https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTYAaX7lqjQ In 1926 and early 1927 Jelly Roll Morton recorded what are arguably the most important traditional jazz records ever made. Calling his group the ‘Red Hot Peppers’, the sides they cut for the Victor Talking Machine Company are the earliest fully-orchestrated ‘hot jazz’ recordings featuring a tightly rehearsed and
Here’s an extraordinary recording of Jelly Roll Morton playing a solo piano version of ‘Tiger Rag’. Morton’s piano technique is flawless and the audio is quite remarkable, capturing not only the ‘air’ in the room but the sound of Morton’s foot stomping in tempo. Most versions of ‘Tiger Rag’ reduce
For the past few days I’ve been immersed in one of the best jazz biographies I’ve ever read, ‘Jelly’s Blues’, a biographical history of Jelly Roll Morton and his times. The book, by Howard Reich and William Gaines, is one of the rare musical biographies that makes you want to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxJrRhazLcM Here’s a rocking good version of one of my favorite Sondheim songs from ‘Follies’, the intricately prosaic and wonderfully sour ‘Buddy’s Blues’. It’s performed by Alexander Gemignani and was part of the Sondheim 90th birthday virtual TV concert, which thanks to the pandemic gave us performances via Zoom. Yet
I didn’t know this actually still existed or, if it did, exactly how to see it. But here is a lousy but incredibly valuable VHS copy of the 1966 TV show with songs ‘Evening Primrose’, starring Anthony Perkins with songs by Sondheim and a script by James Goldman. Presented on
Stephen Sondheim was a game fanatic. He collected old board games, did lots of puzzles etc. etc. This fact has been covered thoroughly and I’m getting bored trying to update it and make it sound exciting so lets get to the meat. In 1966 Sondheim was invited to be a
Watch this extraordinary instructional video of an extraordinary machine, the 1931 RCA VICTOR RADIOLA AUTOMATIC ELECTROLA. Designed to allow listeners to listen to up to thirty minutes of music at a time instead of having to get up and flip their 78rpm record every three minutes, the machine retailed for
Here’s an excellent one hour conversation between Stephen Sondheim and Adam Guettel, filmed in Sondheim’s Turtle Bay townhouse on E. 49th Street. Aside from getting to see the very nice interiors of Sondheim’s long-time NYC abode you get to hear more from Sondheim than the usual anecdotes, though you’ll get
Below are the last two installments of the pioneering jazz/blues documentary “Music Of The South”, originally aired on CBS in 1956. I don’t have the exact airdate but an enterprising tv-head would have no problem figuring it out. Simply watch the “outro” at the end of the show (included here
It is with great pride and delight that I post the first two out of six parts of an exceedingly rare and important archival item–a documentary made by father, Frank De Felitta, called “Music Of The South”. Photographed in 1956 in the deepest backcountry of Alabama, the film is a