The Piano Rolls: Realized by Artis Wodehouse

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The Piano Rolls: Realized by Artis Wodehouse
Studio album by Jelly Roll Morton

Publication
(s)

1997

Label (s) Nonesuch Records

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

12

running time

43:13

occupation

production

Artis Wodehouse / Robert Hurwitz

Location (s)

Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City

The Piano Rolls: Realized by Artis Wodehouse is a jazz album containing twelve tracks by the pianist Jelly Roll Morton , which he recorded on piano rolls for the piano roll company Vocalstyle in Cincinnati in 1923/24 . The recordings were digitized by Artis Wodehouse in 1996/97 and played on a Yamaha Disklavier on February 22 and 23, 1997 at the New York Academy of Arts and Letters .

The creation of the piano rolls

Morton worked in Chicago in the early 1920s with the Melrose Brothers publishing house, which published a total of over twenty of his pieces. You were also responsible for the recording sessions during which Morton made a number of records at Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana in 1923 and 1924. In July 1923, Morton recorded six piano solos and eight other tracks with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings . The sales success of these recordings moved Melrose to schedule another session eleven months later, in which Morton recorded eleven other tracks, including nine original compositions. These were Shreveport Stomps, Mamanita, Jelly Roll Blues , Big Foot Blues, Buig Foot Ham, Tom Cat Blues, Stratford Hunch and Perfect Rag .

Melrose arranged another recording session at the Cincinnati-based piano roll factory Vocalstyle around this time . With the exception of Perfect Rag and Wolverine Blues , Morton recorded the tracks from the Gennett session again, followed by the Morton numbers Mr. Jelly-Lord and London Blues and Tin Roof Blues , a Melrose release. Four of the roles recorded for Vocalstyle can no longer be found; therefore seven titles form the core of the present recording from 1997; there were also Midnight Mama , the Dead Man Blues (which was written two years later for the QRS company) and Sweet Man , not a Morton composition, but published by the Capitol Roll Company as By "Jelly Roll" Morton .

The titles

Midnight Mama was the faster instrumental version of a number sung by Francis Hereford and the Levee Serenaders . Shreveport Stumps has additional notes punched into the rolls by the editors. Statford Hunch is also known as the Chicago Breakdown , under which it was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven in 1927 . Morton did not take up Dead Man Blues again; the introduction takes up the funeral hymn Flee as a Bird to the Mountain , which was played by street bands in New Orleans during funerals. Grandpa's Spells is played at a fast pace; after the Tin Roof Blues comes London Blues , which Morton also called London Cafe Blues or - after a café in Chicago - Shoe Shiner's Drag , which he recorded in 1928 with the Red Hot Peppers . It consists of two main parts, the first using a syncopated melody interrupted by a cascade of arpeggios ; the second part begins as an organ chorus , which in the 1920s was a term for sustained harmonies in whole and half notes with a constant rise and fall in the bass progression .

Welte-Mignon - reproduction piano from 1927 with piano roll

King Porter Stomp is arguably one of Morton's most famous compositions, followed by Sweet Man , which is said to have not been played by Morton because it is uncharacteristic of him. In the opinion of Morton collectors Michael Montgomery and Horace Spear, it was Morton anyway; it iscomposedby Maceo Pinkard and has not been published by Melrose. Original Jelly Roll Blues was Morton's first publication with a music publisher; after Mr. Jelly-Lord , Tom Cat Blues closesthe album with a Cuban rhythm.

The realization of the recordings in 1996/97

In 1991, the Bronx-based pianist and music historian Artis Wodehouse (* 1946) edited George Gershwin's piano rolls in a digital process; the success of these recordings ( Gershwin Plays Gershwin: The Piano Rolls , published by Nonesuch) led to the continuation with the Morton project. Nonesuch initiated a worldwide search for material including keyboard magazine advertisements and a $ 300 reward to find Morton's missing piano rolls, 16 of which are known.

The lack of characteristic recording details about the tempos and dynamic contrasts of the piano roll recordings forced the producer to adopt Morton's own playing attitude ( his own peculiar sense of time ) and the use of tempo, swing, balance, accentuation and phasing in his recordings examine.

