Tim Baxter asked:

> Does anyone out there know whether the James P. Johnson stride
> piano classic, "Snowy Mornin' Blues", was ever released on piano
> roll?

I know the two gentlemen concerned will also chip in on this one,
but yes, Hot Piano Classics (Paul Johnson) issued it about five years
ago, a transcription from record by John Farrell.

This was just the period of JPJ's life when his playing would not have
got onto roll at the time, when rolls had become old hat and he was
playing in New York clubs and laying the way for Art Tatum.

I could do with more of late James P, gents.  I played "Snowy Mornin'"
in a Pianola demo the Friends of the Pianola Institute did, using a
pushup on a very good Reid Sohn (re-badged Kawai) grand in a shopping
mall in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

It really brought people round the piano -- but the stores around
always complained at blues, as people "went into trance" and stopped
buying.  You had to follow up with "Lulu's Back In Town" pretty smartly
to ease the situation.

Dan Wilson, London