Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax (2005)

Ken Dryden

Columnist since 2000

Ken has collected jazz for over three decades and been a jazz journalist since 1988.

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Published: November 5, 2005

Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax

Near the end of his life, Jelly Roll Morton was bitter and in financial straits, feeling overlooked for his contributions as a jazz trailblazer while others got the credit. In 1938, folklorist Alan Lomax began documenting Morton's career and music by conducting private sessions with the pianist in a concert hall, transcribing his comments and performances onto two primitive battery-operated portable disc cutters, which had problems keeping a consistent speed.

Various editions of these historic Library of Congress recordings have been issued over the years, though duplications, omissions and pitch problems make them inferior to this newly remastered and re-edited collection. The recordings have been resequenced to their original order, with duplications omitted and all unreleased segments included, while the pitch correction and remastering, utilizing a few newly discovered alternate masters, has greatly improved the fidelity.

Though he has long had the reputation as a braggart, Morton comes across as one who is trying to tell the story about the big picture, not just his own life. He discusses numerous musicians and characters that he encountered along his travels, nearly all of whom would have been forgotten without these recordings. His narratives are intermingled with his piano instrumentals and baritone vocals, lubricated by his interviewer's liquor (who he thanks frequently with the comment "This whiskey is tremendous ), though some material was irretrievably lost as Lomax changed discs.

Morton's repertoire is wide-ranging, including spirituals, folk songs, opera excerpts and even Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag and Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin,' though he quickly detours from Andy Razaf's lyrics, possibly not remembering them. He renders still effective renditions of many of his best-known instrumentals (including "King Porter Stomp, "The Pearls and "The Crave ). All of the songs initially omitted from earlier editions are present, including Morton's very bawdy take on "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor and his own "Winin' Boy Blues. Morton explains that making a pallet was not only done to let a guest sleep in the host's bed, but also in order to avoid leaving overt signs of committing adultery to one's spouse.

The bonuses are many: a detailed, large size booklet with notes by John Szwed, Lomax's biography Mr. Jelly Roll, plus actual complete transcriptions of Lomax's interviews (including some not recorded) with Morton on a CD-ROM program added to final disc. The audio tracks on the last disc contain enlightening interviews with Johnny St. Cyr, Alphonse Picou, Leonard Bechet, and Paul Dominguez, Jr. The large box is shaped like a piano, though its outer edges could have been made a bit sturdier.

Anyone collector interested in early jazz should check out this painstakingly assembled collection of Jelly Roll Morton's landmark Library of Congress sessions without hesitation. As far as I'm concerned, this is easily the best boxed set of the year.

