Jelly Roll Morton - Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings
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Artist: Jelly Roll MortonBrand: Verve
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-01-28
Music Label: Verve
Soundtracks:
- Sporting House Rag
- Original Rags
- Crave
- Naked Dance
- Mister Joe
- King Porter Stomp
- Winin' Boy Blues
- Animule Dance
- I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say
- Naked Dance
- Don't You Leave Me Here
- Mamie's Blues
- Michigan Water Blues
- Sweet Subsitute
- Panama
- Good Old New York
- Big Lip Blues
- Why?
- Get the Bucket
- If You Knew
- Shake It
- Dirty, Dirty, Dirty
- Swinging the Elks
- Mama's Got a Baby
- My Home Is in a Southern Town
Music reviews of Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings
Music Review: Excellent CD
Rating: 5 Stars
This is one of the indispensable Jelly Roll Morton recordings. As much as I like his "Hot Peppers" records of the late 1920s, it's his solo piano work I most admire and enjoy. Morton made a couple dozen solo piano records in the early 1920s for Gennett and Paramount, but those suffer from the poor sound quality of the acoustic recording process (which was not well-suited to recording solo piano). Still, those early piano solos are worth hearing and Retrieval has a nice CD with all of them nicely remastered by John R. T. Davies. With a couple exceptions for Victor, Morton didn't really commercially record any more solos until these 1939-1940 sessions for General. Finally, we can hear Morton by himself in decent sound quality play some of his real masterpieces like "The Crave," "King Porter Stomp," "Mister Joe," "Winin' Boy Blues," "Perfect Rag," and his delightful take on Scott Joplin's "Original Rags." Though Morton was in ill health and nearing the end of his life, his playing is sure and steady on these sides. It's too bad the producers couldn't license and include Morton's few solos for the Jazz Man label from a year or so earlier ("Fingerbuster," "Creepy Feeling") which are well worth seeking out. The band performances that complete this CD are entertaining enough, but they are rather unremarkable and it's the piano solos that really shine. The booklet that accompanies the set is excellent, with great notes and full discographical information. I have clean copies of nearly all of the original 78s, and I have to say, these transfers really do the records justice--especially considering the rather poor quality of the original pressings (General was probably using recycled shellac which causes a fair bit of surface noise, even on an otherwise "mint" condition 78). The sound is clear and bright and not overly processed. I play this CD often and would recommend it without hesitation to anyone with an interest in pre-WWII jazz.
Description of Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings
When Jelly Roll Morton recorded this music in 1939 and 1940, the "Jazz Age" that he represented was rapidly becoming a subject of historical curiosity. Morton had already recorded extensively for the Library of Congress, reminiscences as well as music, but there's nothing stale about these solo piano and band tracks, with Morton showing another dimension of himself as a laconic singer of traditional blues. The solo piano sessions find him reaching back to the New Orleans of his youth, playing ragtime and bordello specialties as well as a superbly relaxed version of his "King Porter Stomp." The songs are fascinating, including "Winin' Boy Blues," "Mamie's Blues" (which Morton introduces as "the first blues I no doubt heard in my life"), and "Buddy Bolden's Blues," the last with a cast of characters that includes the legendary trumpeter. There are also 12 band tracks, with Red Allen, Albert Nicholas, and Zutty Singleton among those joining the pianist. At their best these songs are fine expressions of Morton's music, with "Sweet Substitute" and "My Home Is in a Southern Town" showing the composer as a still-vital musical force. --Stuart BroomerGeneral CDs
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