A very kind collector loaned me a roll for scanning.  Unfortunately, it's missing its box, and if there was a copy of the label on the roll leader, it's missing (the tip of the leader is missing, actually) so we don't know who is the credited artist.

The roll is Mel-O-Dee 4545, which must be from 1921 since the song, "Cry Baby Blues" (music by George Meyer, words by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis, Irving Berlin, Inc.), was published in that year.  James P. Johnson made a nice roll of the tune for QRS (QRS 1623, released October 1921), so this is probably from around then, too.

Does anybody have the box for this roll and/or can tell us who the artist is?  Is there a published rollography for Aeolian rolls (Universal, Mel-O-Dee, etc.)?

I've sent along an MP3 of the scanned roll (0.68 MB) for your edification, as 'realized' with Audio Compositor and a General MIDI piano soundfont.

Very best regards,
Bob Pinsker
San Diego, CA
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 01:56:58 EST

mel4545.mp3    (685 kb, 32 kbps streaming, 22050 Hz sampling, mono)
mel4545a.mp3  (387 kb, 18 kbps streaming, 16000 Hz sampling, mono)