Customer Reviews

Jelly Roll Stomp

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The review written by the label is definively wrong : this IS NOT a piano rolls CD.On the twelve tunes included here, only two are piano rolls :"sweet man" and "tin roof blues".The ten other tracks are piano solos, recorded in 1923 and 1924 by the great Jelly Roll Morton."Kansas City stomp","King Porter stomp","New Orleans joys","wolverine blues" and "grandpa's spells" were recorded July 17 & 18,1923;"Jelly Roll blues","Shreveport stomps","Stratford hunch","big fat ham" and "perfect rag" were done on June 9,1924.As always,when he plays solo piano,Jelly Roll shows that he ranks among jazz greatest piano players and composers.The only trouble is the sound of these recordings,because at this time, the recording material was not as good as it will be some years later.So,if you're not afraid by the "old sound",and you're getting used to listen to records of that time,you'll have a great time with this one.But if you don't know Jelly Roll Morton,and you prefer a better sound quality,you should begin with Jelly Roll's last sessions (1939-1940) or his Library of Congress recordings from 1938 (which are not technically perfect,but much clearer than these ones).

I have mentioned in another review of mine that somehow the Tradition Classic Series of Rykodisc hasn't been done justice to. By the way these are my indidual comments and I have nothing to do with this Music Company.
Anyways coming back to the album, this one sure is a beautiful selection of Jelly Roll's signature tunes captured in the early years of his career. The "wolverine blues" is personally my favourite off the CD.
If one is familier with other Traditional Series albums featuring the greats of the yesteryears, then this CD shouldn't be much disappointing from the sound quality point of view.
Many people have weighed down these beautiful collections just by virtue of their sound quality and commercial value.
If this one interests you then you may go in for other ones like Jimmy Witherspoon with Groove Holmes and a whole wide range of the classic Blues tunes from Blind Lemon Jefferson , Big Bill Broonzy etc to old Folk artists like Ramblin' Jack Elliot etc.