When Ed Gaida queried about an unknown tune title on a Capitol A-roll
he has for recutting, it reminded me that Harry Reser, arguably the
world's finest banjoist of the 20th century, also led the band that was
one of the best, if not _the_ best interpreters of hot dance music of
the 1920's and early 1930s.

With the snappy vocals provided by the inimitable Tom Stacks, the
band's sound was the personification of the John Held, Jr., flapper era
itself.  Precursor to Spike Jones, the infectious bands led by Reser
under many recording pseudonyms (Jazz Pilots, Six Jumping Jacks, Seven
Little Polar Bears, etc.) really made you get up and move your feet.
The novelty numbers still bring a smile to anyone's face who gives
a listen.

What has this got to do with mechanical music?  Plenty, if you stop
and consider that these tunes are vital listening to anyone wishing to
augment his or her musical appreciation of the tunes or the Roaring
'20's.  These 78 rpm recordings are faithful to the sound of the coin
pianos syncopated beat (featuring a bass sax second to none, as well
as plenty of A-List guest jazz personnel sitting in).  And they
are _hot!_

The words to the music allow one to "fill in the gaps" to rare and
unknown hot dance material and actually hear what the words to, for
example, "I've Never Seen A Straight Banana" sound like.  If you've
never had the good fortune of hearing the Reser groups, you will find
that the happy, and 100% snappy, music played by the various Reser
bands to be quite a pleasurable surprise if you are a collector of
music rolls and music roll pianos: the perfect compliment to your roll
listening experience.  If you are already familiar with Reser, well,
you know what I'm talking about!

This link to the Reser orchestras is probably the finest on the web.
Click on the titles in yellow.  Concentrate on the recordings made
after 1926, when electrical recording became state of the art).  All
you need to listen in is "RealPlayer Basic."

  http://redhotjazz.com/reser.html
  http://redhotjazz.com/hreserbands.html
  http://redhotjazz.com/eskimos.html

Cheers,

Mark Forer