Track Listing:
CD1: The Story of �I�m Alabama Bound�; Time in Mobile/I�m Alabama Bound; King Porter Stomp/The Story of "King Porter Stomp"; The Story of "King Porter Stomp"; Jelly Roll's Background; Music Lessons/Miserere; Miserere/The French Opera House and the Tenderloin; The Stomping Grounds; The Style of Sammy Davis/The Renown of Tony Jackson/Pretty Baby; Tony Jackson Was the Favorite/Dope, Crown, and Opium; Poor Alfred Wilson/Tony Jackson�s �Naked Dance�; Honky Tonk Blues/In New Orleans, Anyone Could Carry a Gun; New Orleans Was a Free and Easy Place/Levee Man Blues.
CD2: The Story of Aaron Harris; The Story of Aaron Harris/Aaron Harris Blues; Aaron Harris, His Hoodoo Woman, and the Hat That Started a Riot; The Story of the 1900 New Orleans Riot and the Song of Robert Charles; The Story of the 1900 New Orleans Riot/Game Kid Blues; Game Kid Blues/Buddy Carter Rag; New Orleans Funerals/Steal Away/Nearer My God to Thee; Funeral Marches/Flee As the Bird to the Mountain; Oh! Didn't He Ramble/Evolution of �Tiger Rag�/Tiger Rag, First and Second Strains; Tiger Rag, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Strains, Tiger Rag transformed; Tiger Rag/Panama; The Right Tempo Is the Accurate Tempo/Harmony, Melody and Riffs; Jazz Discords and Story of the Kansas City Stomp/ Kansas City Stomp; Kansas City Stomp/Breaks in Jazz/Darktown Strutters� Ball; Slow Swing and Sweet Jazz Music; Salty Dog/Bill Johnson, Jelly's Brother-in-Law; Hesitation Blues.
CD3: My Gal Sal, Original and Transformation; The St. Louis Scene/Randall�s Tune/Maple Leaf Rag, St. Louis Style; Maple Leaf Rag, St. Louis Style/Maple Leaf Rag, New Orleans Style; Jelly Roll Carves St. Louis; Jelly Roll Carves St. Louis/Miserere/Anvil Chorus; New Orleans Blues; Winin' Boy Blues; Winin' Boy Blues; The Anamule Dance; The Anamule Dance/Yhe Story of �The Anmule Dance�/The Origins of Scat/Scat Song; The Great Buddy Bolden/Buddy Bolden�s Blues; The Great Buddy Bolden; Mr. Jelly Lord; How Jelly Roll Got His Name/Original Jelly Roll Blues; Original Jelly Roll Blues/Jelly Roll�s Four-Beat Foot; Honky Tonk Blues/Old-Time Honky Tonks.
CD4: Real Tough Boys; Sporting Attire and Shooting the Agate; Sweet Mamas and Sweet Papas/See See Rider; See See Rider/Parading with the Broadway Swells; Parading with the Broadway Swells; Fights and Weapons/The Stars and Stripes Forever; Luis Russell and New Orleans Riffs/Call of the Freaks; Jelly's Travels: From Yazoo to Clarksdale; Jelly's Travels: From Clarksdale to Helena; Jelly's Travels: From Helena to Memphis; In Memphis: The Monarch Saloon and Benny Frenchy/Benny Frenchy�s Tune; Benny Frenchy's Tune/Bad Sam, Memphis� Toughest/The Stomp That Beat Benny Frenchy/All That I Ask is Love; Make Me a Pallet on the Floor; Make Me a Pallet on the Floor; Make Me a Pallet on the Floor; Make Me a Pallet on the Floor.
CD5: The Dirty Dozen; The Murder Ballad, Pt. 1; The Murder Ballad, Pt. 2; The Murder Ballad, Pt. 3; The Murder Ballad, Pt. 4; The Murder Ballad, Pt. 5; The Murder Ballad, Pt. 6; The Murder Ballad, Conclusion; Fickle Fay Creep; Jungle Blues; King Porter Stomp; Sweet Peter; Hyena Stomp; Wolverine Blues; Wolverine Blues; State and Madison; The Pearls; The Pearls.
CD6: Bert Williams; Freakish; Pep; The Georgia Skin Game; The Georgia Skin Game; The Georgia Skin Game/I�m Gonna Get One and Go Directly; Ungai Hai, the Sign of the Indians; New Orleans Blues/The Spanish Tinge; The Spanish Tinge; Improving Spanish Tempos and Creepy Feeling; Creepy Feeling; The Crave; Mamanita; C'�tait N'Aut' Can-Can, Payez Donc/If You Don�t Shake, You Don�t Get No Cake; Spanish Swat; Ain't Misbehavin'; I Hate a Man Like You/Rolling Stuff; Michigan Water Blues.
CD7: Winin' Boy Blues; Winin' Boy Blues; Boogie Woogie Blues/ Albert Carroll�s Tune/Buddy Bertrand�s Blues; Buddy Bertrand's Blues/Mamie�s Blues; When the Hot Stuff Came In; The First Hot Arrangements; The Pensacola Kid and the Cadillac Caf�; At the Cadillac Caf�, Los Angeles/Little Liza Jane; Little Liza Jane/On the West Coast: Getting Along Swell; In the Publishing Business.
CD8: Original Jelly Roll Blues; Jelly Roll's Early Playing Days in the District; Hot Bands and Creole Tunes; Eh, La Bas/Riffs and Breaks from Creole Songs; Old-Time Creole Musicians and the French Element; Playing Hot with Buddy Bolden; High Society; Sporting Life Costumes; Buddy Bolden: Man and Musician; Creoles Playing with Negroes: Getting That Drive; Jelly Roll's Compositions; How Johnny St. Cyr Learned to Play Guitar; Guitar Blues; Bad Men and Pimps [; The Story of the Coon Blues; Coon Blues; Jazz Is Just a Makeup: Buddy Bolden, Honky Tonks, Brass Band Funerals and Parades; Young Sidney Bechet: Jim Crow and the Dangers of the District; The Main Idea in Jazz: Just Watch Me - Improvising and Reading Music; Of All His Mother's Children He Loved Jelly the Best: A Little Tale of Jelly Roll Morton.

Personnel: Jelly Roll Morton: piano, vocals, guitar, commentary; Alan Lomax: interviewer; Johnny St. Cyr: guitar, commentary, Leonard Bechet: commentary; Paul Dominguez, Jr.: guitar, commentary; Albert Glenny: commentary; Alphonse Picou: commentary.

Record Label: Rounder Records
Style: Dixieland/New Orleans/Swing