Steve Coleman’s Rebuttal
I would like to thank the current JazzTimes editor for allowing my voice to be heard. This is being addressed two years after Weiner’s 2021 … Read More “Steve Coleman’s Rebuttal”
Jelly Roll Morton: Birth of the Hot: The Classic Chicago “Red Hot Peppers” Sessions 1926-1927 (Bluebird, 1995)
When Ferdinand LaMothe (a.k.a. Jelly Roll Morton) claimed to have singlehandedly invented jazz, he was only exaggerating a bit. Although his Red Hot Peppers didn’t record until 1926, Morton was jazz’s first important composer. Tunes like “Black Bottom Stomp,” “Grandpa’s Spells,” and “Wild Man Blues” remain in the repertoire. As for the band’s playing … suffice to say that 100 years later, when we talk about “New Orleans jazz,” this is the sound we mean. MICHAEL J. WEST
