria, VA) to hear him play in the early 90s, he had
a sign over his valiant Steck upright saying something like "50 Years
Playing the Piano."  He would announce plainly to the audience at the
start of the evening that he took requests, but not for anything
written beyond the 1940s.  I particularly remember his arrangement of
St. Louis Blues -- a stunner.

Johnny told me that he didn't actually cut any piano rolls.  At
one point, he said, QRS invited him to Buffalo and he played for
J.  Lawrence Cook.  What the problem was, I don't know, but the result
was Cook's cut of "Row, Row, Row".  (I think there also was a "Crazy
Otto" roll, but not played by Maddox.)

The last I knew, Johnny was preparing to retire and return to live out
his life in his native Tennessee.  It would be fun to know he's still
there -- and maybe even how to get in touch with him.

As I say, here was a prodigious piano player and arranger.  Too bad
he didn't make a whole legacy of rolls.

Paul Murphy