JELLY ROLL MORTON The Saga of Mr Jelly Lord 1947 RARE Full Set 45 78rpm Discs EX

$

500

This a very rare complete set of the very first limited and numbered release of the legendary Saga of Mr. Jelly Lord, on 45 12" red vinyl 78 records in 12 volumes, released in 1947 on Circle Records. I have read different reports about how many of this set were made, but it is somewhere between 250 and 350 copies. It is very rare to find a complete set all in excellent condition, like this one. The story of this record is very interesting indeed: the great Jelly Roll Morton, self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, had fallen on hard times by the late '30s, when folk song collector for the Library of Congress Alan Lomax found him and recorded several hours of him talking about his history and the history of his music, with bits of wonderful piano playing interspersed in the narrative. Lomax recorded Morton over a period of a few months in 1938 for the Library of Congress, which had taken an interest in preserving its folk music history. Just at this time the first wave of record collecting and cataloguing had begun, and the interest in the origins of jazz music was growing. So of course Jelly Roll was seen as a very important wealth of knowledge, which indeed he was. These recordings are absolutely fascinating and paint a picture of a very different America over 100 years ago, with lots of his wonderful piano stylings, demonstrating various points of influence and so forth. Anyhow in 1947 Circle Records was licensed to release a limited number of this set of records, mainly sold to schools and universities, libraries, and serious music historians and jazz aficionados. The cost at the time was $120, which was a lot of money then. Each set was hand-numbered and, I believe, always only sold as a complete set, so very few were made and very few bought. Probably only a handful of complete sets even exist any more. Anyhow it was later reissued on a set of LPs, and has been reissued several times over the years in various forms, recently on a lovely set of CDs, which is also a rarity now. Anyhow the original issue was pressed on red "Vinylite", which is more like the LP vinyl of the time, and not so brittle as the shellac 78s that were the more common kind. So these records had to be played on a newer machine with a lighter arm and lighter needle. This copy comes with the rare original insert explaining about the vinyl (see photo). 

This set is in truly lovely condition. All the sets have 3 or 4 discs, with different liner notes inside by Rudi Blesh. All are hand-numbered 214, all matching, so it is a lovely complete unseparated original set. The discs are all E to NM, and the covers are all intact with no torn binding and still retaining their spines, which is unusual. There are some small condition issues, mainly water stains on a few volumes, but they are light. I will describe each set here:

Vol. 1 - "Jazz Started in New Orleans" - 4 discs, each side numbered, so here we have JM-1 through JM-8. The sides are titled Tiger Rag - Panama - Mr. Jelly Lord - Original Jelly Roll Blues - Ancestry and Boyhood - Boy at the Piano - Boyhood Memories. The cover is nicely intact, as they all are, with some edgewear and cornerwear, and some light spots. The discs appear barely played, but some have light superficial marks. I played them and they sound fantastic, with barely the slightest noise at all. 

Vol. 2 - "Way Down Yonder..." Four discs JM9 - JM16. The 8 sides are titled: The Animule Ball - Scat Song - Shooting the Agate - No Doubt the Finest Food - See See Rider - New Orleans Funeral parts 1-3. The cover is somewhat better than vol. 1, with only very light edgewear, but very light water staining at the bottom. This water staining does not affect the discs at all. All four are just beautiful, with only the lightest signs of use. 

Vol. 3 - "Jazz is... Strictly Music" - Four Discs JM17 - JM24. The 8 sides are titled: Discourse on Jazz (parts 1-4) - Kansas City Stomp - Randall's Rag - Maple Leaf Rag - King Porter Stomp - You Can Have It. The cover has edge and corner wear, with a larger corner ding at the top right, and some wear at the top of the spine. The labels have numbers written on them, "1-A" through "8-A". Some very light marks on the discs but they play absolutely beautifully. 

Vol. 4 - "The Spanish Tinge" - Four Discs JM25 - JM32. The 8 sides are titled: Spanish Swat - Mama 'Nita - New Orleans Blues - La Paloma - Creepy Feeling - The Crave - Fickle Fay Creep. The cover has edge and corner wear, with a larger corner ding at the bottom right. The first record has numbers written on the labels, "9-A" and "10-A". Just a few very light superficial marks on the discs but they play absolutely beautifully, as they all do. 

