Best player piano rolls of the 1910s

[Buck]

I'm taking nominations. Deadline is Sunday at 8:57 a.m. GMT.

 

[Quiet Man]

I'll go with Harry Belding's Good Gravy Rag (1913), Homer Denney's Ham Bones (1912), and Luckey Roberts' Pork and Beans (1913). But then I was always fond of the food themed rags from early in the decade.

http://www.ragsrag.com/pr/pr.html


Careful what you nominate - some of the titles are, shall we say, inappropriate.

 

[JR]

I'll go with Harry Belding's Good Gravy Rag (1913), Homer Denney's Ham Bones (1912), and Luckey Roberts' Pork and Beans (1913). But then I was always fond of the food themed rags from early in the decade.

http://www.ragsrag.com/pr/pr.html


Careful what you nominate - some of the titles are, shall we say, inappropriate.

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

We have a player piano that my grandmother won in a contest in 1929. My grandparents, having just arrived in America eight years previous from Italy, purchased about 50 Italian rolls during that time period. There was one song, "Faccetta Nera," that I loved, even though I didn't know what the words were. Come to find out it means "Little Black Face," and was a song from 1933 about an Ethiopian child who came to discover the wonderful world of Fascism after Italy invaded the country. Well then.

I have been saving up for some time to buy a Duo-Art Steinway. These were sophisticated grand pianos from the 1920s that played rolls but had an electric motor, and the rolls (done by famous pianists, such as Horowitz and Rachmaninoff) had coding that copied the dynamic and tempo as they played, so it was like you were listening to the virtuoso pianists themselves on the roll. Needless to say, these aren't like the ones Buck listed above. Here's an example:

Careful what you nominate - some of the titles are, shall we say, inappropriate.

I own an Edison cylinder phonograph and one of the cylinders is titled a "coon song." I have a strong suspicion it wasn't written for raccoons, however.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I'll go with Harry Belding's Good Gravy Rag (1913), Homer Denney's Ham Bones (1912), and Luckey Roberts' Pork and Beans (1913). But then I was always fond of the food themed rags from early in the decade.

http://www.ragsrag.com/pr/pr.html


Careful what you nominate - some of the titles are, shall we say, inappropriate.

That digital conversation of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag was amazing. I really did feel like I was sitting there listening to it played live.

 

[Beef03]

Oh come on, it's hard to beat Charles L. Johnson's Cum Bac-Rag of 1911.

or James Scott's Climax Rag of 1914.

 

[ColdCat]

if there are any recordings of Kid Ory's band from that decade, that has to be a 1 seed. Ory played with King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin

 

[RickStain]

This is what I love about the internet. No matter what obscure subject you come up with, someone is interested in it.

 

[Quiet Man]

Oh come on, it's hard to beat Charles L. Johnson's Cum Bac-Rag of 1911.

or James Scott's Climax Rag of 1914.

Oh no you didn't! It's gonna be that whole east coast/west coast food rag/sex rag rivalry all over again. Don't be gettin up in my grill with no Charles L. Johnson!

 

[Huggy]

if there are any recordings of Kid Ory's band from that decade, that has to be a 1 seed. Ory played with King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin

Indeed. Love reading about the New Orleans jazz scene in those days.

This is a a great resource:

http://www.redhotjazz.com/