1923-1924 [Milestone]

Performer: Jelly Roll Morton
Producer: Orrin Keepnews (Reissue)
Distributor: Fantasy (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Jelly Roll Morton (piano), Charles Harris (alto saxophone), Boyd Senter (clarinet), Wilson Townes (clarinet, alto saxophone), Tommy Ladnier, King Oliver (cornet), Ray Bowling (trumpet), Roy Palmer (trombone), Clay Jefferson (drums), Jasper Taylor (wood blocks), "Memphis" (comb), Jack Russell (kazoo). Personnel: Jelly Roll Morton (piano); Wilson Townes (clarinet, alto saxophone); Boyd Senter (clarinet); Charles Harris (alto saxophone); King Oliver, Tommy Ladnier (cornet); Roy Palmer (trombone); Jasper Taylor (wood block). Liner Note Author: Bob Greene. Recording information: Chicago, IL (06/??/1923-02/23/1926); Richmond, IN (06/??/1923-02/23/1926). Unknown Contributor Roles: Wilson Townes; Roy Palmer; Jack Russell; Jasper Taylor ; King Oliver; Charles Harris; Boyd Senter. Here are all of Jelly Roll's classic Gennett piano solos, including the only known alternate take of "New Orleans Joys," presented in the sequence in which they were recorded. The No Noise system used to clean these old 78s up does a decent enough job, considering when these sides were cut and their rarity. Also on tap are four more solo piano sides cut in Chicago in 1924, four band sides with various personnel, topped off with two piano/cornet duets with King Oliver. A large chunk of this man's genius in one very digestible package. ~ Cub Koda

Down Beat (8/92, p.51) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "..Mr. Jelly Lord's keyboard touch is dry, almost professorial, but his ideas are wry, suspenseful, and certainly timeless, having informed everyone ever after.." Musician (4/93, p.90) - "...rumbling, rolling rhythms, cunning breaks and sophisticated harmonies....Joyous..."

Jelly Roll Morton may have been indulging in typical hyperbole when he advertised himself as the inventor of jazz, but one has to concede his role as the idiom's first important composer. A wonderful pianist who could also sing, he brilliantly distilled the polyglot influences of his native New Orleans into masterpieces of pulsating polyphony on his classic recordings of the 1920s, including "Dead Man Blues" and "Black Bottom Stomp." Morton's later career was short-circuited by ever-shifting musical trends, but his Library of Congress interviews with Alan Lomax provide a unique insight into the nearly vanished musical culture from which he had sprung.

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