The Old Piano Roll Blues

I grew up with an old player piano.

My parents bought it when I was five years old. There is an old Super 8 movie of me pumping away at the pedals, making the piano go.

A few years later, I learned how to play the piano with my fingers and not pumping with my feet. I took piano lessons for several years and played it all through high school. I even took piano lessons in college and practiced on my piano. It was my piano. My mother said it was my piano. She told everyone it was my piano. My brother never wanted to learn to play the piano.

My piano was almost identical to this one. The bench was a standard bench and not like this deluxe upholstered one.

Not only did I play and practice my music on my piano, I also collected piano rolls. I would find them at resale stores and auctions. I also would go to Milwaukee and buy rolls at Neuhaus Pianos (Facebook). That is where my parents bought the piano to begin with when I was five.

A Few Years Later

My piano stayed at my parents’ house after I got married. Mother always referred to it as “Tony’s piano.”

A few years later, I visited my parents, and my piano was gone. Mother never said it was in the way. She never asked me to move it. She never told me to move it out of the house. As a matter of fact, she enjoyed hearing me play my piano when I came to visit.

Mother said she gave it to my brother Evan so his kids could play it. She gave them my piano and all of my piano rolls.

The thing is, Evan’s wife didn’t like music. “Noise,” she would call it. She wouldn’t let her kids take piano lessons or play any of the piano rolls. She wouldn’t let any of her kids take band in school because she didn’t want to hear the noise of them practicing at home. Their son did take some guitar lessons, but it was an electric guitar, and his mother required him to only play it with headphones.

Many years later, Evan and his wife moved to Minnesota. My piano was placed in my parents’ garage and ruined by the frigid northern Wisconsin winter weather. After my father died, Evan and his wife auctioned off all of my parents’ belongings and kept the money for themselves. My piano rolls went in the auction.

The Old Piano Roll Blues sung by the Andrews Sisters and Al Jolson

Weber Duo-Art Reproducing Player Baby Grand Piano

A few years after my mother gave my piano to my brother, I bought a Weber Duo-Art baby grand player piano with the hopes of replacing my piano. A Duo-Art baby grand piano would be considered the Cadillac of player pianos. Many Du0-Art pianos were made out of Steinways. Mine wasn’t, but it still was a deluxe piano. My childhood piano was a basic Chevrolet. The Duo-Art required work, but it did play. I think it needed some adjusting, and the gears lubricated, nothing major seriously. However, it just sat there, and I did nothing with it.

My Weber Duo-Art baby grand player piano is identical to this one, except this one works.

Kimball Player Organ

About 15 years later, I bought a Kimball Player Organ. It needed some adjusting, but it basically worked fine. However, a short time later, it stopped working. I think it needed a new electrical cord. I did nothing and didn’t try to fix it.

My Kimball Player Organ is a slightly different model than this one.

Everything in Limbo

The Weber Grand Piano has sat there for 30 years, and the Kimball Organ for 15 years.

I have done nothing.

I thought a replacement for my missing piano would help me heal from the pain, but it didn’t.

I didn’t try to fix the Weber Grand Piano.

I didn’t try to fix the Kimball Player Organ.

I just froze. It is like I got petrified, and I can’t move or do anything.

I was overwhelmed.

I just gave up.

Nothing could make up for the betrail my mother did to me.

Working on the piano and the organ only reminds me of my mother and what she did with my piano.

I now realize the amount of emotional abuse I received as a child.

The piano rolls have turned into another model train story for me.

These and other events have caused me deep trauma and also cause hurt in me even to this day.

Then there is the story of all the fruit trees I planted and what happened to them.

J. Lawrence Cook, the Greatest Recording Artist of the 20th Century

J. Lawrence Cook at a special recording piano that he used to make the masters for the piano rolls.
The masters were then used by another machine to cut copies for sale.
See the video below.

WBSS Media-J. Lawrence Cook

Jean Lawrence Cook (July 14, 1899 – April 2, 1976) was the most prolific piano roll artist in history. His output has been estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 different roll recordings.

Cook was born in Athens, Tennessee, the son of a preacher. He was orphaned before his fourth birthday, and raised by relatives who introduced him to music. He went on to become the most famous name in the history of the music roll industry.

Cook arrived in New York in March 1920 and recorded some rolls for the US Music Roll Company. In May 1923, he was engaged by the QRS Music Roll Company (QRS Records), where he remained for nearly 50 years.