Post by Kenny on Nov 11, 2005 12:03:01 GMT 10
I managed to get the new Jelly Roll Morton/Library Of Congress set up as CD of the week, i.e. a bit more space and a photo, in the SHS.
Given a bit more space I might have added the following:
*To my ears, there is some merit to Morton's argument that jazz "progressions" that closely followed his own breakthroughs actually constituted a sort of "dumbing down". I'm talking about the sometimes complex and always elegant Morton compositions compared with the more streamlined swing era stuff. Any of our resident players care to comment? PG?
* Like so many lavish boxes these days, the packaging is all about marketability, and NOT usability, durability or longevity. Hell's bells - just give me the music and a plain old box.
(And, yes, I did snag a freebie, but only having already resolved to cut the BS and happily pay for such an essential item. But then the wonderful Mr Narrain of jazzonthestreet.com went into bat for me ... I am playing the entire seven discs of Morton on The Pearls on a disc-per-week basis, the third going to air on November 15).
And, no, I didn't write the headline!
Sunday Herald Sun, Edition 1 - FIRST SUN 06 NOV 2005, Page E14
Proof Jelly doesn't wobble
By: KENNY WEIR
The Complete Library of Congress Recordings
Jelly Roll Morton
(Rounder/MGM)
In short: The first main man of jazz sets the record right.
IN a year bursting with revelatory jazz releases, this handsome package could be seen as the grandest of the lot.
Unlike recently released live recordings of Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane, Morton's Library of Congress recordings - laid down for folklorist Alan Lomax in 1938 - are well known, if not widely heard.
But here they are - in their full glory, on seven discs (an eighth has interviews with Morton contemporaries), sounding as good as they ever will, and after a long and erratic release history that includes Australian label Swaggie.
In their previous incarnation, Rounder released four discs containing the music only, omitting all Morton's rambling tales, explanations and humour. That decision, even if pragmatic, can now be seen as folly.
For everything here is musical - not only Morton's piano playing, immortal tunes and long under-rated singing. Nope, Jelly's talking voice, too, has a musical lilt that makes listening to these recordings a sensual, dreamy pleasure.
It's all here - compositions such as The Pearls and King Porter Stomp; examples of ragtime, blues, funeral marches, opera and more, and explanations of how Jelly was the first to deliberately combine them in music that would eventually become known as jazz; tall tales and true from Mobile, Pensacola, Chicago and California detailing Morton's adventures; fascinating insights into turn-of-the-century New Orleans taking in gangsters, whores and whorehouses, murderers, pimps, Mardi Gras indians, parades, trumpeter Buddy Bolden and pianists such as Tony Jackson, never recorded but made legendary by Morton's awe.
This release should see the last vestiges of Morton's reputation as a liar and fraud finally abandoned, because here is eloquent proof his claims to have invented jazz are based on undeniable fact.
It stands, too, as a flamboyant reminder of an age that doubtless will be made even more distant and remote by the ravages and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Given a bit more space I might have added the following:
*To my ears, there is some merit to Morton's argument that jazz "progressions" that closely followed his own breakthroughs actually constituted a sort of "dumbing down". I'm talking about the sometimes complex and always elegant Morton compositions compared with the more streamlined swing era stuff. Any of our resident players care to comment? PG?
* Like so many lavish boxes these days, the packaging is all about marketability, and NOT usability, durability or longevity. Hell's bells - just give me the music and a plain old box.
(And, yes, I did snag a freebie, but only having already resolved to cut the BS and happily pay for such an essential item. But then the wonderful Mr Narrain of jazzonthestreet.com went into bat for me ... I am playing the entire seven discs of Morton on The Pearls on a disc-per-week basis, the third going to air on November 15).
And, no, I didn't write the headline!
Sunday Herald Sun, Edition 1 - FIRST SUN 06 NOV 2005, Page E14
Proof Jelly doesn't wobble
By: KENNY WEIR
The Complete Library of Congress Recordings
Jelly Roll Morton
(Rounder/MGM)
In short: The first main man of jazz sets the record right.
IN a year bursting with revelatory jazz releases, this handsome package could be seen as the grandest of the lot.
Unlike recently released live recordings of Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane, Morton's Library of Congress recordings - laid down for folklorist Alan Lomax in 1938 - are well known, if not widely heard.
But here they are - in their full glory, on seven discs (an eighth has interviews with Morton contemporaries), sounding as good as they ever will, and after a long and erratic release history that includes Australian label Swaggie.
In their previous incarnation, Rounder released four discs containing the music only, omitting all Morton's rambling tales, explanations and humour. That decision, even if pragmatic, can now be seen as folly.
For everything here is musical - not only Morton's piano playing, immortal tunes and long under-rated singing. Nope, Jelly's talking voice, too, has a musical lilt that makes listening to these recordings a sensual, dreamy pleasure.
It's all here - compositions such as The Pearls and King Porter Stomp; examples of ragtime, blues, funeral marches, opera and more, and explanations of how Jelly was the first to deliberately combine them in music that would eventually become known as jazz; tall tales and true from Mobile, Pensacola, Chicago and California detailing Morton's adventures; fascinating insights into turn-of-the-century New Orleans taking in gangsters, whores and whorehouses, murderers, pimps, Mardi Gras indians, parades, trumpeter Buddy Bolden and pianists such as Tony Jackson, never recorded but made legendary by Morton's awe.
This release should see the last vestiges of Morton's reputation as a liar and fraud finally abandoned, because here is eloquent proof his claims to have invented jazz are based on undeniable fact.
It stands, too, as a flamboyant reminder of an age that doubtless will be made even more distant and remote by the ravages and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.