Jazz critic Stanley Crouch titles his liner notes for Wynton Marsalis's disc of covers of compositions by jazz pioneer painist "Jelly Roll" Morton (1889?-1941), "All Jazz Is Modern." There is some irony in this because Marsalis is seen as being "classicist" as a historian of jazz. Also, the term "modern jazz" would not have been coined (during the 1950s) except to differentiate later jazz from early 20th-century jazz such as Morton's.

Still, in that jazz (even most ragtime) is 20th century, an argument could be made that it is all "modern." Marsalis and company play ragtime in the various "blues" tracks and for the final track, "Tom Cat Blues," went to the original Thomas Edison Laboratory to make a recording on wax cylinders. At the very least, this is a "pre-modern" technology. Marsalis thinks it is particularly "honest," because like early jazz recordings, it is an unedited performance. To me, the possibility of editing takes still remained and this is a sort of fetishism of historical fidelity. I am glad the whole album was not recorded that way! Historical, low-fidelity Library of Congress recordings of "Jelly Roll" are one thing, low-fidelity covers from the digital age another.

I also have to register puzzlement that the album is called "Mr. Jelly Lord." That is the title of one of Morton's commemorations of himself (and he was a major-league braggart!). Yet the piece is not included on the recording (nor is "Winnin' Boy" or "The Original Jelly-Roll Blues," more praisesongs to himself).

It does have a Dixieland cover of Morton's biggest hit (at least in covers by other), "King Porter Stomp," with Marsalis playing a muted trumpet and Eric Lewis piano (both swinging).

One of my favorites is "Dead Man Stomp," which begins sounding funereal, but quickly picks up in tempo to more swinging Dixieland sound. Another is the bluesy "Big Lip Blues," soft music with Michael White swinging on clarinet.

"Smokehouse Blues" sounds like stripper music, with Michael White on clarinet again playing the lead part. Morton got his start as a honky-tonk pianist in New Orleans bordellos ("sporting houses"), and "Smokehouse Blues" is definitely in the "down and dirty" lexicon (there's even a spoken plea: "Why don't you take me to the wh*rehouse?"

"New Orleans Blues" sounds the most modern to me, almost hard bop.
"Jungle Blues" has, perhaps, the most prominent trumpet solo on the disc along with some saxophone solos. "Sidewalk Blues" has a prominent trumpet line (more a duet than a solo, though, with an introduction I don't like). The closest to trumpet pyrotechnics on the disc is "Courthouse Bump."

Morton led a group called "The Red Hot Peppers" for a while. The "Hot Red Pepper" track is hot Dixieland featuring a succession of soloists, running through the band as it were.

The track that comes closest to providing digital recording of the virtuosic piano playing for which Morton made his (first) reputation is provided by Danilo Perez in "Mamanita." And Harry Connick, Jr. swings through the "Billy Goat Stomp" with a whole lot of notes.

The disc, particularly the second half of it, is too Dixielandish for my taste (especially "Black Bottom Stomp"). Despite having been entertained by Morton's memoirs (Mr. Jelly Roll) and recognizing him as one of the prime developers of jazz, I'd only give the music four stars. Marsali's fervent playing, outstanding arranging, and his championing of the history of jazz (here and elsewhere) are five-star IMO.

(Some people have complained that the beat is not strong enough in these recordings, a complaint I find very puzzling. It may not swing in the ways I like best, but it definitely swings in very New Orleans ways! I doubt the original "Red Hot Peppers" sounded very different from Marsalis & Co., especially in "Jungle Blues")

© 2008, Stephen O. Murray

Tracks and Timings

Red Hot Pepper 3:45
New Orleans Bump 4:36
King Porter Stomp 3:15
The Pearls 3:54
Deep Creek 5:17
Mamanita 2:51
Sidewalk Blues 5:14
Jungle Blues 6:53
Big Lip Blues 3:21
Dead Man Blues 4:43
Smokehouse Blues 4:55
Billy Goat Stomp 3:01
Courthouse Bump 3:32
Black Bottom Stomp 4:25
Tom Cat Blues 2:09

Total Time: one hour


This is another of my epinions about what I found in the M's of music at the San Francisco Public Library for the National Library Week Writeoff. I've already written about Marsalis's ballet scores Sweet Release & Ghost Story for it. I'd link to the "covers" writeoff if I could find the link.

The arrogant Morton was played by Clarence Williams III as the rival of the antihero (1900, played by Tim Roth) in Giuseppe Tornatore's intriguing "The Legend of 1900."




Recommended: Yes