Farm House Blues (Blythe) played by Andrew Barrett

"Farm House Blues"

Jimmy Blythe

c. 1928

Farm House Blues is a composition attributed to James Blythe and almost certainly played by him on a Capitol A-roll (A-2310) made for coin-operated pianos.

It was probably originally issued as an 88-note roll, but that version has not turned up yet. If any Youtube viewers find an 88-note roll of this tune, please let me know!

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"Farm House Blues" was transcribed by Dr. Bob Pinsker in 2001, and has subsequently been published by him in his folio, "Piano Roll Sampler", which was first issued in 2007 and which is still available from him.

This folio also contains full transcriptions of rolls by Charley Straight, Roy Bargy, James P. Johnson (two rolls), Lemuel Fowler, Cliff Jackson, and Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport, as well as two more Blythe performances and partial transcriptions of rolls by Steve Lewis and Thomas "Fats" Waller, for a total of ten complete and two partial piano roll transcriptions.

These are the finest, most exact, and readable piano roll transcriptions I have ever seen to date. Dr. Pinsker has included all the extra "impossible" notes added by the roll editor, but they are written in grey, rather than black ink, so you can choose whether or not to play them.

The well-researched introduction to the folio, alone, is well worth the price of the folio.

Here's Dr. Pinsker's website:

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Quarter/1822/

you can contact him via the email listed at the bottom of the page on "notating swing". Just be sure to take off the suffix after .com, because it is a spam blocker!

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Regarding the tune itself, Dr. Pinsker once commented to me that he found "Farm House Blues" to be nearly incomprehensible, musically, and in the introduction, he says that it "...again has a variety of different left hand patterns and a very complex right hand part. This roll contains some of the jazziest playing ever captured on a hand-played piano roll."

If you want to hear a recording of Blythe's original A-roll version of this tune, check out the recent CD "Messin' Around Blues" issued on the Delmark label. "Farm House Blues" is track 1.

This CD consists of a number of Blythe's rolls, recorded at relaxed tempos similar to how he accompanied blues singers on record, and recorded using the MIDI files of the scanned rolls played back through a realistic grand piano computer soundfont, rather than using an actual piano (which I would have preferred, but it still sounds decent).

Though not the same thing as hearing exact recuts of Blythe's rolls played on a fully-restored, well-in-tune player piano by a sympathetic pianolist who can add all the necessary dynamics and accents, it is still good listening and certainly worth your time.

http://www.amazon.com/Messin-Around-Blues-Jimmy-Blythe/dp/B000UZ4C4K

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7496349/a/Messin'+Around+Bl...

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This video was taken at the April, 2009 meeting of Valley Ragtime Stomp!

visit their website to learn about upcoming meetings, read articles, look at pictures, and watch more videos.

http://valleyragtimestomp.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Randy Johnson for the video.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jimmy
• Blythe
• James
• Clarence
• Johnson
• A-roll
• Capitol
• blues
• barrelhouse
• honky-tonk
• stride
• novelty
• boogie
• woogie
• good-time
• lowdown
• funky
• piano
• rare
• roll
• transcription
• Chicago
• southside

[AAErikCO]

Wow, FANTASTIC! Andrew! Really enjoyed the performance. About 1:35 you really get into it :) Time for me to get some of these transcriptions! I've got one of "Fast Stuff Blues" but I'm still learning, after 10 months off and on lol

Thanks for posting!

[KawhackitaRag]

Thanks! As you can tell, I find this tune to be fully comprehendable!

[LillyC68]

Great playing, thanks for sharing! 5*,

Lilly

[KawhackitaRag]

Thanks!

[pianmn199]

Great performance, Andrew. You sound like one of

my Blythe 88n piano rolls! Thanx for posting.

[organistedejazz]

Andrew, your performance is absolutely fantastic!! I particularly love your tremolos that are incredible and sound so "player piano"!Marvelous rendition of the tune, in any sense

[Chnarles]

Hi Andrew,

I wanted to get Pinsker's Piano Roll Sampler but the link that you provided in your description is no longer functional. Any idea how to get a hold of him currently? Thanks.

[anglerfly]

@KawhackitaRag you might want to join my piano group.

[idamay1]

This is great!! Nothing better than someone that can master the "88's" like Andrew Barrett!!

[vimana19]

Authentic and excellent continuity with no boring bits, love the boogie. I try playing like that my neighbors batter on the wall and threaten to call the polis. Still its better than I can do. Whats that rattle cattle fattle tattle too?!

[Pianosyncrazy]

Can't believe I am just catching this now..... great performance indeed Andrew ! Thanks.

[KawhackitaRag]

Good idea... if I can get the software, I'll try to do that on some of mine before I post them! Thanks