[ I asked David for more information about John Farrell and
 [ JazzMaster, the firm who published his earliest piano rolls.
 [ -- Robbie

Dear Robbie,  Jazzmaster was the first 'new' music roll company to
produce top quality rolls of both jazz and ragtime music, which were
rather hard to find before they started up.  John Farrell was the
musical genius, John Syrett was the accountant and George (I forget
his second name) was the one who did the work!  They were all great
fun and we always looked forward to their visits.

John Farrell was something to do with the county court at Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire; we think he was something like Clerk of the Court,
but we didn't really concentrate on their 'day' jobs!  George worked
for the London Underground (not a resistance group, but the system of
subway trains beneath the streets of London) and we think John Syrett
worked for British Rail, though may be wrong about that.

When they started up the Jazzmaster company we became agents for
them, selling their rolls (and original rolls, too) by mail order and
to our player piano customers who visited us.  It sounds more impressive
than it really was -- we operated a sales and restoration business from
our home.

We bought the first few roll issues for our own collection, and soon
found we could sell them to others, so started ordering several copies
of each.  As we were only an hour from London, more often than not all
three of them would deliver the rolls by car, hence the 'Pianola Parties'
we had whenever this happened.  As they all lived in different parts
of north London this was quite involved, especially returning late at
night.  John F. was the outgoing one: he pedalled the new rolls through
and we all listened.  John S. was more serious but still a really nice
chap, and George told stories.  For some reason it all got more and
more fun as the whisky bottle emptied; we all enjoyed single malt!

It was George's idea to start up the "Evergreen" series of rolls --
"Singing in the Bathtub" was an early one I seem to remember.  We did
sell them quite well but I don't think they were ever as popular as
the jazz and rag rolls.

Doubtless there are many people who will be able to correct and enlarge
upon the above -- it is our personal recollection of times long past
and may have suffered with the passage of time.  We are still in touch
with John S. by (conventional) mail, and will contact him to see what
he can add for the record.  We still have a complete collection of the
rolls and still enjoy them, and so do the public!

At the time we were Lesley Evans Player Pianos.  Now we are

Lesley & David Evans
Directors, Revelstoke Nickelodeon Museum
www.revelstokenickelodeon.com