"Jelly's Blues" recounts the tumultuous life of Jelly Roll Morton (ca., 18851941). A virtuoso pianist with a larger-than-life personality, he composed such influential early jazz pieces as "King Porter Stomp" and "New Orleans Blues." However, by the late 1930s, he was nearly forgotten. In 1992, the death of an eccentric memorabilia collector led to the unearthing of a startling archive, revealing Morton to be a much more complex and passionate man than many realized. An especially immediate and visceral look into the jazz worlds of New Orleans and Chicago, "Jelly's Blues" is a definitive biography, a long overdue look at one of the twentieth century's most important composers.

About the Author

Howard Reich is a veteran jazz critic and the winner of many awards and honours for his writings. William Gaines is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a Knight Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Reviews

There has been a resurgence of interest in Jelly Roll Morton (1890- 1941) in recent years, much of it highlighting the unattractive characteristics of the legendary Creole jazz pianist, composer and bandleader, such as his flashy clothes, diamond-studded tooth, boastfulness and denial of his race. In their sympathetic biography, Reich, jazz critic of the Chicago Tribune, and Gaines, an investigative reporter who retired from the Chicago Tribune in 2001, play down these aspects of Morton's personality and concentrate on his musicianship, keyboard virtuosity, innovative compositions and ingenuity in devising a way to set improvisational music down on paper. The authors also highlight the redemptive qualities of Morton's last years, basing their discussion on letters, documents and scores from the voluminous archive of Morton material in the collection of New Orleans jazz historian William Russell that became available after Russell's death in 1992. They show that at the end of his life Morton composed revolutionary new works, though he couldn't get anyone to play or record them. At the same time, he kept up a running battle with his publishers, who had exploited him for years, and launched a crusade against ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), which collected royalties for composers and robbed black songwriters of what was due them by denying them membership. Morton's correspondence with the Justice Department concerning his case against ASCAP and his music publishers is included in the book (though not seen by PW), as is an annotated discography. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"A standout achievement...redeems a misunderstood life...an invaluable record of Morton's brilliant rise and bitter fall."

Chicago Tribune journalists Reich, a longtime jazz critic, and Pulitzer Prize winner Gaines, who retired from investigative reporting in 2001, drew on the recently opened archives of a New Orleans memorabilia collector to chronicle the career and music of famed Creole jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941). They bring to life Morton's early career as a brothel pianist and do an outstanding job of exposing the shabby treatment he received at the hands of music publishers and performance licensing agencies. In addition, they go a long way toward explaining why Morton, the darling of the Chicago jazz community through his live performances and recordings of 1926, was viewed as a has-been in New York City less than a year later. Also described are Morton's performance and compositional style, including some of the infrequently heard last compositions of the 1930s, which were found in the archives-though at times the authors could have gone into a bit more musicological detail. Still, through skillful use of their sources, Reich and Gaines offer much insight into their complex subject-in many respects the father of written jazz-which is missing from earlier Morton biographies (e.g., Phil Pastras's recent Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West and Alan Lomax's classic Mister Jelly Roll). Highly recommended for public libraries and for academic libraries with jazz-related collections.-James E. Perone, Mount Union Coll., Alliance, OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.