Snippet of old 'Henderson' QRS roll on the Web!

Hello MMD readers,  I wish to thank Editor Rhodes for publishing my
"Bad Rolls" text, a few days ago, regarding the 'Demise of the
Player-Piano'.  Radio was a factor, but since pianos survived the
stock market crash, albeit as a downsized but viable industry, it's
significant to note that players evaporated from the scene almost
overnight. Lackluster rolls had to be the primary reason for this.

One of my loyal music roll customers just sent me the following URL,
with RealPlayer sound clips, from the Amazon.com web pages, and you'll
find a ghastly arrangement by "yours truly" there, leading a phalanx of
mostly Cook-QRS releases featuring the music of Cole Porter.  Here's
the site:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003HMG/104-5919074-7217564

This is the URL for the RealPlayer clip which launches part of QRS
#9838 "You Do Something To Me" (my arrangement which Cook shortened and
re-mastered):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000003HMG001001/104-5919074-7217564

The RealPlayer clip was just played for Lois Konvalinka and she pointed
out the irregular rhythm in the recorded performance.  The original
rolls, made before QRS involved scanning and computers, were "smooth"
and perfect in rhythm, one facet to their credit.

"You Do Something To Me", in the clip on the Web, jerks a bit.  This
could be due to a bad ladder chain and/or air motor ... or perhaps
flawed scanning, as in some recent editions of 'older' Hi Babbit rolls
which I've fixed for friends, using my splicing equipment.  (Repairs
involved adding/subtracting strips of 1/4" to about 3/4" in length by
11 1/4" for the width of the music rolls.  The finished copies played
perfectly, but looked like zebras, due to the different paper tints:
QRS and my Auto-Typist stock.)

Actually, when the published QRS roll, #9838 "You Do Something To Me",
is played on a restored piano with voiced hammers, good tuning and
accented by a knowledgeable Pianolist, the effect isn't half-bad,
though admittedly not up to my present standards.  Max Kortlander and
J. L. Cook had musical "rules" such as "tied-triplet" at 6 punches per
beat faking the "jazz/swing" rhythm, no tremolo, notes kept within the
65-note range whenever possible (for converted players), and other
severely restricting musical limitations.

My original roll, which was far longer than what was published by QRS
for about 25 years, featured a pseudo 'Pete Wendling' bass and also a
'Howard Lutter' type of instrumental piano solo, prior to the reprise
of the Cole Porter melody.  What was released was a roll which Cook
"made from" my Leabarjan perforator's original copy, a roll which
conformed to their playing time and 'cocktail lounge' bass accompaniment
standards (6th chords, which I rarely use), prevalent in just about
anything produced by the Imperial Industrial Co. (QRS) in the Bronx of
that period.

Three rolls were made for the Kortlander management, but only #9838 was
published.  (I recall turning down any number of other suggestions,
including "High Hopes", that Frank Sinatra 'rubber plant' song of the
day.  Somebody suggested Cole Porter and that lead to "You Do Something
To Me", which turned out to be my only QRS release.)

Of course, with a disgusting piano, sounding like the old QRS factory
Musette (console player) rattling along, things decline rapidly.
According to the Amazon.com write up, this Biograph Recording of 1996,
entitled "Classic Movie & Broadway Show Tunes From Rare Piano Rolls:
Cole Porter", features a (quote) "A state of the art Steinway Grand
Pianola Grand Piano" and that the rolls are "special treasures for
collectors" with a "magnificent sound quality" and "sparkling
performances".  (You have to access this page to read the outrageous
review which a magazine writer published, at the time the Biograph CD
was first published!)

Our Studio pedal 'O' Steinway Grand Pianola sounds like a fine grand
piano, with an organ-like sonority and a singing treble.  Even with
the droning Cook 'changes' on my truncated QRS Roll, the musical effect
is similar to the old piano industry term, "powerful but sweet".  What
my G8 RealPlayer performs, in a sample clip, is metallic, brittle and
totally disgusting!

Mercifully, this recording is out-of-print, but it's still available
on the Web, something which I recommend only for the hard-of-hearing.

One customer from Flanders, New Jersey posted this statement on that
Website: "If you do not like player piano tunes, beware of this CD!
I did not realize this CD contains player piano tunes.  If the rest
of the titles had appeared online, I would have reconsidered.  After
listening to a few, they tend to sound alike." (I guess he heard my
roll first and bought the recording based on that first clip!)

This brings me back to the "Bad Rolls" statement which was published
in a recent edition of the Mechanical Music Digest.

I didn't realize that through the auspices of an awful Steinway player,
which simulates a poorly-regulated Aeolian console of the 1960s, that
one of my rolls would be part of the reason for the public turning away
from this medium!  Of course, by then, the Player-Piano industry, as
it had been at the start of the 1930s, was 'dead' for all practical
purposes.  My single "Cook-Henderson" release was merely another nail
in the coffin.

Some day, using a 5" open-reel tape I made at the factory with
Kortlander and Cook listening, it's my hope to re-master and re-release
this arrangement under the Artcraft label, some 40-odd years later.
I'll have to use audio to reconstruct the "piano solo" interlude, since
Cook cut it out and destroyed that part of the master roll, repurchased
along with the other two, from Imperial Industrial Co. shortly after
Max Kortlander's passing.

"Bad" that my roll was, being forced into the arranging standards of
that factory, it doesn't compare to the audio of what has to be the
worst Steinway player I've ever heard on a stereo recording.  I still
can't believe this is a grand piano, since it sounds like a Betsy Ross
spinet, needing extensive repair and using a vacuum-cleaner-powered
player attachment.  (Listen at your own risk!)

Regards from Maine,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/

 [ At http://prodigy-music.excite.com/album/227701 is a description
 [ of the contents of the Biograph album.  I agree that many of the
 [ early Biograph LPs of piano rolls are disappointing.  -- Robbie