MR. JELLY LORD:
The Music of Jelly Roll Morton
14 DECEMBER, 1993
1) Vox: Jelly Roll Morton:
"I said to him he didn't know who he was talking to. He finally wanted to get aquainted. So he asked me who was I? And I stated to him that I was Sweet Papa Jelly Roll with stovepipes in my hips and all the women in town was dying to turn my damper down."
[slow piano vamp underneath vox]
2) Music: M39 Mr. Jelly Lord [from Blue Clarinet Stomp 1992]
As window, then under as bed
3) Bradley:
SWEET PAPA JELLY ROLL MORTON BOASTED ABOUT A WHOLE LOT OF THINGS. HE ACTUALLY CLAIMED TO BE THE INVENTOR OF JAZZ, A
MUSIC HE SAID HE INVENTED IN 1902. A BRAGGART? YES. OUTLANDISH? CERTAINLY. BUT JELLY ROLL MORTON'S BACKGROUND AND THE MUSIC HE CREATED ALMOST PROVE THOSE CLAIMS.
4) FROM NEW ORLEANS, BORN WELL BEFORE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, HE BECAME ONE OF JAZZ'S TRUE PIONEERS. JELLY ROLL MORTON WAS ONE OF JAZZ'S FIRST IMPROVISERS AND ITS FIRST COMPOSER. HE REMAINS ONE OF ITS GREATEST. WE'LL HEAR WHY IN THIS EDITION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.
5) Music: M39 MR. JELLY LORD (Blue Clarinet Stomp)
[Back timed, the tune emerges here - possibly with the piano passage edited to the closing chorus, but definitely so the final melody plays after the next Bradley narration.]
6) Bradley:
IN NAMING THIS TUNE, JELLY ROLL MORTON ASKED NOT TO BE MADE A KING. THAT WAS TOO COMMON. NO, HAIL HIM AS "MR. JELLY LORD."
7) Music: M39 MR. JELLY LORD
[final melody of song emerges]
8) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "MR. JELLY LORD" WITH MARCUS ROBERTS ON PIANO, HERLIN RILEY ON DRUMS AND DR. MICHAEL WHITE ON CLARINET.
9) Vox: Dr. Michael White:
"Jelly Roll showed the direction that Jazz could go in by having more complicated songs and combining written scores and improvisation. He showed that you could have both and still swing. You could still have Jazz or jazz feeling, jazz flavor."
10) Bradley:
DR. MICHAEL WHITE -- WHO LEADS THE TRADITIONAL JAZZ ENSEMBLE AT LINCOLN CENTER.
11) BECAUSE JELLY ROLL MORTON COMBINED IMPROVISATION WITH WRITTEN SCORES IN SUCH MEMORABLE MUSIC, HE STANDS AS THE FIRST GREAT COMPOSER IN JAZZ. BUT JAZZ IS A PLAYER'S MUSIC, AND JELLY ROLL COULD PLAY. HE DEVISED A SOLO JUST TO SHOWCASE HIS CHOPS. AT NEW YORK'S ALICE TULLY HALL, STEVE PISTORIUS TACKLES JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "FINGERBUSTER."
12) Music: OM3 FINGERBUSTER (Mr. Jelly Lord concert) 2:42
13) Bradley:
STEVE PISTORIUS ----JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "FINGERBUSTER."
14) Vox: Steve Pistorius:
"Some of the main characteristics of the Jelly Roll Morton piano style that I like, or about the style in general is the rhythmic figures that he uses, the way his piano style could drive a rhythm section and drive a band. His ideas, left hand ideas, were used and are still used by other instruments---which was his concept from the beginning. He believed that you should play the piano like the whole band."
15) Bradley:
PIANIST STEVE PISTORIUS. LIKE MANY OF THE MUSICIANS WE'VE BEEN LISTENING TO, PISTORIUS IS FROM NEW ORLEANS.
