Robin was born in Wash., DC to a very musically literate family, and after moving to California in the mid-30s, received extensive training in both classical and popular music, including a teacher who moonlighted as a department store sheet music song-plugger. Said teacher taught him how to pianistically dress-up tunes for maximum effect--the ability only deepened with experience. Amongst his great early passions: Gershwin, Debussy, Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. Frost studied for a while with Hollywood film composer, Eric Zeisl, who likely nurtured our man's innate gifts for composition and harmony, including the use of "thorns" (as Robin so amusingly puts it) in otherwise tonal chords, that actually make them lusher! He started writing these exceptional solos in 1979, a few years after the "Sting" revival, and has, over the years, performed them in various music hall venues and ragtime festivals (though he vastly prefers composition to concertizing!).

Frost's fully-scored, concert-quality solos will, by their very nature, never be fully marketable. The virtuoso nature on the majority of his output precludes even most classical concert pianists from doing them justice (not to speak of ATTEMPTING them!)--ya' don't learn the striding left-hand technique at Juilliard or Curtis! For those lucky few of us that can fudge their way through the Frostian delectations included on this disc, the rewards are many, including a smiling, if not GAPING, audience! Can somebody REALLY write this way in 1998??!!

There is, by definition, NO fudging to be found in John Roache's interpretations. John is likely the preeminent purveyor of computer Midi performance. In many respects, this is a modern equivalent of piano roll arranging, but allowing for much greater precision, both rhythmically and dynamically. John inputs Robin's scores into his computer from an electronic keyboard, and then works aural wonders, digitally editing the score with tempo, rhythm and dynamic subtleties. The approximation of grand piano sound is remarkable. AND, Robin's treacherous (though eminently pianistic--obviously written by a fine pianist--everything "fits" the fingers) scores are rendered with note perfection and toe-tapping excitement. (Robin now writes specifically for Midi, no longer fretting about missed notes, memory lapses, practice sessions, audiences...!) It might not be ultimately human, but a very high standard has been set for future performances/recordings. Enjoy the CD for what it is--a knockout demonstration not only of John's "Midifications", but a series of truly great, wonderfully retro, witty solos (just look at the titles!) by the man of the hour, Robin Frost. Ya' can't help but enjoy!
--Alex Hassan, September, 1998

John Roache, a resident and native of Southern California and a pharmacist by profession, has been playing the (acoustic) piano for almost fifty years. He was one of the original experimenters with electronic ragtime music. His first collection of computer ragtime was commercially published in 1985. As this collection of music demonstrates, John is very good at what he does with MIDI. He is a scrupulous and demanding musician who I know from personal experience will spend as many hours as are necessary to perfect a single measure of music. It is that attention to detail that places him in the top tier of MIDI sculptors. It is not unusual for one composition to require three months from data entry to final version. The result of John�s meticulous approach to sequencing is very well-fashioned and superior music. John is a perfectionist. �I am frustrated when I cannot play the music I �hear� in my head,� he says. �MIDI sequencing gives me the tool I need to realize the dream of perfectly producing music which is too difficult for my fingers to play.�
-Irwin Schwartz, August, 1997

If you would like to hear the complete track, try these links to the sound files on my IUMA web page
<<A distinctly low-fi, mono, but complete, track sample
<<A CD-quality, stereo MPEG sound file of the whole track. It's a 2.5MB file and you'll need an MPEG player to play it, but if you want to hear what the CD really sounds like, try it.