“Have you seen those two guys on YouTube? They’re fantastic!” The word got round last year about pianist Andrew Oliver and clarinettist David Horniblow, who had set themselves the apparently lunatic task of learning all the 94 compositions of Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton and recording and posting videos of the whole lot by the end of 2018. Not only did they succeed, their playing was so dynamic and heartfelt that I really missed them when they’d finished.
I thought I knew Morton, the first jazz composer, pretty well, but some of what these two had played was quite new to me. More important, their approach, although perfectly authentic in style, had a freshness and immediacy that was all their own. These 15 numbers, rerecorded in a proper studio, with a concert piano, make an impressive selection from a fascinating life’s work.
Morton (1890-1941) started out playing ragtime in New Orleans brothels, becoming a popular bandleader and recording artist in the 1920s, only to fall out of fashion in later life. Nowadays he tends to get patronisingly labelled as “early jazz”. These spirited and accomplished performances bring his music vividly to life.