16) IN 1927, FELLOW NEW ORLEANIAN, LOUIS ARMSTRONG RECORDED JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "WILDMAN BLUES." 65 YEARS LATER, WYNTON MARSALIS RECAPTURED IN HIS OWN WAY ARMSTRONG'S TRIUMPH ON STAGE AT ALICE TULLY HALL. THIS IS "WILDMAN' BLUES."
17) Music: M39 WILDMAN BLUES (Blue Clarinet Stomp) 3:43
18) Bradley: (over applause)
WILD AND BRILLIANT TRUMPET BY WYNTON MARSALIS.
(Ed - can we reasonably proclaim this even if it is true?)
19) IN HEARING THE MUSIC OF JELLY ROLL MORTON WE'RE ENCOUNTERING JAZZ AT THE VERY DAWN OF ITS CREATION. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ACKNOWLEDGED THIS IN 1938 WHEN ALAN LOMAX RECORDED JELLY ROLL'S MUSIC AND HIS RECOLLECTIONS OF THE TIMES FOR THEM.
20) MUSIC: Jelly Roll Morton
[Original Jelly Roll Morton, (something uptempo from "Funerals" emerges as window and then under as bed for following Morton actuality]
21) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL MORTON ALSO TALKED ABOUT THE PARADE TRADITION OF NEW ORLEANS.
22) Vox: Jelly Roll Morton: (from "Marching Bands") [to be cut down]
"They played in New Orleans. A lot of times we played in parades. Mostly, of course, they have from two to eight and ten parades on Sundays. I've never seen it so small that they only have one. And the style we played at that time was a little bit different, we didn't have large bands. [edit out if possible ]
[edit] "Okay they didn't call me Jelly Roll then they called me "Winin' Ball". Say Winin' Ball there's a parade comin' up there's such and such a club has this date. Now if you want this I can get it for you.Boy's I got a job, you want it?What is it? Parade. When is it? Sunday. Everybody say count me in, I in on it, I in on it. [edit]
"So all we had in the band as a rule would be composed of a bass horn, one trombone, one trumpet, an alto and maybe a baritone, a clarinet, a bass drum and a snare drum. About seven or eight pieces would be all we had. And brother, I'm telling you: talking about noise you never heard no sixty piece band could make as much noise as those few guys could make.
"A swell time and we had plenty of fun. A kind of fun I don't think I've seen any other place. Of course there may be as nice a fun, but that particular time their was never that kind of fun anyplace, I think on the face of the globe but New Orleans. And we had that every Sunday. So we had mostly a job every Sunday. And sometimes the big leaders would get the job like Manuel Perez or Buddy Bolden or some them fellows. And when that turned out, it would be a battle of music on the street. I'll dare say that the first time a battle of music was ever waged was in New Orleans in those parades."
[no music under vox ]
23) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL MORTON TALKING ABOUT THE FAMOUS PARADES OF NEW ORLEANS. NOW WE'LL HEAR SOME OF MORTON'S FAMOUS PARADE MUSIC---"MILNEBERG JOYS" AND "BLACK BOTTOM STOMP."
24) Music: OM6 MILNEBERG JOYS (Crescent City Summit) 3:35
M40 BLACK BOTTOM STOMP (Blue Clarinet Stomp) 3:25
25) Bradley:
"MILNEBERG JOYS" AND "BLACK BOTTOM STOMP" ---JELLY ROLL MORTON'S PARADE MUSIC PERFORMED BY WYNTON MARSALIS, TRUMPET; MICHAEL WHITE, CLARINET; FRED LONZO, TROMBONE; STEVE PISTORIUS, PIANO; DON VAPPIE, BANJO AND HERLIN RILEY ON THE DRUMS
26) Music: [something for under funding credits and midbreak]
(orig Jellyroll?)
27) Bradley: (Funding Credits)
FUNDS FOR PRODUCTION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER COME FROM THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT COMES FROM A MAJOR GRANT FROM THE LILA (LYE-La) WALLACE READER'S DIGEST FUND, CONNECTING ARTISTS AND COMMUNITIES THROUGH JAZZ, AND NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO MEMBER STATIONS, THROUGH THE N-P-R CULTURAL PROGRAM FUND.
