December 2000

Article
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By Mike Neely

As a traveling musician, Jelly Roll Morton was undoubtedly familiar with the rural world of the delta blues along with the raucous nightlife of urban New Orleans. This was a man whose musical world straddled two centuries, like much of early jazz, but Morton’s music was played in an intricate ensemble style that in its way brought together a world passing and a world to be.

It is significant that in such compositions as “Sidewalk Blues” and “Steamboat Stomp” Jelly Roll Morton’s band traded quips about mules and automobiles. It is a dialog about going somewhere: consider the blaring of early auto horns, and the slapstick banter about getting out of the way. It’s striking that much of the humor is directed at a bumpkin bewildered by city life. For Morton’s life straddled the time of bandwagons being pulled through the streets of New Orleans with musicians blowing from the wagon bed, and the time of swing music with big bands rollicking over national radio.

In particular “Black Bottom Stomp” has an energy that seems to whirl through a kaleidoscopic vision of New Orleans. The bordello, the parlor, the dance hall, the funeral, the street party, the whole lively momentum of everyday life turns like a carnival wheel while Mr. Morton’s wry compositional voice beckons: “Step Right Up.” It doesn’t take much attentive listening to appreciate the subtlety of the master’s composition, the inspired restraint of the soloists, and the snap of the rhythm section.

It is ironic that “Black Bottom Stomp” was recorded in Chicago, far north of the great city that was already losing its hold on many of the early greats of jazz, including King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong. Already, in 1926, Morton’s egalitarian style was beginning to give way to the rise of the outstanding small group soloists who later became essential to the larger ensemble conception of big band jazz.

Compare Morton’s piano versions of “King Porter Stomp” to Benny Goodman’s big band version of 1935. Goodman’s version has the uptown Park Avenue feel of Manhattan. While Morton’s evokes a bump and tumble of local neighborhoods, more like Brooklyn, where accents and dialects rub up against each other on a daily basis.

Mr. Morton’s music arose from the unique musical and historical life of New Orleans, epitomizing the best of an ensemble style that will forever be associated with that endlessly diverse city. It would take an Ellington to surpass Morton as a combination musician, bandleader, and ensemble composer: no small tribute to Mr. Morton’s music.