I DIG JELLY ROLL PT. 2

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 the song to the theme heard beginning at 1:37 but the piece is a good deal more complex than that as you will hear. According to a helpful Youtube commenter:

“Tiger Rag is a collection of themes relating to a series of danses generally by the Creoles de Couleur. There is an example of how the original may have evolved in a tune known as la Praline.”

And you get to hear Jelly Roll’s rich voice when he calls out ‘Hold That Tiger!’

MOVIES
'TIL
DAWN

Sign up for news & updates so you don't miss a thing!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More
articles