Jelly Roll Morton: Black Bottom Stomp

This recording was added to the Library of Congress National Sound Registry in 2006, and it sums up in three minutes the essence of New Orleans jazzand what differentiates it from Dixieland. New Orleans style had, at its center, a reliance on ensemble polyphony. The instruments in the front linetrumpet, clarinet and trombonehave different but complementary functions that, in the hands of musicians skilled in the tradition, allow all three instruments to play simultaneously without creating a musical hash. Mortons aesthetic is on display: By balancing the ensemble and the soloists, and peppering the performance with instrumental breaks, a stop-time passage and more, the Black Bottom Stomp takes on compositional form, but never at any sacrifice of the New Orleans spirit that lies at its heart.