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MMD > Archives > June 2009 > 2009.06.30 > 04Prev  Next


List of Piano Rolls Played By Hi Babit
By Robbie Rhodes

Piano roll artist Hi Babit seeks help to compile a list of the piano
rolls he made for several firms, including QRS, Aeolian/Klavier and
MelODee.  Pieces such as "Nutcracker Suite" were released under his
real name, Herman Babich, and most everything else bears his
professional name, Hi Babit.  He writes:

  "I never made any expression rolls.  I tried to get that effect from
  some of the tricks that I used in the arrangements of my rolls.  In
  a CBS interview in the Bronx, New York, about 1965, I was asked about
  making my rolls sound like ordinary player rolls, and I said then,
  and I say now, that I tried to make piano rolls sound like someone
  live was playing them.

  "When I worked for Aeolian, after QRS moved to Buffalo, I did an
  arrangement of 'For Once In My Life'.  It was made like a ballad
  should be played, and the Aeolian vice president who traveled around
  the country sent me an inter-office memo that he was using that roll
  to show how player pianos should sound and how to sell player pianos."

The list following is a small beginning, please send additions and
corrections to MMDigest.

Thanks,
Robbie Rhodes, MMDigest

 - - -

List of Piano Rolls Played By Hi Babit (Herman Babich)

?             Hi Babit  Cabaret
?             Hi Babit  Those Were The Days
?             Hi Babit  King Of The Road

Aeolian ?     Hi Babit  For Once In My Life
Aeolian 1834  Hi Babit  So Nice
Aeolian 1889  Hi Babit  Surrey With The Fringe On Top
Aeolian 1891  Hi Babit  Seventy-Six Trombones
Aeolian 1910  Hi Babit  Theme from 'The Apartment'

Klavier 1820  Hi Babit  Flamingo 
Klavier 1853  Hi Babit  So What's New
Klavier 1881  Hi Babit  Blue Prelude
Klavier 1992  Hi Babit  Alone Together
Klavier 2071  Hi Babit  Let's Get Away From It All

MelODee ?     Hi Babit  Theme from 'The Apartment'
MelODee ?     Hi Babit  Finian's Rainbow

QRS     7009  Hi Babit  Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out The Barrel)
QRS     8428  Hi Babit  You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling In Love)
QRS     8842  Hi Babit  Be Anything (But Be Mine)
QRS     8916  Hi Babit  Birth Of The Blues (George White's Scandals)
QRS     9018  Herman Babich  Granada - Fantasia Espanola
QRS     9900  Hi Babit  Black Bottom Stomp
QRS     9910  Hi Babit  Puff (The Magic Dragon)
QRS     9924  Hi Babit  True Blue Lou
QRS     9943  Hi Babit  Dance Everyone Dance - (Hava Nagila)
QRS     9950  Herman Babich  Stouthearted Men
QRS     9964  Hi Babit  Cotton Candy
QRS     9978  Hi Babit  The Saint Louis Rag
QRS   10-001  Hi Babit  Sophia (From Kiss Me Stupid)
QRS   10-007  Hi Babit  Chim Chim Cher-ee (From Mary Poppins)
QRS   10-023  Hi Babit  Sunrise Sunset (From Fiddler On The Roof)
QRS   10-035  Hi Babit  Belle Of The Ball
QRS   10-043  Hi Babit  Comes Love
QRS   10-050  Hi Babit  Free Spirits
QRS   10-052  Hi Babit  One Has My Name, The Other Has My Heart
QRS   10-074  Hi Babit  Walk Right In
QRS   10-081  Hi Babit  Mame (From Mame)
QRS   10-143  Hi Babit  Music To Watch Girls By
QRS   10-179  Hi Babit  A Strange Song
QRS   10-357  Hi Babit  Jean (Main Theme From The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
QRS   10-365  Hi Babit  Is That All There Is
QRS   10-378  Herman Babich  It's A Small World
QRS   10-501  Hi Babit  Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree
QRS   10-503  Hi Babit  Mickey Mouse March
QRS   10-592  Hi Babit  Hotel California
QRS   10-596  Hi Babit  New Deal For Christmas, A (Annie)
QRS   10-597  Hi Babit  Dear Mr. Santa Claus
QRS   10-605  Hi Babit  The King Is Gone
QRS   10-633  Hi Babit  Summer Nights
QRS   10-634  Hi Babit  Kiss You All Over
QRS   10-642  Herman Babich  Music Box Dancer

QRS   XP-122  Hi Babit  Fiddler On The Roof (Medley - Five Selections)
QRS   XP-176  Hi Babit  Man Of La Mancha (Medley - 6 Selections)
QRS   XP-213  Hi Babit  Waylon And Willie

QRS   C125-A  Babich & Babich  Nutcracker Suite Pt. 1
QRS   C125-A    1. Introduction; 2. March; 3. Arabian Dance; 4. Russian Dance
QRS   C126-A  Babich & Babich  Nutcracker Suite Pt. 2
QRS   C126-A    1. Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy; 2. Chinese Dance;
QRS   C126-A    3. Dance Of The Reed Pipes; 4. Waltz Of The Flowers

Ref:
  http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Authors/Aut3990.html 
  http://www.iammp.org/rolldatabase.php?showpage=29&sortby=performer 


(Message sent Wed 1 Jul 2009, 01:07:00 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Babit, Hi, List, Piano, Played, Rolls

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