Jelly Roll Morton: Steamboat Stomp
Track
Steamboat Stomp
Group
Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers
CD
Jelly Roll Morton: Birth of the Hot (Bluebird 66641-2)
Musicians:
Jelly Roll Morton (piano), George Mitchell (cornet), Kid Ory (trombone), Omer Simeon (clarinet), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), John Lindsay (bass), Andrew Hilaire (drums).
Composed by Jelly Roll Morton
.Recorded: Chicago, Illinois, September 21. 1926
Rating: 98/100 (learn more)
Morton succeeded with his early Victor recordings in having his compositions played with his original conception by an ensemble. He found the perfect musicians for the job; players schooled enough to balance the reading of his orchestrations with looseness and improvisation. The opening comic hokum, charmingly accompanied by St. Cyr’s banjo, gives way to an arresting ensemble, unfolding into this multi-themed Morton original. Mitchell and Simeon are virtuosic while the more rudimentary Ory, solidly and in tune, shores up the sonority’s lower end. Perhaps it sounded a bit old-fashioned to 1926 ears, attuned to the latest dance hits, but today (sans comedy) it seems bright and ageless.
Reviewer: David Sager
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Tags: 1920s jazz · new orleans
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