Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs and Hidden Histories

A cache of songs recorded by jazz great Jelly Roll Morton at the Library of Congress in 1938—which were shelved for more than 60 years due to their “coarse language”—provides a revealing window into the history of American popular music in the riveting latest from Wald (How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll). In close readings of the songs, which were released in the early 1990s, Wald examines how the “graphic” language in “Pallet on the Floor” reflected the lack of squeamishness about sex in early blues and jazz lyrics; how “Mamie’s Blues,” which borrowed from a song Morton heard from jazz pianist Mamie Desdunes, reveals the often-invisible influence of women on the genres; and how the extended narrative in Morton’s 59-verse “Murder Ballad”—which pulled from Southern murder ballads but was mostly Morton’s invention—highlights the improvisatory nature of jazz storytelling and its value in recording the histories of communities whose “ancestors were ignored or disparaged in written records.” The author stitches together a dizzying amount of detail on Morton and other blues and jazz musicians, though he’s careful to acknowledge the missing “voices that have been censored and suppressed” due to preservation issues, discrimination, and omission. It’s a riveting deep dive into two great American art forms. (Apr.)