Jelly Roll Morton - 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 Broomer Amazon.com

Excellent CD

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. January 9, 2008

Beautiful music.

Great cd especially for Morton's beautiful warm vocal. No chance to listen something similar in current music. Tracks 1 - 13 are piano solos with Morton's vocal (around half tracks) and rest tracks are Morton's hot six and hot seven. Great is trumpeter Red Allen too. Especially on SWEET SUBSTITUE, GET THE BUCKET and MY HOME IS IN A SOUTHERN TOWN.
And super vocal by Morton again and again. August 14, 2006

His Home Was A Southern Town

Did anyone (don't remember) mention the excellence of the transfers and the liner notes? Steven Lasker is a hero - just compare (if you are a fanatic like I am) to the Classics issue of this material. And Animule Ball is a wonderful bonus. SOME of the band tracks ARE wonderful - particularly Dirty Dirty Dirty, Swinging The Elks and Mama's Got A Baby (all from the last session; what a pity there was to be no more). Claude Jones' replacement of Joe Britton on trombone,and the absence of Eddie Williams' alto sax help enormously. Dirty Dirty Dirty was the best writing Morton had done in years and Mama's Got A Baby shows that in addition to Jazz, Morton also invented R + B. Of course, the solo tracks are classics; have been since the day they were issued. I couldn't live without The Crave, Michigan Water, Don't You Leave Me Here - the incredible recording of King Porter...Oh let's face it, I couldn't live without any of it. And you shouldn't either. December 9, 2005

Mr. Jelly Lord

This CD compiles Morton's last commercial sessions: a solo piano date (actually 2) from 1939, and 3 dates, all of them using pretty much the same personnel, from January 1940, all for the General label. By far the most impressive sides are the piano recordings; most of these are remakes of tunes he had recorded in the 1920s. Slow and medium tempos dominate, and he sings on some of them, too - as only Morton could. WININ' BOY, BUDDY BOLDEN'S BLUES, MAMIE'S BLUES (an absolute masterpiece), and MICHIGAN WATER BLUES are all standouts. The small band sides feature Red Allen on trumpet, Albert Nicholas (cl), Eddie Williams (as) among others, and most contain Morton vocals, but these sides just don't come across as well as the earlier solo tracks. Still, this CD collects the culminating work of one of the great jazz pioneers, and is highly recommended. October 11, 2005

We Are So Fortunate

What can one really add to the previous excellent reviews? So many great jazzmen died so young....Bix, Teschemacher, Fats, Parker, and "Jelly". How fortunate we are to have these final superb recordings by this flawed but incredible person.

The audio quality is excellent, so we are able to hear how his early recordings of some of his most well-known pieces should have sounded. Although in poor health at the time of these recordings, his playing is as exciting and inventive as ever. Truly one of jazz's giants. May 2, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...