A Christmas Yuleblog

Here's a fun album that was one of my first posts over at FaLaLaLaLa last year: LINER NOTES: While this album was being recorded, a young man was invited to observe the session from the control room. He enjoyed the sound but was astonished to look through the studio glass and see no one at the keyboard! He was watching a Duo-Art instrument at work, and being too young to remember the national craze for Pianola player pianos required an explanation of how this new and fascinating instrument operated. Air forced through tubing by a pump, he was told, causes hammers to strike the proper strings of the piano, all regulated by a continually moving perforated paper roll. Although a familiar sight fifty years ago, the Pianola has not lost its charm. In fact, a whole new audience has developed for this “live” form of reproduced music. Piano rolls and players are very much available today, and the Aeolian selections used here demonstrate the versatility of the instrument. Singers p...