Music: Play It Again, George

George Gershwin was at the keyboard one more time last week, banging out richly embellished versions of his pop tunes Swanee and Kickin' the Clouds Away. Though Gershwin has been dead for more than a half-century, his distinctive performing style has been preserved on nearly 120 player-piano rolls that he cut between 1916 and 1926. These virtuoso piano solos were never transcribed into sheet music, however. Since the demise of the player piano, the fragile paper rolls that hold the solos have been deteriorating on private collectors' shelves, unheard by generations of Gershwin scholars and fans.

Until now. Thanks to advances...

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