The Compositions of Jelly Roll Morton 1923 – 1941

by Pat Hawes
(from the liner notes of The Compositions of Jelly Roll Morton 1923 – 1941 on Timeless Records)
Half a century after his death in 1941, Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton stands established not only as an outstanding jazz pianist who combined elements of ragtime, blues, vaudeville and hokum into a highly individual style, but also as the first truly significant jazz composer. This compilation presents a fascinating programme of Morton compositions recorded by both black and white groups.

Morton's earliest compositions were his best. Although he wrote tunes throughout his life, Original Jelly Roll Blues, Milenberg Joys, Black Bottom Stomp, King Porter Stomp, Wolverine Blues, The Pearls, etc. are truly outstanding and are unmatched by his later work. 

In May 1938, Alan Lomax, curator of the Folk Music Archive at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, invited Morton to the Coolidge Auditorium to play a little piano and talk about his life. Initially planned more or less as a "one-off" this project snowballed into a major enterprise, producing more than eight hours of music and talk. Using a battery-operated portable recorder, Lomax captured on acetate discs some of Morton's finest piano playing and singing. He also reminisced about other pianists, recalled their musical styles, talked about his travels in the early years of this century and had much to say about his own compositions and how they should be interpreted using his musical principles.

Morton stipulated that to be a good jazz pianist "you have to give an imitation of a band" which describes to perfection his methods used in writing his music. His compositions were conceived orchestrally, with a marvelous ability to create outstanding melodies. He also incorporated into his compositions, musical devices which he talked about in his famous Discourse on Jazz — riffs, breaks, introductions, key changes, etc. He also stressed the importance of choosing correct tempos for every tune with no speeding up. He considered the use of dynamics essential — "sweet, soft, but plenty rhythm; don't beat people's eardrums down; you got to go down to come up" — likening this process to filling a glass of water.

Jelly made it quite clear that these principles should be strictly adhered to by others when playing or recording his music, and complained that his compositions had sometimes been "loused up" by incorrect or unsympathetic performance.

read more: http://www.redhotjazz.com/mortonarticle.html