Re: Roll Source for St. Louis Blues
By Rob DeLand
[ Editor's Note: I took the liberty of letting Rob Deland
[ know in advance ofthe publication of Michael Water's
[ question about his roll of "St. Louis Blues". He
[ answered the message via private mail, with
[ a CC: to us.
[
[ Here's his response, only slightly edited...
[
[ Jody
Michael Waters wrote:
>
> I'm looking for a source for a roll I heard recently, which I was so
> impressed with that I would like a copy.
> It's called "The St Louis Blues" I think Rob Deland was the producer
> behind this one <snip>
Mike, Jody was kind enough to forward your email to me. I've composed a response that is geared more toward the group than to you personally - I hope you don't mind. St. Louis Blues is in stock, and I'm glad you liked it! Don't hesitate to drop me a line if you have any questions.
Jody, this got kind of long, so feel free to edit it at your discretion. I appreciate the opportunity, and I hope I'm not taking too much advantage of it.
Thanks,
Rob
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Jody,
At the risk of shameless self-promotion (eeuuuuucchhhhhh!) I would like to offer a (brief?) description of my wares. I have been recutting 88-note ragtime, blues & vintage pop rolls for 8 years now, bringing over 300 great performances to new paper, a good number for the first time since their original issue. My rolls are recut by the experts at Custom Music Rolls (Janet Tonnesen is an angel!) so these are the finest quality rolls available today (I dare say there will be NO challenges to this boast; anyone who has seen the quality of Janet's work knows what I'm talking about).
I personally like good arranged rags, composer-played rags (especially those not published or copyrighted - see John Hasse's outstanding book "Ragtime" which has an entire chapter on great rolls, authored by experts Trebor Tichenor and Mike Montgomery), good hand-played blues (Jelly Roll Morton, Lem Fowler, Pete Wendling, Jimmy Blythe, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and many others) and other hot stuff.
I dabble with MIDI equipment too, and recently purchased a Disklavier. I have issued about 25 new rolls I created from MIDI performances by today's rag festival artists, on my Front Porch label. One of these (St. Louis Blues, played by John Arpin) was coded for the Ampico by Bob Taylor and has been a very popular roll. It's fun to put newer styles of music on rolls, because people are not used to hearing post-1940 styles on a reproducing piano! BTW, there is a whole disk full of John Arpin ragtime MIDI files available from PG Music. I haven't purchased them yet, but I bet they're excellent.
Lately I've been interested in reproducing piano rolls, particularly Welte but also Ampico & Duo-Art, and I've begun recutting classical & some pop performances on each in addition to the 88-note rags & blues (which generally aren't that exciting on reproducing rolls!). I have about a dozen or so of each reproducing roll type currently available, including 16 great Welte red rolls I converted to Licensee this year (all were never before available on Licensee).
I maintain a catalog of my best titles, which generally are always in stock. My slower sellers and older titles are allowed to run out, and I currently have a list of stuff I'm discounting to sell off entirely, at least for now. If anyone is interested in a print copy, please email me (Rob DeLand / deland_robert@macmail1.csg.mot.com) or write (Rob DeLand / 485 Gatewood Lane / Grayslake, IL 60030) or call (847-548-6416). I don't have a good electronic version to send at this time because of the level of formatting and illustrations in my print list. Paper is better in this case!
Thanks for tolerating this crass, tasteless, self-serving email. I'll not make a habit of it!
Cheers,
Rob |
(Message sent Wed 6 Nov 1996, 21:56:11 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
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