[4] Ron Wynn and Bruce Boyd Raeburn note that "though the albums came out posthumously, the interviews generated tremendous new interest in Morton's life and music.

[1][7] The first seven discs include Lomax's 1938 interviews, in which Morton describes his life and the early days of jazz, plays piano, and sings.

[1] The set was originally released in a piano-shaped box and included a copy of Mister Jelly Roll, Lomax's biography about Morton.

[7] In 2007, Rounder released Jelly Roll Morton: The Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax, a single disc consisting of selected highlights from the box set.

"[7] Harvey Pekar, writing for The Austin Chronicle, gave the set a five-star rating (of a possible five), noting that "[Morton's] oral history here is provocative, and his playing bears out some of the hard-to-believe statements that have been made by (and about) him.