Jelly Roll Morton--What's Your Favorite?

Cafe Society
1

I went to the sheet music store a few weeks ago, and I picked up a Jelly Roll Morton book. I didn’t get the big fat expensive book with everything he ever wrote–I ended up getting a cheaper little book, but I’m having a lot of fun with it. Any other Jelly Roll Morton fans? What’s your favorite?

Sadly, my piano is so out of tune, sometimes I can’t tell if I’m playing the right notes. It’s great for playing ragtime, though. I would get it tuned, but I have this very strange feeling that as soon as I get it tuned, I’m going to move, so I might as well just wait. What’s strange is, I don’t have any plans to move right now, but I’ve been in the same place for a while, so it’ll probably be time to move on soon.

2

I’m a jazz amateur but I love “Dr. Jazz” and his whole story about how he claimed to invent the blues in the Ken Burns Jazz series. It’s too bad we can’t hear you play through this forum. That would be fun!

3

While I’m more of a Fats Waller fan, I do enjoy some good Jelly Roll every so often. I’m partial to ‘Jelly Roll Blues’, ‘Midnight Mama’ and ‘The Cole Porter Stomp.’

My jazz tastes definitely run more toward bop and west coast jazz, but I do love ragtime, Dixieland and boogie-woogie/honky-tonk.

But when it comes down to it, it’s all about McCoy Tyner for me.

4

I like the “King Porter Stomp”. Have never heard the “Cole Porter Stomp” though :wink:

5

I can’t say I really have a favorite, but (slight hijack) I saw Jelly’s Last Jam on Broadway, with Gregory Hines and Tonya Pinkins (who won Tonys for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical for their performances), and it was incredible (it was also nominated for 8 other Tonys, including Best Musical). If they ever revive it, it’s a Must See!

6

:smack:

That’s what I get for using quick reply. My bassist and I had just been discussing which new standards to work on, and we kept going back and forth between Cole Porter and Irving Berlin ('cause we’re music geeks and we love to argue about that stuff). That’s okay, it could’ve been ‘Midnight Mercer’ :slight_smile:

I’m not so good at multitasking. :smiley:

7

I’m with picker as an admirer of Fats Waller.

But if you’re collecting music from that era Jelly Roll is required, along with some Art Tatum.

8

I love traditional jazz, and I like Morton. One of my favorites of his for solo piano is The Crave, which really has the Spanish tinge that Morton espoused. For combos, I like some of his funny stuff, like Sidewalk Blues and Billy Goat Stomp. I think these only work as ensemble pieces, though - I can’t imagine either one as a solo piano piece (even if you kept the honking horns and goat noises).

9

I love the string-band versions of “Tia Juana” and “The Pearls” on Ry Cooder’s underappreciated record Jazz.

10

Did I mention I don’t play very well? :slight_smile:

I’m getting the feeling that a lot of the pieces in this book weren’t originally written for piano. :frowning: Billy Goat Stomp has some weird things going on with chords, and it doesn’t feel like it was written for piano. Plus they’re a lot easier than some other Jelly Roll Morton music I’ve seen. I’m a teeny bit disappointed.

I haven’t seen Jelly’s Last Jam, but I’d probably like it.

11

“Dead Man Blues,” “Grandpa’s Spells.”