I just got the production run on the first cassette of "Pianola
Echoes", digital recordings of early piano rolls.  The pilot run
was well received, including good reviews from Gus Willmorth (a local
Classic Jazz critic), and Floyd Levin (excerpts follow).  Selections
on the cassette are in four categories:

1) One-Steps; My Wooden Man, My Croony Melody, If Your Wife Wants To
Go To the Country, Let Her Go, Let her Go, Let Her Go!, and Tres Chic;

2) Arranged Medleys; Azipper, Apippin, Fox Trot Medley For Dancing,
and Timely Tunes No. 59;

3) Pete Wendling Selections; Mon Homme (My Man), It Ain't Gonna Rain
No Mo', Cecilia, The Land Of My Best Girl, How Come You Do Me ---, and
I've been Floating Down the Old Green River; and

4) Marches; Blaze Of Honor, Sousa Medley (High School Cadets &
The Thunderer), Stars and Stripes Forever, Hoch Und Deutchmeister,
and Napoleon's Last Charge, an E.T. Paull number.

Total time for the cassette is 55 minutes.  A CD is in process;
this will have additional selections, and will run about 70 minutes.
Excerpts from a review by Gus Willmorth: "This collection of piano
rolls from the turn-of-the-century has been issued as an experimental
effort to resurrect the best in a great plethora of nearly forgotten
material.

Of the one-steps, My Croony Melody and Tres Chic offer some catchy
melodies and warrant replaying then or now.  The arranged medleys are
typical of the voluminous rolls of popular tunes issued in those days,
combining both still-played and forgotten airs, seemingly crammed
together without rhyme or reason.

For instance, Azipper covers Chinatown, My Chinatown, Sister Susie's
Sewing Shirts, and When You Wore A Tulip;  Apippin kicks off with Too
Much Mustard and lapses into more humorous stuff.  You get the idea.
All who go for piano rolls are, of course, familiar with the work of
the great piano roll recordist, Pete Wendling.

The marches, Ah! Well, I do like marches, and rolls offer lots of
opportunities to slip in extra goodies.  These are pretty neat.
Recorded digitally, the sound is excellent, clear, and accurate,
without any of the defects that have marred many prior piano roll LP's
and tapes."  Excerpts from a review by Floyd Levin: "Pianola Echoes"
takes us on a musical journey back through the years when families
gathered in the parlor to marvel at their new mechanical miracle.

During the early years of this century, a great novelty -- the player
piano -- was a magical source of music in the home.  The sounds heard
on this noteworthy cassette came from a  completely restored vintage
1900 George Steck upright Pianola Piano.  The parlor carpets were
probably rolled up for some spirited dancing to the lively One-Steps
like If Your Wife Want to Go to the Country, Let Her Go, Let Her Go,
Let Her Go!

Two dozen vintage segments of the "Arranged Medleys" include a few that
have survived - Chinatown, My Chinatown and When You Wore a Tulip, plus
a curious assortment of joyous melodies that have been gathering dust
for decades.  True, "Pianola Echoes" might set music back 100 years,
but it is comforting to bask in the warmth of that uncomplicated era
and relish the music that entertained our great-grandparents around the
turn of the last century.

Price for the cassette is $10.00 including Shipping, Handling, and
50 cents Calif. Tax.  (Outside Calif. price of $9.50.)  Price for the
CD, planned for February release, will be $11.00 plus $1.50 S & H and
50 cents Calif. Tax.  Send checks or Money Orders to Trad-Digital Audio
Services, P.O. Box 4426, Panorama City, CA 91412-4426.

Also available are recordings of three Birthday Celebrations of
legendary Jazzman (James) Rosy McHargue; his 93rd, 94th, and 95th
Birthdays (the last in 1997), and Rosy is still going strong!  Robbie
Rhodes is featured on piano on these recordings, as well as other Jazz
Greats!  For details, write to the P.O. Box noted above, or email to
BillTDAS@aol.com.

Best wishes to all for a fine New Year.

Bill Mintz