The Baltimore Todolo

Composer: Eubie Blake

Arrangement: John Roache

Performer: John Roache

(comments and copyright by John Roache)

Here is "The Baltimore Todolo" written about 1909 by Eubie Blake. Until recently, I had thought this piece was named "The Baltimore-Toledo" thinking it was named after some railroad. It is actually named after an obscure dance called a TODOLO. Blake was a very creative composer. His compositions demonstrate a unique style not shared with other ragtime composers of his era. In this music you will hear the "rolling" or "walking" bass line which evolved 20 years later into the popular "boogie woogie" piano style.

I must admit that I was not initially impressed with Eubie Blake's music. I first heard it played by the composer on Columbia's recording, "The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake", recorded when he was 86 years old and in my opinion, way past his prime. Age had taken it's toll on his technique and the performance was very muddled and inconsistent. Hearing recent performances by contemporary pianists has rekindled my interest in Eubie Blake's music. This MIDI sequence is based on Scott Kirby's swinging interpretation of the piece. I hope you enjoy it! I think Eubie would if he were alive today.

ABOUT THE MIDI FILES: There are 2 MIDI files in this ZIP archive:

BALTIMOR.MID is a stereo midi which uses pan controller instructions to place each note in a stereo spectrum. Lowest note at the far left and the highest note far right. All the rest somewhere in between depending on their pitch. It sounds just like you were sitting in front of a player piano.

BALTI_M.mid is the same performance with all the pan controller in- structions removed. I discovered that some FM synthesis sound cards cannot handle pan controller calls correctly. Most of the notes play in the center of the two channels with an occasional high note playing far right and a few low notes playing far left. This is very unnatural sounding and if your sound card is this type, use this file which will play OK.

This MIDI was sequenced with Cakewalk Pro on a SoundBlaster AWE 32 sound card. Your sound card may not reproduce bass notes with the same intensity as the AWE. If this is the case the balance between the Right Hand part (Track 1) and the Left Hand part (track 2) will need to be adjusted. Load the file into a sequencer and edit the track volumes according to your taste and sound card.

========================================================================= ABOUT THE PERFORMER: My name is John Roache. I am an amateur ragtime enthusiast living in Torrance California. I have been playing piano and keyboards for almost 50 years. I began creating ragtime computer music in the mid- '80s on the Commodore-64 using the SIDPLAYER music composition program. In 1994, I discovered the power of MIDI and have been sequencing ragtime, stride and swing music since then.

I would be pleased to hear any of your comments about this midi. Address e-mail to JohnRoache@aol.com.

Also visit my WWW home page to download more of my MIDI sequences: http://members.aol.com/ragtimers