Customer Reviews

Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton: The Collected Piano Music

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The transcriptions of Jelly Roll's piano pieces are unbelievable; An exact (as far as I can tell) note-for-note transciption of piano rolls, recordings, solo's, and the majority - live performances. There is also great information on each piece. For Advanced piano players only.

This scholarly and technically challenging presentation of "Jelly Roll" Morton's work may be a gem for a serious jazz pianist or a potentially serious one with excellent skill and training. However, it is too advanced for a casual and inexperienced non-jazz pianist like me. I'm better off playing Joplin's music and listening to "Jelly Roll" Morton CD's.

Not only piano pieces as played by the master himself, but all kinds of background history and photos, include original manuscripts!! Very good for the musician and enthusiast alike, great reference for those musicians wanting a roots look at the playing styles at the end of the ragtime era; as it progressed into jazz. Hot!!

I think more music books need this much devotion and dedication put into them, not only are a good portion of Jelly Roll Morton's greatest songs that were composed and performed in the early 20th century, but also indicated all the recording dates of the song, original tempo, and a short description of the history and style of the song. The book starts off with a history on Jelly Roll's life and I got more out of that than I did on any wikipedia or web page I used to research the most influential jazz performer of that time period. It also describes Jelly Roll's style and compares it to that of later jazz/stride pianists, stating that Jelly Rolls music might not have been as great as those of later stride pianists, but for the style Jelly Roll created, it truly was the best. Jelly Rolls music reflects the time period and style of ragtime mixed with early jazz and even a little blues. The transcriptions are identical to the actual recordings and some are playable for intermediate players, and will even challenge the advanced pianist who is not familiar with Morton's style. I believe most pieces in this book are playable if practiced long enough, and aren't as difficult to play as say stride or certain types of classical, except maybe fingerbuster. These pieces are all fun to play and learn, and just transcribed so beautifully that if played with the right tempo and fingering techniques will impress your audiences. It even shows the changes made to the original Jelly Roll transcription, which shows the people behind making this book really cared about getting the true Jelly Roll note for note transcriptions of his most popular pieces. It is a must own for any aspiring pianist in my opinion and well worth the price.

Excellent collection (as stated in the other reviews) but unfortunately not spiral bound... Prepare to either wrestle the book into staying open or to make photocopies of the particular pieces you're interested in.

Well, after years of Joplin, I decided to pass over and to try to find some of Morton's piece by ears...
but I must admit that this book was necessary and mandatory to be precise; discover the morton rythm and harmony is as nervous as brilliant...
It is a pleasure to hear the jelly roll morton pieces with a clean sound, it makes a second life to the old records that we deal with today ^^
bravo to him, so self-possessed and assured in its excellent style.
A must !

Great! Get the history of Jelly Roll, his music, and some facts about each song!