JOHN FARRELL - THE JAZZ MASTER












Piano rolls | Archived piano rolls | MIDI files | Sheet music





John Farrell's death in early 2007 was a great loss to the musical world, yet the music lives on and his work will continue to be available to his customers around the globe. Please email Alison for the latest list. His piano rolls and A rolls will also continue to be published by Bob Billings, email address perforator@sbcglobal.net. Anyone with any music queries can contact me by email at alison@creative-team.com or click the link below.

Email queries/orders

www.johnfarrellcollection.com

























































































For many years, John Farrell made 88-note jazz piano rolls and transcribed a considerable number of recordings by the great jazz pianists for use as source material. You can purchase them here and listen to them on the MIDI file page. Most of the rolls released in past years have been archived and are available at a small extra cost, go to the Archived Piano Rolls page to view the extensive list of titles. Printed piano sheet music of the roll arrangements is also available for purchase on the sheet music page.

NEW ISSUE : THE LAST JAM PIANO ROLLS

January 2008  John Farrell left a library of 26 unissued rolls which we will release in 2008.

The first 6 titles listed below are available now, and for a small additional charge you may order previously issued rolls from our extensive archive, details of which can be found on this website.  The rolls are issued on the JAM label, so if jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and hot dance music are your cup of tea then these are certainly for you.  Below are the details of our current offerings with a brief note on each. 

The rolls are priced at $96 for the set of 6, plus postage.  Payment in advance by PayPal or check drawn on a US bank.   Order from us at perforator@sbcglobal.net or via snail mail at 14010 Rim Rock Drive, Reno NV 89521, USA.  Shipping to US addresses is $6.50 via Media Mail.  Shipping to European addresses is $22.00 via air only.

Let us know your email address and we will send future offerings by email.  If you are interested, we will email you a file of the roll titles and prices.


 JAM 237 - Birmingham Breakdown as played by John Farrell.  Duke Ellington’s well-known 1927 tune will give your piano a workout.  John’s notes say to play it fast.

JAM 238 - Have You Met Miss Jones? as played by John Farrell.  John’s jazz version of this 1937 Rodgers & Hart tune.

JAM 239 - Lock And Key as played by the composer, James P. Johnson.  A slow stride tune.

JAM 240 - Weeping Blues as played by the composer, James P. Johnson.  A medium paced blues transcribed from his 1934 Bluebird  record.

JAM 241 - Honey Hush as played by Don Ewell.  John considered Ewell as one of the best jazz and stride pianists.  Here Ewell dishes out a Fats Waller tune

JAM 242 - Centennial Rag as played by John Farrell.  John gives this Charles Thompson rag some of his special treatment that jazzes it up a bit.

 

PAST ISSUES - PIANO ROLLS

Rolls are manufactured in the United States from where orders are shipped to customers. The following titles are currently available on the JAM label (you can preview all of them on the MIDI file page. Here are the latest releases which have been transferred to the Archived Piano Rolls page:

The rolls are manufactured in the United States from where orders are shipped to customers. Here are the latest releases on the JAM label, each one priced at $18. Click on the title to hear a part of the roll :

JAM 231 – Sunday as played by Teddy Wilson, transcribed from his 1939 Keystone recording session.

JAM 232 – My Monday Date as played by Claude Bolling, transcribed from his 1972 Philips recording.

JAM 233 – Old Fashioned Love as played by James P. Johnson, transcribed from his 1944 recording.

 JAM 234 – On The Sunny Side Of The Street as played by John Farrell.

JAM 235 – 133rd Street Boogie as played by Sammy Price, transcribed from his 1945 recording.

JAM 236 – Pick Yourself Up as played by John Farrell.

The following are still available from the previous list priced at $18 each. Exact copies of all these rolls may be heard by clicking on the titles, hear before you buy !! :

JAM 225 – If It Ain’t Love as played by John Farrell. A neat little swinger recorded by Fats Waller and written by his associate Andy Razaf  and bandleader Don Redman.

JAM 226 – I’m Not Worrying as played by British stride pianist Neville Dickie. This one was composed by Fats Waller and it shows!

JAM 227 – Easy Living as played by Sir Charles Thompson, this is John’s transcription of  Sir Charles’ 1984 recording.

 JAM 228 – Pass The Jug as played by David Boeddinghaus, one of America’s secret pianistic treasures. This one is  a great stomping tune, another of John’s transcriptions. It is a totally different version from HPC 20 which we released some years ago.

JAM 229 – He Ain’t Got Rhythm as played by Martin Litton. John transcribed this little-known Irving Berlin tune from a fairly recent Litton recording.

JAM 230 – Isn’t This A Lovely Day as played by American pianist Mark Shane, who is clearly influenced by the Teddy Wilson style. This is another Irving Berlin composition, John transcribed Shane’s recording for the roll.

BARGAIN HALF PRICE SALE

Only one copy of this is left now, all the others have been snapped up. Once it has gone it will not be reissued so grab it while you can.at $8 – half our regular price ::

JazzMan 13   Loch Lomond Swing

------------------------END OF SALE--------------------------------------------------------------------

Price information.  Roll prices are stated at the beginning of each section on this page. In summary rolls on current offer (none at present, they go very quickly!) are priced at US $18 each, archived rolls are $22 each. Mailing charges - US residents add $3.50 for the first 1 - 2 rolls, $0.50 for each additional. European residents (surface mail) add $10.00 for the first 1 - 2 rolls, $1.00 for each additional.

Credit cards - if you have a PayPal account we will accept payment by credit card.

We also accept payment by Western Union.

European customers may pay for their rolls in Euros or English pounds if they wish.

 Ordering information.  Order from Bob Billings (US) or John Farrell (England).

 

 

A-ROLLS

We are now offering A-rolls for nickelodeons (multi-tune rolls which do not play on a regular player piano). The first five, containing hot jazz numbers arranged by John, are available with lots more to follow. They are priced at $65 each plus $10 postage to US addresses (others please contact for postal rates), order from Bob Billings,  myself or John Mottoros.

Here are the tune lists :

     Roll A1: 

  1. King Chanticleer
  2. Beale Street Blues
  3. Arkansas Blues
  4. Jesse James
  5. West Dallas Drag
  6. Willie The Weeper
  7. Zonky
  8. Too Much Mustard

     Roll A2:

  1. Kaycee On My Mind
  2. Just Gone
  3. Cow Cow Boogie
  4. Bleeding Hearted Blues
  5. 133rd Street Boogie
  6. Chicago Breakdown
  7. Shuffle Boogie

Roll A3 :

 

1.  Handful of Keys 

2.  Baby Face 

3.  Wildcat Blues 

4.  Way Down Yonder in New Orleans 

5.  Wedding of the Painted Doll 

6.  Shout, Sister, Shout 

7.  Brown Skin Mama 

8.  Eccentric 

9.  Atlanta Blues 

 

 

Roll A4 : 

    1.  Cushion Foot Stomp

    2.  Original E-flat Blues

    3.  Fast Stuff Blues

    4.  Creole Belles

    5.  Harlem Hotcha

    6.  Canadian Capers

    7.  Hungarian Rag

    8.  The Curse of an Aching Heart

  1. I Got Rhythm

 

 Roll A5 :

1.  Kansas City Kitty
2.  Black Bottom Stomp
3.  Goin' About  
4.  New Orleans Stomp
5.  Copenhagen
6.  Freshman Hop
7.  Never Swat a Fly
8.  Carolina Shout
9.  Rattlesnake Rag