My great-great-uncle, Walter Davison, cut many rolls for the Vocalstyle
company and later led a jazz/swing band called Walter Davison and His
Louisville Loons.  I now own three of the band's five 78-rpm recordings
and eight or ten of the piano rolls he cut, and I hope to record the
rolls so that I can make a CD of his work.  One little problem, though:
I don't have a player piano.

Is there anyone in the Chicago area -- and by area I mean including a
few hours' drive, i.e., Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis -- who would be
willing to spend an afternoon with me playing and recording these
rolls?  I would be happy to pay you back with the only result, which
would be, however many copies of the CD you'd like to have.  (I have
friends with the necessary recording equipment.)  I also intend to put
up a site about this forgotten page in jazz band history, and would
gladly credit you there.

If you'd like to hear a bit of Walter's piano playing, Larry Norman
offers a reproduction of one of Walter's rollicking rolls,
"Crazy Blues," and you can hear the MIDI file there too:
<http://home.earthlink.net/~rollertunes/id34.htm>

And if you want to contact me, write <mike@michaelgebert.com>.  Thanks
in advance for any help or leads!

Michael Gebert, Writer