You can hear J. Lawrence Cook's arrangement when you hear a band
organ play B.A.B. music.  A good example of such an organ is the 65-key
Gebruder Bruder "Elite Orchestra Apollo" on the B&B carousel at Coney
Island playing 66-key B.A.B. rolls.  J. Lawrence Cook could make the
organ sound like no other arranger at his time.  He was considered to
be a genius.

I have learned to play about 20 or so of the B.A.B. tunes on the piano
and last year I made a tape recording of myself playing some of the
B.A.B. tunes on the piano.  I sent a copy of the tape to Larry Villano
and he said that the way I played the music I sounded just like J.
Lawrence Cook.  If anyone wants to hear the organ at Coney Island
I think they should, even though it isn't playing at full strength at
the present time, because it is one of the few remaining organs playing
B.A.B. music.  If anyone wants more information on B.A.B. music you
can contact Larry Villano at

  Larry Villano
  168 York Street
  New Haven, Connecticut 06511-4802
  Tel. 203-777-6776

Unfortunately he doesn't have an e-mail address at the present time.
Please keep in mind that Larry Villano is probably not the only one
who knows a lot about B.A.B. music and J. Lawrence Cook; there are
others out there as well.

Jeff Alterman
156 Villard Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706-1217
tel/fax: 914-478-3454
<jeffalterman@hotmail.com>