James Dapogny emphasized how Morton wrote with variety in mind. This essay elaborated on the depth of that musical variety. Thanks!
Regarding the harmony in Black Bottom Stomp please see Gunther Schuller’s Early Jazz where Schuller observes the tension created by leaving it unresolved for long stretches adds drama (that’s a paraphrase, there’s more specific discussion worth sighting I just don’t have it in front of me at the moment).
You bet. Fabulous research. The comments about minseltry and New York, as well as the prevent influence of eastern ragtime on the development of stride, and NYC not being much of a blues center then, sort of doomed Morton’s pianistic influence.
Have you read Dr Billy Taylor’s story about going to catch Morton playing in DC in 38 or so? Insightful, and Taylor was wise to get the message.
Pages 156 and 157 of Early Jazz. I can’t figure out how to copy and paste a photo of them into the comments here.
The sentence that came to mind was even though it’s in B flat no B flat chord is played, or is avoided and delayed, until the 96th bar.
Yes, I did see Dr. Billy Taylor's story on Morton. I had a chance to hear him speak live about it at a masterclass when I was a teenager, and I caught the story recently on Youtube!
And yeah Black Bottom Stomp is interesting for that. It spends most of its time in G minor and when it's about to resolve to a B flat major chord, it uses the B flat as a passing harmony as opposed to a resolution. It just keeps moving. It's prominently used after as a pivot point to modulate later on to E flat major, then we hear a lot of it. He was probably trying to prepare that moment avoiding it earlier.
The idea that Morton spoke for New Orleans jazz and jazz musical development in response to Handy and swing era changes in the music in his introduction to Lomax is unique. You made a good case. A good reason for elaboration.
James Dapogny emphasized how Morton wrote with variety in mind. This essay elaborated on the depth of that musical variety. Thanks!
Regarding the harmony in Black Bottom Stomp please see Gunther Schuller’s Early Jazz where Schuller observes the tension created by leaving it unresolved for long stretches adds drama (that’s a paraphrase, there’s more specific discussion worth sighting I just don’t have it in front of me at the moment).
Thank you so much for taking the time to read these articles! And thank you for your feedback. I definitely will check out Gunther Schuller's book.
You bet. Fabulous research. The comments about minseltry and New York, as well as the prevent influence of eastern ragtime on the development of stride, and NYC not being much of a blues center then, sort of doomed Morton’s pianistic influence.
Have you read Dr Billy Taylor’s story about going to catch Morton playing in DC in 38 or so? Insightful, and Taylor was wise to get the message.
Pages 156 and 157 of Early Jazz. I can’t figure out how to copy and paste a photo of them into the comments here.
The sentence that came to mind was even though it’s in B flat no B flat chord is played, or is avoided and delayed, until the 96th bar.
Yes, I did see Dr. Billy Taylor's story on Morton. I had a chance to hear him speak live about it at a masterclass when I was a teenager, and I caught the story recently on Youtube!
And yeah Black Bottom Stomp is interesting for that. It spends most of its time in G minor and when it's about to resolve to a B flat major chord, it uses the B flat as a passing harmony as opposed to a resolution. It just keeps moving. It's prominently used after as a pivot point to modulate later on to E flat major, then we hear a lot of it. He was probably trying to prepare that moment avoiding it earlier.
The idea that Morton spoke for New Orleans jazz and jazz musical development in response to Handy and swing era changes in the music in his introduction to Lomax is unique. You made a good case. A good reason for elaboration.
Thanks Wynton! If only there were recordings of WOL!