Saturday, 12 March 2011

5. Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library Of Congress Recordings


Epic and absolutely essential listening for a many different reasons.

This 8 CD boxset is an extremely thorough examination of two things - Jelly Roll Morton and the time and place he inhabited in his youth, early 20th century New Orleans. Hence it is a first hand account (told to the folklorist Alan Lomax) of the birth and rise of jazz music. The recordings were made in 1938, a time when Jelly Roll was at a nadir in his life and big band swing, an offshoot from "hot" jazz that Jelly Roll had a hand in creating, was the most popular form of music. The ambiance is very much fireside storytelling - Jelly Roll sits at the piano and recounts many wild tales from his youth and the highly unsavoury characters he encountered on his journeys. He is prodded by occasional questions from Lomax and the whiskey that he consumes throughout. Jelly Roll paints a very vivid and at times extremely lurid picture (some of the language he uses would make a West Coast rapper blush) that provide fascinating insight into the time and how jazz music came about. Some of the stories need to be taken with a pinch of salt however as Jelly Roll liked it to be known that he had a hand in the invention of jazz music. Nevertheless he gives credit where it's due to a lot of musicians that never had the chance to be recorded or made it big outside of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Old fashioned story telling and a very valuable historical document.

Disc 1

  1. "I'm Alabama Bound" – 4:03
  2. "Time in Mobile" – 4:13
  3. "King Porter Stomp" – 4:06
  4. "The Story of 'King Porter Stomp'" – 3:53
  5. "Jelly Roll's Background" – 4:22
  6. "Music Lessons" – 4:05
  7. "Miserere" – 4:05
  8. "The Stomping Grounds" – 4:15
  9. "The Style of Sammy Davis" – 4:17
  10. "Tony Jackson Was the Favorite / Dope, Crown, and Opium" – 4:00
  11. "Poor Alfred Wilson" – 4:02
  12. "Honky Tonk Blues / In New Orleans, Anyone Could Carry a Gun" – 4:20
  13. "New Orleans was a Free and Easy Place" – 4:06
  14. "The Story of Aaron Harris" – 4:06

Disc 2

  1. "The Story of Aaron Harris, continued / Aaron Harris Blues" – 4:05
  2. "Aaron Harris, His Hoodoo Woman, and the Hat That Started a Riot" – 4:10
  3. "The Story of the 1900 New Orleans Riot and the Song of Robert Charles" – 4:04
  4. "The Story of the 1900 New Orleans Riot, continued" – 4:04
  5. "Game Kid Blues" – 3:57
  6. "New Orleans Funerals" – 4:17
  7. "Funeral Marches" – 4:11
  8. "Oh! Didn't He Ramble" – 4:07
  9. "Tiger Rag, third, fourth, and fifth strains" – 4:02
  10. "Tiger Rag / Panama" – 4:02
  11. "The Right Tempo is the Accurate Tempo" – 4:39
  12. "Jazz Discords and Story of the Kansas City Stomp" – 4:31
  13. "Kansas City Stomp, continued" – 4:34
  14. "Slow Swing and 'Sweet Jazz Music'" – 4:32
  15. "Salty Dog / Bill Johnson, Jelly's Brother-in-Law" – 4:22
  16. "Hesitation Blues" – 4:30

Disc 3

  1. "My Gal Sal" – 3:51
  2. "The St. Louis Scene" – 4:09
  3. "Maple Leaf Rag, St. Louis style / Maple Leaf Rag, New Orleans style" – 4:19
  4. "Jelly Roll Carves St. Louis" – 4:19
  5. "Jelly Roll Carves St. Louis, continued" – 4:23
  6. "New Orleans Blues" – 3:58
  7. "Winin' Boy Blues" – 3:45
  8. "Winin' Boy Blues, continued" – 4:24
  9. "The Anamule Dance" – 3:46
  10. "The Anamule Dance, continued" – 4:19
  11. "The Great Buddy Bolden / Buddy Bilden's Blues" – 4:11
  12. "The Great Buddy Bolden, continued" – 4:11
  13. "Mr. Jelly Lord" – 4:09
  14. "How Jelly Roll Got His Name" – 4:14
  15. "Original Jelly Roll Blues" – 4:09
  16. "Honky Tonk Blues" – 4:07

