As I continue to scan piano rolls acquired from random sources,
I find each to be in a physical condition spanning a range of somewhere
between "perfect" (on the one extreme) and "nearly a pile of paper
bits" on the other.  I usually set aside the ones with badly torn edges
for later attention, on the hunch that if the roll was frequently
played, it was probably more enjoyable to listen to.

So it was that, after I unravelled and taped the edges of a QRS #5353
roll, "Tiger Rag", I found it to be yet another stupendous performance
by J. Lawrence Cook.  I've attached a link [below] to a sound file made
from the MIDI file of the roll.

Doing a bit of Internet searching about the roll, I found a fairly
high-quality YouTube video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NInlKZpxoms )
purporting to be of this roll.  Indeed, much of it is identical, but the
YouTube video shows that #5353 roll to have included a jazzy intro at
the beginning and a kind of discordant ornament at the very end.

Is this sort of variation among published rolls common?  Would Cook
or someone else have editorially changed the master after initial
publication?  The Billings Rollography shows its publication year to be
1932, but I received the roll with no box so there was no way to verify
the publication year of my roll.

Marshall Jose

 [ Sound file QRS #5353, "Tiger Rag", re-created though computer scanning
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/13/12/25/131225_053119_TigerRag_QRS5353.mp3 

 [ I believe the Billings Rollography shows only the _first_ year that
 [ a roll was published as a certain QRS catalog number.  In subsequent
 [ years the title and catalog number remained equated, even when a new
 [ arrangement of an "evergreen" was published.  Recall that the master
 [ rolls weren't always preserved.  If a pop tune unexpectedly became a
 [ hit song several years later, then Cook would create a new master roll
 [ for the same catalog number.  Alternatively, a dealer might request
 [ shortened rolls for a reduced price, whereupon introductions and
 [ endings and extra choruses might be deleted to save costs.  So don't
 [ look for consistency in QRS piano rolls!  ;-)  -- Robbie