Oh, Mr. Jelly!

This time I'll add a few words regarding my initiation into jazzmusic many years ago. My interest in jazz awoke when I started in secondary school and was introduced to the subject one of the first days there. No, it was not a jazz devoted music teacher, who inspired me in that direction. It was Dr. Jazz himself, who had thought out a plan to catch my attention, I'm convinced.

At my school there was a students organisation, which every year organized a record fair one of the first days of semester start. I was attracted to this event and went to browse the stacks of secondhand LPs, EPs and Singles for sale - most of it yesteryear's rock'n'roll and pop music, it seemed. I was not interested in this kind of stuff, I went for blues and ragtime - the real thing, but I found nothing in that category. However, in a corner there was a box of used jazz records displayed, no one among the crowd seemed to have noticed or didn't care about it. Anyway, I browsed the small stack of various jazz LPs and picked out a single item. It was a LP that on the cover read 'Jelly Roll Morton - The King of New Orleans Jazz' featuring the famous Victor recordings by JRM's Red Hot Peppers 1926-28. I bought the LP, listened to it as soon as I arrived at home, and from that moment on my interest in jazz was caught.

I'll not use the space here to recollect the story of Jelly Roll Morton, it is most likely known by all visitors of this blog, I'm sure. However, if you should miss facts about Jelly's life and career, click on the headline for more info. If you are keen on listening to the original recordings by Jelly, click here

The music of Jelly Roll Morton has always belonged to the core of traditional jazz repertoire. I found three video performances I love to share with you. The first is "Original Jelly Roll Blues" played by an all star ensemble featuring a couple of members of the original Red Hot Peppers, I'm sure you'll recognise Kid Ory on the trombone and Johnny StCyr on banjo

Morton's genius and skills as a solo piano player are reflected in the following performance by Brian Wright playing the "Frog-I-More Rag"

The last video performance this time features The Dutch Swing College Band performing a rendition of Morton's "Georgia Swing"

Jo