Little Rock Getaway

Composer: Joe Sullivan

Arrangement: John Roache

Performer: John Roache

(comments and copyright by John Roache)

Here is "Little Rock Getaway" by Joe Sullivan. Written in 1938, this piece is the one that got me hooked on stride piano. In my childhood my father had a Pete Fountain Trio recording of this piece. Merle Koch played the piano in Pete's trio and his solo on this track was spectacular. I listened to this track over and over and tried to learn the technique. I was never completely successful and I practically wore out the record. But I still have that old LP and still listen to it occasionally.

"Little Rock Getaway" is a transitional piece in the evolution of Stride to Jazz. Listen to the left hand and you'll hear it playing something other than the typical ragtime and stride oom-pah bass. The left hand is now playing jazz figures in counterpoint to the right hand in several parts of the piece. Compare the first four measures of the introduction: The left hand plays the typical oom-pah in the first 2 measures then goes into a figure which harmonizes with the right hand in the third measure. You'll hear this type of figure used throughout the piece. In fact it was sort of a signature of Joe Sullivan and Bob Zurke's music. For a comparison of similar pieces, listen to Zurke's "Hobson Street Blues" and Judy Carmichael's arrangement of Honeysuckle Rose - all found elsewhere in this library. ========================================================================= ABOUT THE MIDI FILES: There are 2 MIDI files in this archive: ltlrock.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.

ltlrok_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