"This eigth volume set of long-playing recordings derives from material originally set down over a five-week period beginning on May 21, 1938, in Washington, D.C., in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress. Responding to the questions of Alan Lomax, Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton combined commentary, playing, singing, exaggeration and autobiography to create this important documentary: a personalized history of New Orleans jazz as recounted by one of its most colorful and significant figures."