Veronica
Rags, Blues & Foxtrots Played By Rare Nickelodeons &orchestrions
rags, blues & foxtrots played on seven differnt instruments dating from the teens and 20's with piano the primary instrument
As a collector of automatic music recordings for 45+ years and record review editor for the Musical Box Society in the 1960s and early 70s, I heartily recommend this CD for anyone who likes American “nickelodeon”
music, and especially for anyone who would like to hear the difference
between several different brands and models of coin pianos and orchestrions playing different brands of rolls.
The nice variety of instruments includes a very early Wurlitzer Pianino, Link 2E (piano, mandolin attachment and xylophone), Empress Electric style Y (which includes the instrumentation of a Coinola X with xylophone and drums), Coinola C-2 (playing O rolls on piano, mandolin, a
rank of solo flute pipes and drums), Cremona G (with flute pipes), Seeburg KT Special (piano, xylophone, mandolin and 9 other percussion > instruments), and Seeburg G. The instruments are restored and regulated
properly and tuned well. The acoustics are just right---bright enough to add life to the sound, without too much reverberation.
The generous total of 35 tunes on the CD include a good variety of ragtime (“Funny Bones Rag,” “Barbed Wire Rag,” “Reindeer Rag,” “Bohemia”
and over a dozen more), blues (“Ain’t Much Good in the Best of Men,”
“Sobbin’ Blues” “Blame it on the Blues” and others), fox trots (“Somebody Loves Me,” “Where’s My Sweetie Hiding” and others) and misc.
tunes that don’t fit into the other categories (“Grandpa’s Spells,” “King Porter Stomp,” Sugar Foot Strut,” “Cubanola Glide,” “Oceana Roll,” etc.).
If you’ve wondered what makes different brands and coin pianos and orchestrions, sound vastly different from each other, this recording gives you a good start. It also shows you the nice variety of music available on various types of coin piano music rolls.
If you would like to own one coin piano or orchestrion, it will also help you to decide which type you like the best. I have no vested interest in promoting the CD, but I’ve enjoyed playing it numerous times, and our friend John Motto-Ros deserves credit for the nice job he
did in making some fine music available.
Art Reblitz
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