Search - Porter :: It's Delovely

It's Delightful, It's Delicious, It's Delovely

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up in a household where 1920s/1930s style piano-playing was the norm and so I was imprinted on this style; my mother had been a silent movie house pianist and at home she played popular music in the style of the day. We did not have a player piano but if we had, we would have had available to us the same kind of piano arrangements of popular tunes. And that's what we have here. The majority of the tracks on this disc are from piano rolls made for the Ampico 'B' process which was able not only to record the notes of a performance, but also the dynamics. And what a delight it is to hear these evergreen Cole Porter tunes played in style. The performers are primarily 'house pianists' for Ampico. Included is one track played by Ferdie Grofé, better known now as the composer of 'Grand Canyon Suite' and as the orchestrator of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue.'



Of particular note are several tracks that were not actually recorded from the playing of a pianist but created by directly hand-perforating his own arrangements onto a master roll by Frank Milne who was not only a marvelous pianist but also an editor and perforator for the Ampico company.



I've listened, over the years, to other recordings from piano rolls and I have to say that those on this CD are the most lifelike, least 'mechanical sounding', of any I've heard. I suspect that is due to the untiring efforts of Kenneth Caswell whose expertly refurbished player piano is used on the disc.



Scott Morrison"