Jerome Kern : Left All Alone Again Blues (1920)

[crowdxcontrol]

Excuse me for the implication that the others' arrangements of Left All Alone Again Blues were on the same CD; those have to be found on sites of piano rolls translated to MIDI files.

[crowdxcontrol]

If you want to hear a sound recording of this piano roll (DuoArt #1664) played on a DuoArt piano of the period (1920's), which supposedly reproduces the expression the arranger (in this case Gershwin) intended, I suggest cut three of the album Gershwin Plays Gershwin and Other Great Composers, TKO Collectors B00004C8TU (Available from Amazon). If you compare Gershwin's arrangement to others' of the same piece you can appreciate his talent for truly making it his own.

[SchrodingersCake]

A minor correction-- it sounds like that fourth chord in the left hand should be an arpeggiated F#3 - E4 - Bb4. If you look closely at the keys in this video: watch?v=cvoE3kXefIg that appears to be what Gershwin played.

Nonetheless, I love this video! Thanks so much for uploading.

[MrZygoticmynci]

I think Gershwin is quite underappreciated as a pianist, but I guess that ties in with the fact there are so few recordings of him playing. He was very astute in his sense of rhythm. No one could imitate that.

[jsved01]

That's fantastic. Thank you for your hard work. Much appreciated.

[joaobagaco]

Can anyone get me the sheetmusic of this song?

[fmazzar]

I have this song as recorded by the Victor Light Opera Company and it became a fast favorite ...you did a great job....makes me feel like wagging my right index figure...

[KawhackitaRag]

very nice transcription! My only gripe would be that you don't differentiate between straight-8ths and swung eighths (tuplets) in your score, whereas in the roll, Gershwin shifts back and forth between them (common ragtime, etc. performance practice circa 1915-1920). However, instead of complaining, I should transcribe the roll again myself and give you a copy of the transcription!

[harveyardman]

Thanks for your hard work...the result is beautiful and very realistic. Much better than the usual piano roll stuff.

[KawhackitaRag]

I think that the sound is from the Artis Wodehouse recording, where she scanned the Gershwin rolls into MIDI files, added dynamics for each individual note, and then played the result back on a Yamaha Disklavier. I would have preferred a recording of the rolls played back on a fully-restored vintage player piano (such as a pedal-electric Duo-Art) with the person (pianolist) adding the dynamics by hand in real-time, but I guess I'll have to produce that recording myself.

[KawhackitaRag]

I agree it sounds better than most recordings of piano rolls, because most of those (mainly those from the 1950's-1970s) did not use a piano that was fully restored, voiced, and tuned. In fact, in many of those recordings, either an electric pump "played" the player piano, or the person pumping didn't know what they were doing.

Check out the videos of Julian Dyer (youtube user "risingchads") and Adam Ramet (youtube user "pianolasociety"). THOSE guys know how to play a player piano!

[Pianosyncrazy]

I agree!

[AAErikCO]

@harveyardman

You've been listening to the wrong piano rolls then. :) Piano rolls can sound beautiful too, you have to learn to express with your feet and use the expression levers. The right player pianist can make a roll come alive.

[Keeper1st]

Neat! How did you transcribe the roll? By ear from a recording, by unrolling the roll, or by playing it slowly and writing down the notes? There's a thread right now on the EliteSyncopations YahooGroup about roll transcribing.

[yukimatsuri]

I don't have the absolute pitch, so I hear sound by ear playing the tune slowly(half-speed) with wave editor. When cannot catch sound, I apply it that Gershwin used well. I have spent four days to hear one bar. After all, I think that the most important thing is "perseverance".

[Keeper1st]

That is how I transcribe music by ear too! Half speed, or even quarter speed (for things like fast xylophone runs!).