In an interview with Ben Ratliff , Wodehouse explained her approach:

When we first went into it, we didn't have the sensitivity to know that you had to measure everything. We just said, 'Well, if it sounds right, it's right' .
The piano rolls are not exactly the way he would have played, it's a hybrid. And the way we did them is a third creature. It's neither the human performance nor the piano roll, but a mixture of the two. You see, piano rolls are not like sound recordings. They are not definitive.

For this purpose, the present 78 Jelly Roll Mortons records from this period were converted into computer data in order to research the accentuation of the pianist. A piano roll reader was used to transfer the paper rolls to a computer program that recorded the arrangement and length of each hole. A program then made it possible to make subtle gradations in tempo, rhythm, pedal use and dynamics from the blank basic information of the roles; interpretative decisions were also made if the role and audio version differed. Finally, Morton's roles were transferred to a Disklavier by floppy disk , which allowed the musical information to be played back for the final recording. This took place in the auditorium of the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City. In 1999 Artis Wodehouse published her transcription of Jelly Roll Morton's Piano Rolls with Hal Leonard.

Track list

The "Jelly Roll" blues . Sheet music published in 1915
  • Jelly Roll Morton: The Piano Rolls - Realized by Artis Woodhouse (Nonesuch 759979363-2)
  1. Midnight Mama (Jelly Roll Morton) - 3:16
  2. Shreveport Stomps (Jelly Roll Morton) - 4:02
  3. Stratford Hunch (Jelly Roll Morton) - 4:13
  4. Dead Man Blues (Anita Gonzales / Jelly Roll Morton) - 4:47
  5. Grandpa's Spells (Jelly Roll Morton) - 3:12
  6. Tin Roof Blues ( George Brunies / New Orleans Rhythm Kings / Paul Mares / Walter Melrose / Ben Pollack / Leon Roppolo / Melville Stitzel) - 3:27
  7. London Blues (Jelly Roll Morton) - 3:17
  8. King Porter Stomp (Jelly Roll Morton) - 2:38
  9. Sweet Man (Maceo Pinkard / Roy Turk) - 3:26
  10. Original Jelly Roll Blues (Jelly Roll Morton) - 3:43
  11. Mr. Jelly-Lord (Walter Melrose / Jelly Roll Morton) - 4:15
  12. Tom Cat Blues (Walter Melrose / Jelly Roll Morton) - 2:57

reception

When it first appeared in 1997, Woodhouse's production received mostly positive reviews, but also received massive criticism; In the New York Times , Ben Ratliff defended her actions under the heading Pumping New Life Into Jelly Roll against the suspicion expressed of " recreating the Sistine Chapel ":

“Miss Wodehouse and her team of musicologists and researchers were able to determine that Morton's style was to spread his handful and hit the keys, and that is the result of the Nonesuch version recorded on a large grand piano. In contrast, the recording of the original rolls only reproduces the sound clusters as gentle hiccups ”.

Howard Reich sharply attacked Wodehouse's project in the Chicago Tribune :

“This is worse than sacrilege ; this is spurious […] by taking a form of recording, which were the piano rolls that existed in a very specific time, place and technology, and running it through a different, more modern technique, and then calling it Jelly Roll Morton, that is a terrific misunderstanding. But if it had been called Wodehouse Plays Morton , it wouldn't sell that well. "

Reich continued his criticism: “If, while listening, you compare Morton's original piano roll recordings with Wodehouse's Disklavier versions, you think two different artists are at work. The Morton originals are otherwise consistently broad, in an upbeat tempo, sharply articulated and technically brilliant. In contrast, the Wodehouse creations are generally slower in pace, more clumsy in rhythm and extremely messy in texture. "

Jelly Roll Morton, 1917

The music historian Mike Montgomery, an expert on piano rolls and publisher of the Biograph CD with the original rolls, defended her approach:

“For Morton, this was a throwaway experience. He crouched down in a single day, pecked himself in, and then barely remembered. What Artis has done is already taking on irrational features; no one would waste so much time on such a thing. But she's the only person who can do that, and no one will try again. I think the people who get upset about it don't understand the new technology. Well, do you want to hear Jelly Roll Morton on a well-tuned piano or some barrel piano? "

Jack Sohmer wrote in JazzTimes that for the first time you could hear Jelly Roll Morton's piano rolls in such a way that they sound almost like the digitally remastered reissues of his Victor records.

