Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings

Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings

ASIN: B0000001NO

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
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

Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings,Jelly Roll Morton,Verve,Blues Music,Classic Jazz,Composer,Jazz,Jazz Traditional,Leader,New Orleans Jazz,Pop

Average customer rating:

Beautiful music.

His Home Was A Southern Town

Mr. Jelly Lord

We Are So Fortunate

a treasury in the history of jazz piano playing

Last Sessions: The Complete General Recordings
Jelly Roll Morton
Manufacturer: Verve
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music
Traditional Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
New Orleans Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music
Verve | Verve Music Group | Specialty Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0000001NO
Release Date: 1997-01-28

Tracks:

Sporting House Rag(Perfect Rag)
Original Rags
The Crave
The Naked Dance #2
Mister Joe
King Porter Stomp
Winin' Boy Blues
Animule Dance
Buddy Bolden's Blues(I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say)
The Naked Dance
Don't You Leave Me Here
Mamie's Blues
Michigan Water Blues
Sweet Substitute
Panama
Good Old New York
Big Lip Blues
Why?
Get The Bucket
If You Knew
Shake It
Dirty, Dirty, Dirty
Swinging The Elks
Mama's Got A Baby
My Home Is In A Southern Town

Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful music........2006-08-14

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.

His Home Was A Southern Town.......2005-12-09

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.

Mr. Jelly Lord.......2005-10-12

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.

We Are So Fortunate.......2004-05-02

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.

a treasury in the history of jazz piano playing.......2001-08-23

How could a Jelly Roll Morton piano solo session receive less than five stars?Like Duke,Monk,Earl Hines,James P.,he was one of the most talented pianists and composers in the jazz history.The first part of this cd consist in a complete solo session by Mr Ferdinand Joseph LaMenthe (1885-1941),a creole from New Orleans who proclaimed himself as the inventor of jazz,blues and stomp;megalomaniac,irritable,insufferable for those who worked with him,Sweet Papa Jelly Roll is truly one of jazz greatest geniuses.These sessions,recorded one year after the marathon-like "Library of Congress" recordings,are among his best,mostly for the solos.He excells playing ragtime ("sporting house rag",a tune he recorded in 1924 under the title "perfect rag",an exceptionnal version of Joplin's "original rags",maybe the most beautiful with Paul Lingle's version,a magnificent spanish-tinged tune called "the crave","the naked dance",a tune he used to play in the whorehouses,and "King Porter stomp",a masterpiece),and he excelles too playing blues ("Michigan water blues","don't you leave me here",the poignant "winin' boy blues",and another masterpiece,as Mr Tutt said,"Mamie's blues",which was recorded in 1940 by Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet under the title "2:19 blues").The second part of the cd,the band sessions,were recorded in 1940.The personnel is absolutely superlative:Red Allen,Albert Nicholas,Wellman Braud,Zutty Singleton,Claude Jones.Again,a bunch of masterpieces: the rare "sweet substitue"(listen to Sammy Price and Leon Redbone's versions),"Why"(another beautifully melancholic tune),"big lip blues"(listen to Jelly Roll saying "I'm gettin' drunk" in the middle of the tune),and "if you knew".Maybe Sweet Papa Jelly Roll wasn't the inventor of jazz,blues and stomp,surely he was a lyer and a mythomaniac,but clearly he was one of jazz most important figures,an immense pianist,composer,and a great singer,and I'm sure you'll enjoy these last recordings.

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