YOU'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, I'M ED BRADLEY.
[MIDBREAK 10 sec. Window for local station I.D.]
28) Bradley:
PARADE MUSIC IS THE ESSENCE OF A TRADITIONAL NEW ORLEANS FUNERAL. JELLY ROLL MORTON DESCRIBES THIS SINGULAR PRACTICE.
29) Music: "Steal Away" (Jelly Roll plays and sings brief excerpt from "Funerals")
30) Vox: Jelly Roll Morton:
"Of course everybody in the city of New Orleans was always organized minded, which I guess the world knows. A dead man always belonged to several organizations such as clubs and we'll say, secret orders and so forth and so on. And every time one died, why nine out of ten, there was always a big band turn out when the day that he was supposed to be buried. Never buried at night, always in the day. And, of course, a lot of times right in the heart of the city, the burial would take place. Well, when the band would start, why we'd know that the man was fixin' to be buried. So, you could hear the band come up the street before they would get to the place where the gentlemen was to be taken in for his last rites and they would play different dead marches."
[Vox has piano underneath]
31) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL MORTON PLAYED THE TRADITIONAL DIRGE OR "DEAD MAN MARCHES" AND UP-TEMPO MUSIC FOR FUNERALS. HE ALSO WROTE HIS OWN MUSIC FOR THESE OCCASIONS. FROM THE STAGE OF NEW YORK'S ALICE TULLY HALL, THIS IS JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "DEAD MAN BLUES."
32) Music: M40 DEAD MAN BLUES (Blue Clarinet Stomp) 5:00
33) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL'S "DEAD MAN BLUES" WITH SOLOS BY DR. MICHAEL WHITE ON CLARINET AND WYNTON MARSALIS ON TRUMPET.
34) OF ALL THE PIONEERS OF NEW ORLEANS JAZZ, JELLY ROLL MORTON BEST UNDERSTOOD THE FORCES OF FOLK MUSIC AND CUSTOM. HE COMBINED POPULAR SONGS, THE BLUES, MARCHES AND RAGTIME.
35) WE'LL HEAR THIS BLENDING OF TRADITIONS IN AN ENSEMBLE DIRECTED BY DR. MICHAEL WHITE AS THEY PERFORM "FROGGIE MOORE" AND "LONDON CAFE BLUES."
36) Music: M1 FROGGIE MOORE (At The Court Of King Oliver) 2:41
LONDON CAFE BLUES (At The Court...) @ 3:20
37) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL MORTON'S "FROGGIE MOORE" AND "LONDON CAFE BLUE," EXECUTED BY THE ENSEMBLE UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CLARINETIST MICHAEL WHITE. THE LINE-UP INCLUDED: CORNETIST/ TRUMPETERS NICHOLAS PAYTON, WYNTON MARSALIS AND GREG STAFFORD; TROMBONIST, FRED LONZO; WYCLIFF GORDON DOUBLING ON TUBA AND STRING BASS; FARID BARRON AT THE PIANO; DON VAPPIE'S BANJO; AND THE PERCUSSION OF HERLIN RILEY.
38) NOW HERE'S A MAN WHO ACTUALLY PLAYED IN JELLY ROLL MORTON'S BAND. WE'VE JUST HEARD HIS BANJO IN "MILNEBERG JOYS" AND "DEAD MAN BLUES" AND NOW FROM THE STAGE OF ALICE TULLY HALL, DANNY BARKER RECALLS WORKING FOR "MR. JELLY LORD."
39) Vox: Danny Barker: [complete transcript from Mr. Jelly Lord concert OM #2. 49:08 - 53:08]
[He speaks from the stage.]
[Audience applause fades...]
"Good evening. I arrived in the great wonderful city of New York in 1930. Right out-of-the south and got off the train, Pennsylvania Station, 5 o'clock in the evening. Like I's got run over. 'Cause I didn't know what was happenin'--they jam me on a subway and the man squares me in the subway (a little off mic) Like this, right next to (back on mic) an elderly lady and she's looking at me and I'm looking at her.
