That Old Piano Roll
Score title
That Old Piano Roll
Composer
Wynton Marsalis
More about the composer
Date
Instrumentation
Sample
Library copy
Program note
"Stephen Sondheim employs many syncopated and expressive devices in 'That Old Piano Roll.' My arrangement uses these concepts to evoke the styles of three great jazz pianists. The basic stride style of James P. Johnson is answered by the jagged, obtuse style of Thelonious Monk. Both find resolution in the ragtime-swing style of New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton. The parlor piano elegance of the second theme, with its tresillo rhythm, is juxtaposed to a 4/4 New Orleans ragtime stomp. In the 1920s a heated debate swirled around jazz as polite society music or red hot dance music. Now, we happily play it all."