88-NOTE: five new 88-note popular rolls by greats James P. Johnson, Thomas "Fats" Waller, and Clarence Johnson!

DUO-ART: 20 new Duo-Art reissue rolls - mostly classical (starting with my # DA-036), but also a few excellent popular rolls (starting with my # DA-053).

WELTE: 20 new Welte reissue rolls - mostly popular (starting with my # Welte-071), but also a few classical rolls (starting with my # Welte-084).

Playing Duo-Art and Welte rolls on regular 88-note player pianos: Duo-Art and Welte rolls are among the finest popular rolls issue, and I strongly urge any player piano owner to consider them for use on their 88-note player piano. Duo-Art and Welte rolls are layed out so that they will play fine on any standard 88-note player (except that any sustain pedal information on the Welte roll will not activate automatically on your piano). If you wish, you can use a piece of Scotch tape to cover channels 0-7 on the bass end and channels 90-97 on the treble end so that no extraneous notes are played on your piano. For details please take a look at a brief BluesTone Tracker Bar Comparison.

137381 Midnight Blues (A Wee Hour Chang) (S. Williams)- lyric sheet included with roll $12
played by Clarence Johnson (originally issued on Mel-O-Dee 5099 / 1923)

137382 Arkansas Blues (Spencer Williams)- lyric sheet included with roll $12
played by James P. Johnson (originally issued on QRS 1670 / October 1921)

137383 Down Home Blues (Tom Delaney) - lyric sheet included with roll $12
played by James P. Johnson (originally issued on QRS 1797 / February 1922)

Arkansas Blues is one of my all-time favorite JPJ rolls, it just swings and the piano arrangement keeps moving around, never repeating the same things twice. Play it nice and slow, and sing along! I even taught myself to play the intro & coda, it's that tasty. I wish I were good enough to play the whole thing by hand. But that's why we have player pianos, right? Play by foot, you can't go wrong.

Midnight Blues is a Spencer Williams composition, the same tune as recorded by "Fats" Waller on QRS 2331. The Waller roll is great, but this is equally great and funkier in my opinion. Clarence Johnson seems to take more changes, gets further off the beaten path and almost get himself into trouble. It's a little crazy, but it's a lot of fun and well worth the ride. Try it!

Down Home Blues is another tune with lyrics along the same lines as Arkansas Blues, the singer wanting to go home, down South. Remember, the black migration North to cities like Chicago in search of jobs during World War I tore a lot of folks from their roots back home, and songs like this went a long way toward making people feel better. This is a fine roll and typically great James P. Johnson performance.

137384 Buzz Mirandy (Creamer - Franklin) - lyric sheet included with roll $12
played by James P. Johnson (originally issued on QRS 1952 / August 1922)

Buzz Mirandy is one of those early Broadway-sounding, Perry Bradford, hustling up-beat tunes! Tasty piano playing all the way through, some stop-time action, and a double-time section at the end. Get up and dance! JPJ doesn't disappoint!

137385 Mamma's Got The Blues (Clarence Williams) - lyric sheet included with roll $12
played by Thomas "Fats" Waller (originally issued on QRS 2322 / August 1923)

Mamma's Got The Blues is