Standard Time, Vol. 6: Mr. Jelly Lord

Performer: Wynton Marsalis
Artist: Harry Connick, Jr.; Eric Reed; Wycliffe Gordon; Danilo Perez; Wessell Anderson
Producer: Steven Epstein
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Wynton Marsalis (trumpet); Victor Goines (soprano & tenor saxophones, clarinet); Wessell Anderson (alto saxophone); Wycliffe Gordon (trumpet, trombone, tuba); Lucien Barbarin (trombone); Michael White (clarinet); Harry Connick, Jr., Eric Lewis, Eric Reed, Danilo Perez (piano); Donald Vappie (guitar, banjo); Reginald Veal (bass); Herlin Riley (drums). Engineers include: Todd Whitelock, Delfeayo Marsalis, Peter N. Dilg. Recorded at the Grande Lodge Masonic Hall, New York, New York on Jaunary 12 & 13, 1999. "Tom Cat Blues" was recorded on wax cylinder at the Thomas Edison laboratory, West Orange, New Jersey in 1993. Includes liner notes by Stanley Crouch. In this tribute to Jelly Roll Morton, at last there is a large sampling of the Wynton Marsalis who can get large crowds at outdoor jazz festivals like the Playboy at Hollywood Bowl to dance and wave white handkerchiefs. This is mostly gutbucket, stomping, swinging New Orleans jazz through the eyes and ears of avid students of old records -- and they have absorbed a good deal of the original raffish, joyous feeling. Dedicated scholars as they are, the band even recreates the original zany dialogue that opens Morton's recordings of "Dead Man Blues" and "Sidewalk Blues" (with a small alteration in the latter for PC purposes), leading to swaggering performances of both. Marsalis by now is an absolute virtuoso of the plunger mute, and he gets ample room to growl and snarl, often alongside trombonist/co-arranger Wycliffe Gordon. Without the mute, he is often majestically commanding, totally in his element. As befitting the contrapuntal New Orleans ethos, Wynton is also generous with the spotlight, turning over an entire track to Danilo Perez's lurching solo piano rendition of "Mamanita," another to the thick-toned period clarinet of performing musicologist Michael White on "Big Lip Blues," and another, alas, to Harry Connick, Jr.'s ham-handed solo treatment of "Billy Goat Stomp." The most startling performance -- authenticity taken to its extreme -- comes at the end as Wynton and pianist Eric Reed wander into Thomas Edison Laboratories (circa 1993) to record a cylinder of "Tom Cat Blues" with vintage acoustical equipment. The results are often hilarious, and certainly instructive (try this out as a blindfold test on friends who think that they don't make jazz records like they used to). ~ Richard S. Ginell

The Wire (1/00, p.101) - "...conceived...as a demonstration of 'the contemporary power' of early jazz, and to that end assemble a group which, for one track, includes Harry Conick Jr. on piano. The result is characteristically scrupulous..." JazzTimes (1-2/00, p.128) - "...Befitting the historic importance of Mr. Jelly Lord ['Roll' Morton]...the music is addressed by no fewer than four very divergent pianists: Eric Lewis, Eric Reed, Danilo Perez, and Harry Connick, Jr. ....gives [this music] a contemporary polish with aplomb..."

Wynton Marsalis is credited with almost singlehandedly ushering in the powerful neo-traditionalist jazz movement of the 1980s and '90s. Along with father Ellis and brothers Branford, Delfeayo and Jason, Wynton is a member a New Orleans musical dynasty firmly ensconced in the journals of music history. Not only does Marsalis lead various groups of his own, but he also is the musical director of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the composer of large-scale works like 1997's acclaimed "Blood on the Fields." As the most high-profile jazz musician of his era, Marsalis became a spokesman for the genre, and one of its biggest movers and shakers.

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