Vol. 5 - "Bad Man Ballads" - Four Discs JM33 - JM40. The 8 sides feature: Aaron Harris (parts 1-3) - Robert Charles (parts 1-2) - They Were Tough Babies - Georgia Skin Game (parts 1-3) - The Card Dealer's Song. The cover has less edge and corner wear than the immediately previous volumes, but has a touch of this water damage at the bottom. I included a photo of the cover so you can see the slight staining at the bottom. This is the worst example, and it is not bad.  As with the others there are just a few very light marks on the discs but they play pretty much perfectly. 

Vol. 6 - "The Jazz Piano Soloist" - Three Discs JM41 - JM46. The 6 sides feature: The Pearls (parts 1-2) - Pep - Ain't Misbehavin' - Bert Williams - Jungle Blues. The cover has less edge and corner wear than some of the previous volumes, and looks quite nice. Some slight spotting on the inside. The discs are nearly immaculate with a few light marks. 

Vol. 7 - "Everyone Had His Own Style" - Four Discs JM47 - JM54. The 8 sides feature: Tony Jackson - Sammy Davis - Alfred Wilson - Mamie Desdoumes - Albert Carroll - Kid Ross - Game Kid Benny Frenchy - Buddy Bertrand - Buddy Carter. The cover has less edge and corner wear than some other volumes, but has a touch of this water damage at the bottom. I included a photo of the cover so you can see the slight staining at the bottom. This is the worst example, and it is not bad. On the inside the number 214 is somewhat washed out. As with the others there are just a few very light marks on the discs but they play pretty much perfectly.

Vol. 8 - "Jelly and the Blues" - Three discs, JM55 - JM60. Includes Wolverine Blues - Winin' Boy - Low Down Blues - Michigan Water - Murder Ballad. The cover has some minor wear with a corner ding at the lower right and a light one at the top of the spine. A very slight paper ripple on the front cover at the title, not bad. Very slight waters staining on the inside. As with the others the discs are only slightly used, with a few minor superficial marks, but play almost perfectly.

Vol. 9 - "Alabama Bound" - Four discs, JM61 - JM68. Includes Jelly Roll and Jack the Bear (parts 1-2) - The Salty Dog - St. Louis - The Miserere - Alabama Bound. The cover has only minor wear with a corner ding at the lower right and a lighter one at the top right. Only the tiniest sign of water staining inside  perfectly clean spine, just lovely. The discs are, as the rest, nearly immaculate with only occasional superficial marks. They play just about flawlessly.

Vol. 10 - "The Jazz Piano Soloist... 2" - Three discs, JM69 - JM74. Includes Sweet Peter - State and Madison - Freakish - My Gal Sal - King Porter - Original Jelly Roll. The cover light corner wear on the right corners, and a slight bit at the lower left at the bottom of the spine. Otherwise it is fairly nice. The discs are beautiful and apparently barely used. As with the rest, some very light marks but they play beautifully.

Vol. 11 - "In New Orleans" - Four discs, JM75 - JM82. Includes The Broadway Swells (parts 1-2) - Creole Song - The Buddy Bolden Legend - Ungai Ha (Indian Songs and the Mardi Gras) - If You Don't Shake - The Marching Bands. The cover has a very mild corner ding at the lower right some light general wear but overall beautifully clean with perfect spine and only extremely light water staining at the bottom. Barely noticeable. The discs are as gorgeous as the rest, apparently barely played. 

And Vol. 12 - "I'm the Winin' Boy" - Four discs, JM83 - JM90. Includes Levee Man Blues - The Storyville Story - The Naked Dance - I Hate a Man Like You - Honky Tonk Blues - The Winin' Boy. The cover is quite nice with just a touch of wear, mainly at the lower right corner. Perfect spine. The discs are, as always, simply beautiful and play nearly immaculately. 

One thing I should note is that these discs are not quite 78rpm. They can be played at 78 but they really should be played at about 85rpm. I think this was an error with the mastering, but maybe it was purposeful... I don't think anyone knows. Anyhow I have an adjustable-speed player so it only took a slight turn to get it to the right speed. Sounds fine at 78, too.

This is simply a beautiful complete set. I have been a JRM collector for many years and have only seen two or three of these sets for sale ever, all in lesser condition than this one. I have seen some incomplete sets or single volumes sold separately, but also usually not quite as good as these. This is a top original set of this historic recording in its original form. 

And I will be sending these records in THREE separate boxes! I don't want to send a 50-pound box that might be damaged, so I will split them up into three boxes, so they will be safer. The price should be about the same, but you might not receive them all at the same time. If you have any questions please feel free to message me any time.