Scott Yanow rated the album in Allmusic with 4½ (out of 5) stars and emphasized that the wooden sound of the previous releases of the material (from the LPs by Biograph and Everest) was fortunately missing. The use of modern techniques enabled producer Artis Wodehouse to make Morton's piano rolls sound much more lively than before. The highlights are the titles Shreveport Stomps, Grandpa's Spells, King Porter Stomp and Mr. Jelly Lord , which would bring back the spirit of Jelly Roll Morton.

The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3½ (out of 4) stars and described the album as one of the most fascinating re-releases in recent years. The elaborate process enables Morton to hear what he might have sounded like at the early peak of his career. If there were any objection that this was just a single imagination of how Morton could have played, the results are intoxicating enough to make one believe that Jelly's mind resides in the piano. Even if there is an inevitable perception of a mechanical allusion, this is canceled out by Morton's swinging syncopations , his lawn and general brio. Are compelling "the strange mixture of malice and kindness in Grand Papa's Spells , the stunning time double- - Breakfast in Midnight Mama and the unbridled virtuosity of Shreveport Stomps ." Is the album essential for anyone dealing with Morton's early work and make the biographer -LP redundant.

According to Gary Rametta, the energy and flavor of this track is "mesmerizing". Shreveport Stomp's performance is "amazing, a masterpiece of composition, improvisation and Wodehouse's ability to reconstruct." Grandpa's Spells put out a brilliant improvisation that could not be heard on any analog recording. Other titles like Tin Roof Blues, Mr. Jelly Lord and Tom Cat Blues are also wonderful. Even if Rametta contradicts the accusation that the Wodehouse project lacks the necessary authenticity, This is Artis' Wodehouse's Jelly Roll Morton would have been a better name. Stanley Crouch's liner notes are also worthwhile.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Liner Notes of the album
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Review of the album (1997) in NYTimes
  3. ^ Liner Notes
  4. ^ Review of the album in All About Jazz
  5. ↑ information on Nonesuch Records
  6. ↑ In the original: Ms. Wodehouse and her team of musicologists and researchers were able to determine that Morton's way was to spread his hand out fully and whack the keys, and that's the effect she put into the full-bodied Nonesuch version, recorded on a grand piano. The recording made from the original rolls, by contrast, renders the tone clusters as mild hiccups .
  7. ↑ In the original: It's worse than sacrilegious; It's phony, […] To take a form of recording, which piano rolls were, which existed in a very particular time and place and technology - and to run that through other, more recent technologies, and then to call it Jelly Roll Morton , is grotesque misrepresentation. If it were billed as Wodehouse plays Morton, it wouldn't sell as well.
  8. ^ Howard Reich: Lost In Translation: Computer Technology Manhandles Music of Jelly Roll Morton (1997) in Chicago Tribune
  9. ↑ In the original: Listen closely to Morton's original piano roll recordings and Wodehouse's Disklavier versions, and you would think two utterly different artists were at work. The Morton originals are consistently bright, upbeat in tempo, crisply articulated and technically brilliant; Wodehouse's creations prove generally slower in tempo, stodgier in rhythm and utterly muddled in texture.
  10. ↑ Original: This was a throwaway experience for Morton. He sat down in one day, knocked them off and barely remembered that he did it. What Artis has done is almost irrational; nobody else I know would take this much time to do this. But she is the one perfect person to do it, and nobody's going to try this again. I think the people who are upset about this don't understand the new technology. I mean, do you want to hear Jelly Roll Morton on a nicely tuned piano, or do you want to hear him in a barrel somewhere?
  11. ^ Review of Jack Sohmer's album (1997) in JazzTimes
  12. ↑ Review of Ron Wynn's album at Allmusic (English)
  13. ↑ See Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 , p. 949.
  14. ^ Review of Gary Rametta at Rose Leaf Ragtime Club