Jelly Roll Morton – Oh, Mister Jelly

There are admittedly a great many ways to get yer Jelly Roll fix. I picked this album because it’s a really solid overview of his best sounds, from solo recordings, to his trio work, to the canonical Red Hot Pepper tracks.

More than that tho, I really picked this for its version of “I Hate A Man Like You” with Lizzie Miles singing. This is just as good as it gets.

I hate a man like you
Don’t like the things you do
When I met you, I thought you was right
You married me, and stayed out the first night,
Do you think you treated your wifey right?
Lord, I hate a man like you

The vocal is just perfect, the piano gets progressively more and more sophisticated as it goes, and the whole thing is just exactly the kind of sophisticated mix of maudlin and bawdy that Jelly Roll did so well …