Wynton Marsalis has set himself the task of capturing important periods in jazz for posterity. With Mr. Jelly Lord Marsalis has gone back to the 1920s. The place is New Orleans and the hero is Jelly Roll Morton, who thought he was the founder of jazz. Indeed a show-off, gambler, pool rake and even pimp, but above all a brilliant pianist and gifted composer of bump, stump, blues and swing songs.
Marsalis has been entrusted to dust off these songs and breathe new life into them, literally and figuratively. With an eleven-piece band the songs are played flawlessly and with a lot of affinity and fun. New Orleans-born Harry Connick Jr. contributes as a pianist on the song Billy Goat Stomp. For those who are fond of jazz music from New Orleans, this is a perfect record. (RM)more