I get to 135th an it was great an--a couple days later I meets Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman -- they're all there -- used to congregate (small applause from audience) around the rhythm club. I'm a new commer from New Orleans and my uncle Paul who is a great drummer, he had had a battle with Chic Webb on a Savoy (?) bar room (small applause swell) and he washed Chic Webb out -- Automatically that made him sort-of a celebrity person in New York.
Paul Barbara had been with King Oliver's band, so he introduced me to Jelly, and Jelly said, " How you doin' Hometown?" (Audience laughs) I said, "fine Mr. Jelly" He said, yeah it's a nice town. It's a monkey shine town. He said, They don't know how to cabaret in this town. (...?...) And he had two little muscles on his jaw and when he talked (gestures to the audience -- they respond) the muscles moved, you know and he- he said you'll do good if you want to tolerate this jazz these peoples playin' up here (Audience laughs) Said uh, not only they don't play well, they can't dance. (both Danny & audience laugh).
[Barker continues....]
And the people would stop to listen to Jelly Roll talk because he was one of the few people who would other than those other people -- (audience laughs) fightin' to straighten out the bus companies and all the other business. And Jelly was tryin' to straighten out the musicians.
And uh, I got to be friends with him, but he never, I don't think ever remembered my name -- he new my name -- but he never call -- he called me Hometown, with a sort-of-a fondness. And he would askj me st get a string of gigs, you know, like five or six engagements.,And he'd say, Say Hometown, come here. Uh, he said, Think you can uh, get some of these cockroach musicians around here (laughs) to play.
Yeah, he was kind of disgusted with New York musicians because they wouldn't play uh, Chicago style music and New Orleans style music that he played. Which was layed back music. Seemed like they were in a hurry, you know the Lindy Hopper had just come out and everybody was throwin' the girls all over their shoulders and all of that business you know-- and where he came from they was holdin' the girls just like this (demonstrates -- audience laughs and applauds)
And Jelly Roll is what you call night people -- There's a difference between what's day people and night people. See night people don'y like the sunshine. Golfin' and all that business they don't like. The cab drivers and bar tenders and the f-- fly laters (audience laughs) And that's the type of people Jelly had been -- you know, he was a night person. And they couldn't understand what Jelly was talkin' about. And their was a lot of people coming from the island, they had never seen a man standin' on the corner like that. Speakin' with a big diamond in his tooth. You know, three karat diamond (big lip-smack) in that juicy mouth. (Danny laughs with audience) (laughter fades)
It was a pleasure to work with Jelly. He p- paid well and last I saw him he was hangin' out with the priests. Became a Catholic again and he went to California and passed on.
But he, he was a man that spoke up for hiself. He'd never find no grievance the governor or nothin' -- he's-- had grievance against New York musicians who wouldn't play his arrangements (laughter) Thank you.
[Large audience applause]
32) Bradley: (over applause)
THE LEGENDARY DANNY BARKER.
33) Music: OM2 WINNIN' BOY BLUES (Mr. Jelly Lord-1989) {3:29}
34) Bradley:
DANNY BARKER -- THE WHININ' BOY BLUES..
JELLY ROLL MORTON'S MUSIC IS SOME OF THE MOST DURABLE IN JAZZ...IT'S BEEN APPRECIATED IN EVERY ERA. MORTON'S 1923 "LONDON CAFE BLUES," WHICH WE HEARD EARLIER, BECAME BIG BAND ERA HIT UNDER THE TITLE, "SHOE SHINER'S DRAG." ANOTHER MORTON CLASSIC WENT ON TO BECOME ONE OF THE SWING'S GREATEST HITS. "KING PORTER STOMP" WAS PLAYED BY COUNT BASIE, CAB CALLOWAY, BENNY CARTER AND BENNY GOODMAN. IT WAS THE VERY FIRST TUNE RECORDED BY A TEENAGED DIZZY GILLESPIE.
