In reference to John McClelland's question regarding "Jelly Roll
Blues," here is some background information.

First off, the QRS 30,000 series roll which John found is an orches-
trated, machine-cut arrangement derived either from the sheet music
or the band music arrangement, and is not hand-played.  All QRS rolls
in the 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 series are machine-cut and not
hand-played arrangements.

The 10,000 series was primarily light classical;  20,000 series
primarily popular songs and ballads;  30,000 (our favorite!) was
ragtime, marches, fox-trots and one-steps, and the 40,000 series was a
mix of show tunes and other popular songs, for the most part.  When
QRS began issuing hand-played piano rolls, they used an 80,000 series,
90,000 and 100,000 series.

The vast majority of material was issued in the latter series,
containing a majority of popular songs, ragtime and the like.  There
was an attempt to restrict the 80/90,000 series to classical, ethnic
and ballad material, but considerable popular type music crept in as
well.  When QRS started word-rolls, they began with number 100 and
continued the numerical sequence up to well beyond 10,000, as with
today's current releases.

As for the "true" hand-played rolls by Jelly Roll Morton: he recorded
rolls for Vocalstyle, QRS, Capitol, and (it is speculated) Wurlitzer
companies.  Of these, the Vocalstyle rolls and the single known roll
for Capitol ("Sweet Man") are by far the most representative of his
playing style.

Oddly, when Jelly Roll was interviewed in the 1930s and asked about
his piano rolls, he commented making rolls for "QRS, Wurlitzer and
American."  He made no mention of Vocalstyle, which of course issued
the most and very best of his material on piano rolls.

This has led people to believe over the years that the Morton
Vocalstyle date was a very hurried affair, and that Morton might have
just stopped by the Cincinnati shop and ripped all the performances off
in a single session.

His comment regarding "American" rolls is likely a reference to the
Capitol Music Roll Company of Chicago, since one of their labels is in
fact "American."   His single roll for this company ("Sweet Man") has
only been found on the magenta "Capitol" label, but it is very likely
to have also been issued on American, explaining Jelly's remembrance.

Jelly Roll Morton's comment regarding the Wurlitzer company is the most
interesting of all, because Wurlitzer rolls (under their "Rolla Artis"
88-note brand label) have been located having the inscription "played
by F. Morton."  However, the problem here is that the two of these
which have turned up over the years and heard by collectors bear
absolutely no resemblance to Morton's playing style.  It is possible
that these are still legitimate Morton performances, and that Wurlitzer
had asked Morton to play the tunes in a very straight manner.

Mike Montgomery has done exhaustive research on the Morton rolls over
the years, in an attempt to pin down these performances, and at one
point uncovered information in a Wurlitzer flyer which mentioned a
"Fritz Morton."  So, there's still debate and uncertainty about whether
or not Jelly real did anything with Wurlitzer.  However, his own
remembrance from that old interview carries a lot of weight with me!

In a similar manner, Eubie Blake recorded several rolls for Artrio-
Angelus, and these also sound virtually nothing at all like his real
playing (which was quite well documented on the Melodee and Rythmodik
rolls he did about the same time).   Eubie's comment when hearing these
old rolls was something like "that doesn't sound like me...they must
have wanted me to play the stuff straight off the sheet music."   So,
with this other piece of history in mind, it's easy to see how the
Morton rolls for Wurlitzer could "really be him," and yet sound nothing
like the real Jelly Roll Morton we know and love!

As far as the two hand played Morton rolls on QRS ("Midnight Mama" and
"Dead Man Blues," both original tunes composed by Morton), there is
also debate as to whether he had anything to do with these.   Both were
issued as "played by Jelly Roll Morton," and had his stenciled
autograph upon the leaders.  However, the arrangements (while musically
excellent and thoroughly enjoyable) are only mildly indicative of his
true playing style, which comes across with full clarity on Vocalstyle.

Without doubt, J. Lawrence Cook (or possibly Victor Arden, but more
likely Cook) had the most to do with arranging these.  Jelly could have
visited QRS while in Chicago (which was most the time during the period
these were issued) and recorded the tunes, but it's very apparent that
an extreme amount of editing took place before they were issued.

All best,

Frank Himpsl