Mister Jelly Roll. Vita, fortune e disavventure Jelly Roll Morton, creolo di New Orleans, «inventore del jazz»
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Sinossi
Nel 1938 l'etnomusicologo Alan Lomax (colui che fra gli altri scoprì Woody Guthrie e Muddy Waters) incontrò in un piccolo club di Washington il pianista di New Orleans Jelly Roll Morton, che sosteneva con assoluta sicurezza di avere inventato il jazz. Lomax gli chiese un'intervista; Morton parlò per settimane. Il risultato ossessionò per anni l'intervistatore, che dopo la morte del pianista ne approfondì i racconti andando a cercare i veterani di New Orleans e i parenti di Morton. Nel 1950 il libro era finalmente pronto: non c'era solo il jazz, ma l'intreccio di razze che permea gli Stati del Sud, la vita irregolare fra bordelli di lusso e saloon, la nascita dell'industria discografica e della cultura popolare fra Otto e Novecento. Un affresco corale, con la vera voce di Morton a dominare, rimasto finora inedito per il lettore italiano. Nella sua introduzione, lo studioso Stefano Zenni ha appositamente aggiornato l'opera facendo il punto sulle più recenti ricerche che riguardano la figura, lungamente avvolta nella leggenda, del grande pianista di New Orleans. Data la loro importanza per la cultura americana, le interviste originali a Morton sono conservate nella Biblioteca del Congresso degli Stati Uniti a Washington. Postfazione di Lawrence Gushee.
- ISBN:
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- Pagine: 368
- Data di uscita: 09-05-2019
Recensioni
Highly recommended and entertaining. Jelly Roll Morton wasn't a super-likable character--he was a braggart, at times he thought of himself as a pimp and pool hustler first and a musician/composer second. Most of his conversations revolved around himself and he claimed to be the inventor of jazz. How Leggi tutto
I had the pleasure of performing playwright George C. Wolfe's Tony winning musical "Jelly's Last Jam" for several weeks this past Spring as a member of the pit band. Ironically, while trying to find some novel or other in my mostly uncatalogued personal library, I came across Alan Lomax's book. Its
Mister Jelly Roll: The Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Creole and "Inventor of Jazz" by Allan Lomax University of California Press, Berkeley, 2001 This book is a classic of jazz biography and oral history. It was first published in 1950, based on the recordings and interviews conducted in t Leggi tutto
More like 3 1/2 stars. A lot of this is based on Morton's Library of Congress recordings, so I am of the belief that this conforms to Jelly Roll's version of history, and a very entertaining history it is. I have a bit more of a problem with the parts filled in by Alan Lomax; the Lomaxes [John a lot Leggi tutto
Highly enjoyable read. There's the music history part, but what drove the page turning was the life of self-invention led by Jelly Roll Morton. A plentiful dose of New Orleans, but Jelly Roll also spent part of his life in Alaska. He put his musical genius to use in fueling his urges, which included Leggi tutto
A view into a place that long ago and VERY far away, but still with us. Towards the end, Alan Lomax's evaluations take over from Jelly's memories, and the text loses some of its spirit.
Reading Lomax' book while listening to Jelly Roll Morton's Library of Congress recordings was enthralling.
I discovered this book in high school and promptly stole it. Jelly Roll and his music changed my life. Although I recognize now the book is deeply flawed -- only a product of its time and place -- I still regard it highly as a quintessential American story of self-invention, filled with voices and so Leggi tutto
An excellent book on the origins of jazz .... informative, complex (treats the person of Jelly Roll Lamothe/Morton as well as the composer and the performer/pianist), going back to the roots of the jazz in early 1900 New Orleans. One of the key ideas in the book - submitting that jazz appeared as a
Jelly Roll Morton was not a humble man, the most famous example is his flat statement, "I invented Jazz." Well, he's not far off. While reading this I realized Morton was performing his "jazz" while the great Louis Armstrong was still in diapers. The book was OK but Lomax's work at getting the Libra Leggi tutto
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