35) OUR VERSION OF "KING PORTER STOMP" IS PERFORMED BY A TRIO USING THE OLDER RHYTHM SECTION INSTRUMENTS OF TUBA ---PLAYED BY WYCLIFFE GORDON ---AND BANJO--- PLAYED BY DON VAPPIE. THEY BACK WYNTON MARSALIS ON TRUMPET.
36) Music: M1 KING PORTER STOMP (At The Court Of King Oliver) 3:22
37) Bradley:
"KING PORTER STOMP," JELLY ROLL MORTON'S BEST KNOWN COMPOSITION RENDERED BY MARSALIS, GORDON AND VAPPIE.
38) IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE GAVE THE PIANO PLAYER SOME...LET'S HEAR MARCUS ROBERTS AS HE TAKES ON JELLY ROLL MORTON'S, "THE CRAVE."
39) Music: M39 THE CRAVE (Blue Clarinet Stomp) 3:42
40) Music: OM2 NEW ORLEANS JOYS (Mr. Jelly Lord) 4:11
41) Bradley: (over applause)
"NEW ORLEANS JOYS" AND "THE CRAVE" SOLO PIANO BY MARCUS ROBERTS AT ALICE TULLY HALL IN NEW YORK.
42) Vox: Marcus Roberts:
[quote re: "the Spanish tinge"]
43) Bradley:
PIANIST MARCUS ROBERTS.
44) THIS MAY BE JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, BUT I THINK WE'RE ALL ON OUR WAY TO NEW ORLEANS TO PARADE IN THE SECOND LINE BEHIND THE BAND. THIS FIRST TUNE IS CALLED "THE PEARLS" IT WAS A FAVORITE OF JAZZ PIANIST MARYLOU WILLIAMS. AFTER THAT, JELLY ROLL'S "JUNGLE BLUES."
45) Music: OM2 THE PEARLS (Mr. Jelly Lord - 1989) {3:11}
46) Music: M39 JUNGLE BLUES (Blue Clarinet Stomp) {5:25}
47) Bradley: (over applause)
"THE PEARLS", AND THE "JUNGLE BLUES"...THE MUSIC OF FERDINAND JOSEPH LA MENTHE -- KNOWN TO THE WORLD AS JELLY ROLL MORTON... AND CONSIDERED BY MORE THAN A FEW TO BE THE INVENTOR OF JAZZ...
48) DR. MICHAEL WHITE ON CLARINET AND LEADING THE BAND AT NEW YORK'S ALICE TULLY HALL -- WITH FRED LONZO AND WYCLIFF GORDON PLAYING TROMBONES, WYNTON MARSALIS ON TRUMPET, STEVE PISTORIUS ON PIANO, DON VAPPIE PLAYING BANJO AND HERLIN RILEY ON THE DRUMS.
49) THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, PRODUCED FOR THE JAZZ DEPARTMENT AT LINCOLN CENTER BY MURRAY STREET ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK. OUR PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY PHIL SCHAPP AND EDITED BY LAUREN KRENZEL (KREN-zil). SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE RATHE.
50) THE MUSIC OF JELLY ROLL MORTON WAS RECORDED BY JIM ANDERSON WITH FACILITIES PROVIDED BY EFFANEL MUSIC. DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY STEPHEN ERICKSON.
51) Music: [to be selected ]
52) Bradley:
OUR PRODUCTION TEAM IS: RICK BRADLEY, ROB GRADER, STEVE ROWLAND, BILL BROWER, EILEEN DELAHUNTY, JANA JEVNIKAR (JEV-nih-car), MELANIE NIELSEN AND LESZEK WOJECEK (LES-shek VOY-chick).
53) THANKS TO ROUNDER RECORDS - DISTRIBUTORS OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS - JELLY ROLL MORTON RECORDINGS ... AND TO ALEXA BIRDSONG, LEO GAMBACORTA (gam-ba-KORT-a), AND THE CREW AT ALICE TULLY HALL.
