J. Lawrence Cook
Encyclopedia
Jean Lawrence Cook was the most prolific piano roll
Piano roll
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...

 artist in history. His output has been estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 different roll recordings.

Cook was born in Athens, Tennessee
Athens, Tennessee
Athens is a city in McMinn County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of McMinn County and the principal city of the Athens Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Chattanooga-Cleveland-Athens Combined Statistical Area. The population was 13,220 at the 2000...

, the son of a preacher. He was orphaned before his fourth birthday, and raised by relatives who introduced him to music. He went on to become the most famous name in the history of the music roll industry.

Cook arrived in New York in March, 1920 and recorded some rolls for the US Music Roll Company. In May 1923 he was engaged by the QRS Music Roll Company (QRS Records
QRS Records
QRS Records was a United States record label, which produced three different groups of records 1928-1930, including some notable jazz and blues recordings....

), where he remained for nearly 50 years.

As a result of his prolific output, he also used pseudonyms and some rolls were released under names such as Sid Laney, "Pep" Doyle, and Walter Redding. He also produced some rolls that were marketed as being played by Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

.

External links

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