Product Description

When Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton sat at the piano in the Library of Congress in May of 1938 to begin his monumental series of interviews with Alan Lomax, he spoke of his years on the West Coast with the nostalgia of a man recalling a golden age, a lost Eden. He had arrived in Los Angeles more than twenty years earlier, but he recounted his losses as vividly as though they had occurred just recently. The greatest loss was his separation from Anita Gonzales, by his own account "the only woman I ever loved," to whom he left almost all of his royalties in his will.
In Dead Man Blues, Phil Pastras sets the record straight on the two periods (1917-1923 and 1940-1941) that Jelly Roll Morton spent on the West Coast. In addition to rechecking sources, correcting mistakes in scholarly accounts, and situating eyewitness narratives within the histories of New Orleans or Los Angeles, Pastras offers a fresh interpretation of the life and work of Morton, one of the most important and influential early practitioners of jazz. Pastras's discovery of a previously unknown collection of memorabilia--including a 58-page scrapbook compiled by Morton himself--sheds new light on Morton's personal and artistic development, as well as on the crucial role played by Anita Gonzales.
In a rich, fast-moving, and fascinating narrative, Pastras traces Morton's artistic development as a pianist, composer, and bandleader. Among many other topics, Pastras discusses the complexities of racial identity for Morton and his circle, his belief in voodoo, his relationships with women, his style of performance, and his roots in black musical traditions. Not only does Dead Man Blues restore to the historical record invaluable information about one of the great innovators of jazz, it also brings to life one of the most colorful and fascinating periods of musical transformation on the West Coast.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2142399 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.01 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"`It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902,'" responded Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton to an assertion that W.C. Handy originated jazz and the blues. Pastras (co-editor and co-translator of The New Oresteia of Yannis Ritsos), assistant English professor at Pasadena City College, zeroes in on the great pianist and composer's two Los Angeles tenures (1917-1923 and 1940-1941). His dense, academic study relies heavily on disputing previous Jelly Roll scholarship, such as Alan Lomax's biography (he simultaneously expresses gratitude toward his predecessors). Pastras discovered a scrapbook of Morton's that brings new information to light, particularly illuminating his romance with Anita Gonzales, the love of his life. Jelly left his future royalties to Gonzales, who was his companion for only four or five years, including the last nine months of his life. Pastras details Jelly Roll's relationship to club owners (Ada "Bricktop" Smith says, "He couldn't decide whether to be a pimp or a piano player. I told him to be both") and the music industry. Pastras's distant tone (occasionally tempered by a bubbling enthusiasm), his discussion of other scholarship and his narrow focus on one part of Jelly Roll's career render the book somewhat inaccessible to the general reader. 22 b&w photos. (July)Forecast: This book should prove valuable to music libraries and jazz scholars, as well as to avid Jelly Roll fans, but its specialized approach will appeal only to this small audience.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Pastras (English, Pasadena City Coll.) takes another look at two critical periods in the life of jazz pioneer Morton (1890-1941), n Ferdinand Lamothe. Using Alan Lomax's definitive Mister Jelly Roll (1950) as his foundation, the author begins with a brief overview of the big-spending, rough-and-tumble, self-satisfied Creole pianist, who desperately tried to shed his African heritage yet fervently believed in voodoo practices despite his Catholic upbringing. He focuses on Morton's first stay on the West Coast (1917-23), where he made the transition from a pool-hustling pimp with an interest in the piano to a major musician. He spends another chapter on a newly discovered scrapbook of letters, clippings, flyers, and documents that Morton himself assembled. In the last section, Pastras deals with the last two years of Morton's life, when he traveled to the West Coast to visit his dying godmother and to rekindle his smoldering love affair with Anita Gonzales. Though leaving some questions still unanswered, Pastras adds some interesting detail and critical analysis to the Jelly Roll Morton story and provides a supplemental text to Lomax's standard biography. Recommended for jazz fans. Dave Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A smart and engaging exploration of an inventive jazzman's lost years...A well-written contribution to jazz history, and fine tribute to Morton's life and work."-Kirkus Reviews "Pastras reveals intimate linkages between the pioneering jazz pianist and the American West in Dead Man Blues, a biography that casts Jelly Roll as the gifted but flawed hero of a saga that is 'truly Odyssean' and, at the same time, thoroughly American."-Los Angeles Times Book Review