54) THE DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER IS ROB GIBSON. ARTISTIC ADVISORS ARE WYNTON MARSALIS AND STANLEY CROUCH. I'M ED BRADLEY.
55) Vox: (Kicker)
Jelly Roll Morton: [from Rounder's DAT #1 ID #08]
Music in the kicker
55) Bradley:
THIS IS N-P-R, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.
- 30 -
30 SEC. PROMO
60) Music: [to be selected]
61) Bradley:
JELLY ROLL MORTON WAS TRULY A PIONEER OF JAZZ. HE COMPOSED CLASSIC SONGS, PLAYED LIKE A VIRTUOSO -- AND BRAGGED ABOUT IT ALL.
I'M ED BRADLEY. JOIN ME WHEN WYNTON MARSALIS, MARCUS ROBERTS, AND MICHAEL WHITE PLAY JELLY ROLL MORTON -- ON THE NEXT EDITION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER...FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.
SPARE PARTS:
62)
THAT WAS... AND BEFORE THAT WE HEARD...
MR. JELLY LORD FROGGIE MORE
LONDON CAFE BLUES
KING PORTER STOMP FINGERBUSTER
THE CRAVE WILDMAN BLUES
JUNGLE BLUES MILNEBERG JOYS
BLACK BOTTOM STOMP DEAD MAN BLUES
NEW ORLEANS JOYS THE PEARLS
WINNIN' BOY BLUES
THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, I'M ED BRADLEY.
WITH JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, I'M ED BRADLEY.
YOU'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, I'M ED BRADLEY.
THIS IS NPR, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.
JELLY ROLL MORTON
MR. JELLY LORD
JAZZ'S FIRST COMPOSER
THE MUSIC OF JELLY ROLL MORTON
Timings:
Music: Finger Buster 02:42
Wildman Blues 03:43
Milneberg Joys 03:35
Black Bottom Stomp 03:25
Dead Man Blues 05:00
Froggie Moore 02:41
London Cafe Blues 03:20
King Porter Stomp 03:22
The Crave 03:42
Jungle Blues 05:25
Winnin' Boy Blues 03:29
The Pearl 03:31
New Orleans Joys 04:11
======
Featured Music Total Time = 48:06
Bradley Narration: (estimated timing)=
Jelly Roll Morton Script Option
What follows is an option for the Ed Bradley continuity between the song King Porter Stomp & The Crave:
M 1 ID #34 [over appl from King Porter Stomp] Dr. Michael White, " Wynton Marsalis, Wycliff Gordon, Don Vappie" [appl fades] "Yeah, I'll tell you, that's something else - I haven't heard anyone play it like that... All right [small appl swell under comments] "(laughs)..." [appl settles into silence] "... O.K. um, Our next selection (pause) Buddy's Habit" [end dub]
M 39 ID #35 [large appl with whistles coming out of Wolverine Blues] Dr. Michael White, "Thank you... [over natural fade of appl/ at tail end of applause fade, "Wolverine Blues"] "Maybe a little later we'll do some more Jelly Roll small group work [small applause swell] "Thank you, [appl fade to silence] ...but Morton was one of the most popular artists in the 1920's, the classic era in jazz, and he made numerous recordings of trios, like you just heard, and (with) his own Red Hot Peppers. He also did quite a lot of solo piano playing, where he demonstrates his prowess as one of the great, our greatest piano players in jazz.
And right now, we'd like to bring on a very special young man that's going to give us an idea of what Jelly Roll's solo playing was like - especially in terms of his composition.
Uh, Jelly Roll was a true artist in every sense of the word, he thought quite a lot about his music - he planed it out quite a lot - he tried to use a variety of effects and colorings and uh - harmonic possibilities in creating his music.
The next number demonstrates what he called the "spanish tinge" - where he adds a few spanish or latin rhythms to give it a little flavor, a little spice... like gumbo.
We're going to bring on to do this, one of the finest pianists of his (Roberts') generation.
Mr. Marcus Roberts [applause swells & sustains/ then fades] The number Marcus Roberts is going to do for us is entitled, The Crave [Stage silence]