[Dixielandjazz] Jelly Roll Morton's Big Band Charts

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Gang,

As most of you will probably know, Jelly wrote a library of charts for a big band he was rehearsing in Los Angeles towards the end of his life. When he died, they were kept in a trunk by Buster Wilson, who was the band pianist in Jelly's rehearsal band. After Buster died, some at least of the charts found their way to Bill Russell and, after his death six of them found thier way to the Historic New Orleans Collection (Ganjam, Finger Breaker, Good Old New York, Mister Joe, Stop & Go, Mamie's Blues). The HNOC catalogue also refers to fragments of parts for Sidewalk Blues, Wolverine Blues and Milneburg Joys, although the parts themselves don't appear to be in the collection.

There was obviously a whole library when Jelly died, and I'd guess there must have been a chart on King Porter Stomp in it, but certainly more than the nine we know about. Does any one have any clues to the identity of the other pieces, whether any still exist and where they might be now? 2011 is the 70th anniversary of Jelly's death and I'd like to do a concert of his unheard works at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival (and any other jazz festival that would like to book it!). As a first step, it would be useful if we could establish what once existed so that we can identify what is missing. All clues and info gratefully received!

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk