Hello Frank and the MMD readers,  Several years ago, when Ms. Artis
Wodehouse published an outrageous article in Piano Today/Keyboard
Classics called "Jelly's Rolls" -- another segment of her fantasizing
history and 'discovering' "lost" rolls (where were not, in most cases)
-- I was still publishing The Pianola Quarterly.

In one of the Pianola Quarterly issues there's an article I wrote
entitled: "Jelly Roll Morton was a White Lady?"  This goes into some
first-hand information about the rolls, which came from the relatives
of the musician who did the perforating of Vocalstyle Masters; some
from her _home_, in fact.

Whether Morton played a 'recording' piano (which was pretty much
discontinued for commercial releases by 1925-1926) or sent Vocalstyle
some sheet music manuscripts or just rented-out his "name" for box
labels really doesn't matter.  The rolls don't strike like the audio
sources he's left us, and which are available on Cassette and CD Sets
today.

My first experience was in the 'Fifties with Shreveport Stomp; it
was a major disappointment, since the roll lacked the staccato effects
of his audio recordings, and many of my own later Artcraft rolls.  Our
roll of The Naked Dance, attributed to Morton, and Galen Wilkes' hot
homage to the man, The Oyster Shimmy, give the pianolist a sense of
that effervescent, driving brilliance that's an essential part of
Morton's many 78-rpm recordings.

Naturally, these two titles aren't "him" but "me".  However, the player
is a compromise between man and machine, so the finished results are
always the roll interpreter (pianolist) using the resources of my rolls
-- or the bland Vocalstyle travesties issued in his name -- in those
short months before QRS absorbed and closed down the Ohio roll factory.

Once again the focus must shift to the player-piano (a machine which
plays programmed arrangements) and the interpreter (pianolist) for the
performance results.  The pianist doesn't fit into anything here, which
is why the whole idea of equating players to audio recordings, as the
manufacturers did for marketing purposes, should be abandoned.

Check out that Morton article in a backissue of the PQ!  The
descriptions of The Naked Dance and The Oyster Shimmy are in my URL.

Regards from Maine,

Douglas Henderson
Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/