Disc 4

  1. "Real Tough Boys" – 4:31
  2. "Sporting Attire and Shooting the Agate" – 4:33
  3. "Sweet Mamas and Sweet Papas" – 4:20
  4. "See See Rider" – 4:24
  5. "Parading with the Broadway Swells" – 4:22
  6. "Fights and Weapons" – 4:27
  7. "Luis Russell and New Orleans Riffs" – 4:25
  8. "Jelly's Travels: From Yazoo to Clarksdale" – 4:14
  9. "Jelly's Travels: From Clarksdale to Helena" – 4:34
  10. "Jelly's Travels: From Helena to Memphis" – 4:23
  11. "In Memphis: The Monarch Saloon and Benny Frenchy" – 4:24
  12. "Benny Frenchy's Tune, continued" – 4:23
  13. "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" – 4:15
  14. "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor, continued" – 4:14
  15. "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor, part 3" – 4:14
  16. "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor, concluded" – 4:35

Disc 5

  1. "The Dirty Dozen" – 4:30
  2. "The Murder Ballad, part 1" – 4:05
  3. "The Murder Ballad, part 2" – 4:17
  4. "The Murder Ballad, part 3" – 4:29
  5. "The Murder Ballad, part 4" – 4:19
  6. "The Murder Ballad, part 5" – 4:15
  7. "The Murder Ballad, part 6" – 4:29
  8. "The Murder Ballad, part 7" – 4:32
  9. "Fickle Fay Creep" – 3:17
  10. "Jungle Blues" – 3:43
  11. "King Porter Stomp" – 2:55
  12. "Sweet Peter" – 3:04
  13. "Hyena Stomp" – 3:32
  14. "Wolverine Blues, begun" – 3:45
  15. "Wolverine Blues, concluded" – 4:04
  16. "State And Madison" – 3:48
  17. "The Pearls, begun" – 3:28
  18. "The Pearls, concluded"

Disc 6

  1. "Bert Williams" – 3:41
  2. "Freakish" – 3:59
  3. "Pep" – 3:32
  4. "The Georgia Skin Game" – 3:54
  5. "The Georgia Skin Game, continued" – 3:03
  6. "The Georgia Skin Game, conclusion" – 3:19
  7. "Ungai Hai" – 4:09
  8. "New Orleans Blues" – 4:07
  9. "The Spanish Tinge" – 4:13
  10. "Improving Spanish Tempos" – 4:06
  11. "Creepy Feeling, concluded" – 4:28
  12. "The Crave" – 4:37
  13. "Mamanita" – 4:12
  14. "C'était N'aut' Can-Can, Payez Donc" – 4:21
  15. "Spanish Swat" – 4:21
  16. "Ain't Misbehavin'" – 4:11
  17. "I Hate a Man Like You / Rolling Stuff" – 4:11
  18. "Michigan Water Blues" – 3:51

Disc 7

  1. "Winin' Boy Blues" – 3:45
  2. "Winin' Boy Blues, continued" – 4:24
  3. "Boogie Woogie Blues" – 4:21
  4. "Buddy Bertrand's Blues, continued / Mamie's Blues" – 4:25
  5. "When the Hot Stuff Came In" – 8:40
  6. "The First Hot Arrangements" – 9:00
  7. "The Pensacola Kid and the Cadillac Café" – 7:57
  8. "At the Cadillac Café, Los Angeles" – 9:54
  9. "Little Liza Jane, continued / On the West Coast" – 9:45
  10. "In the Publishing Business" – 8:50

Disc 8

  1. "Original Jelly Roll Blues" – 1:51
  2. "Jelly Roll's Early Playing Days in the District" – 1:22
  3. "Hot Bands and Creole Tunes" – 4:29
  4. "Eh, La Bas" – 2:02
  5. "Old-Time Creole Musicians and the French Element" – 3:32
  6. "Playing Hot with Buddy Bolden" – 3:17
  7. "High Society" – 2:15
  8. "Sporting Life Costumes" – 1:38
  9. "Buddy Bolden: Man and Musician" – 2:23
  10. "Creoles Playing with Negroes: Getting that Drive" – 4:28
  11. "Jelly Roll's Compositions" – 3:22
  12. "How Johnny St. Cyr Learned to Play Guitar" – 2:20
  13. "Guitar Blues" – 2:17
  14. "Bad Men and Pimps" – 3:38
  15. "The Story of the Coon Blues" – 1:33
  16. "Coon Blues" – 2:22
  17. "Jazz is Just a Makeup: Buddy Bolden, Honky Tonks, Brass Band Funerals, and Parades" – 5:25
  18. "Young Sidney Bechet: Jim Crow and the Dangers of the District" – 3:40
  19. "The Main Idea in Jazz: "Just Watch Me" – Improvising and Reading Music" – 3:23
  20. "Of All His Mother's Children He Loved Jelly the Best" – 6:17
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