What's the Word on the New Jelly Roll Bio?

[Hardbop]

I was perusing the wares in a used bookstore on Saturday and saw a reviewer's copy of a new Jelly Roll Morton bio penned by Howard Reich, a Chicago-based music/jazz writer, and another author whose name escapes me. Anyone have the skinny on this new JR bio?

I'm not all that big a fan/interested in early jazz so I'll only take the plunge if the bio proves to be an exceptional read. Plus I still haven't read the Lomax "Mr. Jelly Roll" tome yet.

[EKE BBB]

From Jazzscript.co.uk

Jelly's Blues The Life, Music And Redemption Of Jelly Roll Morton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Howard Reich & William Gaines
Da Capo Press, 2003
Hardback. 302pp. b&w illustrations
£19.99
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jelly's Blues vividly recounts the tumultuous life of Jelly Roll Morton (ca. 1885-1941), born Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe to a large extended family in New Orleans. A virtuoso pianist with a larger-than-life personality, he composed such influential early jazz pieces as King Porter Stomp and New Orleans Blues. But by the late 1930s, Jelly Roll Morton was nearly forgotten. Moreover, he was ridiculed by unscrupulous music publishers. His reputation at rock bottom, Jelly Roll Morton seemed destined to be remembered more as a flamboyant, diamond-toothed rounder than as the brilliant architect of that new American musical idiom: jazz.

In 1992, the death of a New Orleans memorabilia collector led to the unearthing of a startling archive. Here were unknown later compositions, as well as Morton's final correspondence. Howard Reich and William Gaines later augmented this trove by bringing to light the court, copyright, and Congressional records that detailed Morton's struggle to salvage his reputation, recover lost royalties, and protect the publishing rights of black musicians.

Jelly Roll Morton has proved to be a much more complex and passionate man than many realised, fiercely dedicated to his art and possessing an unwavering belief in his own genius, even as he toiled in poverty and obscurity. An especially immediate and visceral look into the jazz worlds of New Orleans and Chicago, Jelly's Blues is the definitive biography of a jazz icon - and a long overdue look at one of the twentieth century's most unimportant composers.

"...With the help of previously unavailable archival materials, we learn of the many tragedies and ultimate triumphs of Morton." - Wynton Marsalis.

HOWARD REICH is the veteran jazz critic of the Chicago Tribune.

WILLIAM GAINES retired from the Chicago Tribune in 2001, and is a Knight Professor of the University of Illinois.

[EKE BBB]

BTW: I´ve just picked a previous Jelly Roll biography (not the Alan Lomax):

Dead Man Blues Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phil Pastras
University of California Press, 2001
Hardback. 255pp. b&w illustrations
£27.95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton sat down at the piano in the Library of Congress in May 1938 to begin his monumental series of interviews with Alan Lomax, he spoke of his years on the West Coast with the nostalgia of a man recalling a golden age, a lost Eden. He had arrived in Los Angeles more than twenty years earlier, but he still recounted his losses vividly. The keenest loss was his separation from Anita Gonzales, by his own account "the only woman I ever loved," and to whom he left almost all of his royalties in his will.

In Dead Man Blues, Phil Pastras sets the record straight on the two periods (1917-1922 and 1940-1941) that Jelly Roll Morton spent on the West Coast. In addition to rechecking sources, correcting mistakes in scholarly accounts, and situating eyewitness narrative within the histories of New Orleans and Los Angeles, Patras offers a fresh interpretation of the life and work of Morton, one of the most important and influential early practitioners of jazz. Pastras's discovery of a previously unknown collection of memorabilia - including a 58-page scrapbook compiled by Morton himself - sheds new light on Morton's personal and artistic development, as well as on the crucial role played by Anita Gonzales.

In a rich, fast-moving and fascinating narrative, Pastras traces Morton's development as a pianist, composer, and bandleader, beginning first with the period 1917-1922, when he moved away from a living as a combination of pimp, pool hustler, gambler and musician to focus almost exclusively on music. He shows how Anita Gonzales's business acumen provided Morton with much-needed financial stability and how she encouraged him to think in a more practical, businesslike way about his music. His return to Los Angeles near the end of his life was motivated by her willingness to help finance his musical comeback and by his trust in her ability to take charge of his affairs. Among many other topics, Pastras discusses the complexities of racial identity for Morton and his circle, his belief in voodoo, his relationships with women, his style of performance, and his roots in black musical traditions. Not only does Dead Man Blues add to the historical record invaluable information about one of the great innovators of jazz, it also brings to life one of the most colourful and fascinating periods of musical transformation of the West Coast.

CONTENTS:
Preface; Acknowledgments; Prelude to a Riff; Mamanita and the 'Voodoo Witch'; L.A. Jelly, 1917-1923; The Scrapbook; Last Days; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

PHILL PASTRAS is Assistant Professor of English at Pasadena City College and co-editor and co-translator of The New Oresteia of Yannis Ritsos (1991)

[Hardbop]

Originally posted by EKE BBB
From Jazzscript.co.uk

Jelly's Blues The Life, Music And Redemption Of Jelly Roll Morton
"...With the help of previously unavailable archival materials, we learn of the many tragedies and ultimate triumphs of Morton." - Wynton Marsalis.




With the imprimatur of a Wynton Marsalis endorsement I'll have to add this one to my reading list.;)

[Fran]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by EKE BBB
From Jazzscript.co.uk

[B]Jelly's Blues The Life, Music And Redemption Of Jelly Roll Morton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Howard Reich & William Gaines
Da Capo Press, 2003
Hardback. 302pp. b&w illustrations
£19.99
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



An especially immediate and visceral look into the jazz worlds of New Orleans and Chicago, Jelly's Blues is the definitive biography of a jazz icon - and a long overdue look at one of the twentieth century's most unimportant composers.[/I]


Am I misreading----"most 'unimportant' composers" ?
I thought he was somewhat important :wink2:

[jazzypaul]

Originally posted by Fran
An especially immediate and visceral look into the jazz worlds of New Orleans and Chicago, Jelly's Blues is the definitive biography of a jazz icon - and a long overdue look at one of the twentieth century's most unimportant composers.

yeah, that might be a little harsh and undue of an assesment, one would believe...:laugh:

[EKE BBB]

- William Russell ed.
Oh, Mr Jelly: A Jelly Roll Morton Scrapbook,
Jazz Media ApS,
Copenhagen, Denmark,
1999,
720 pp.

http://www.storyville-records.com/jelly/Jellyannonce.jpg

[Lazaro Vega]

Where can I order this, or have my local bookstore order it?

[peter rh]

I've been unable to track this down (the usual sources don't seem
to have it listed).
Anyone got an ISBN?

[peter rh]

Thanks Chris - I should have realised there was a Storyville connection