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Noted music scholar Eileen Southern in The Music of Black Americans, writes, "Jelly Roll Morton, is regarded as the first true Jazz composer. He was the first to write down his Jazz arrangements in musical notation, and he was the originator of a large
number of the musical compositions that became staples in the Jazz repertory." Morton's claim to having invented Jazz, according to most Jazz historians has tremendous merit.
New Orleans native Ferdinand Joseph Le Menthe, enshrined in Jazz folklore as Jelly Roll Morton, was born in 1885 to a middle class Creole family at the corner of Robertson and Frenchmen Street in New Orleans. The house remains intact and stands today. At about the age of 8, Ferdinand received some basic but important formal guitar music lessons. Some historians have suggested that young Morton did not take these initial lessons very seriously. However, the fact that a relatively short time later, he was playing piano in the 'Sporting Houses' of Storyville does suggest otherwise.
By the time he was in his early twenties, according to Martin Williams in his book, Jazz Masters of New Orleans, Jelly was traveling throughout Louisiana, Memphis and the entire Gulf Coast as a somewhat in demand musician. By 1915 Morton had written and published Jelly Roll Blues. Between the years 1917 and 1922, he had become a 'hot Jazz performer' on the West Coast. In 1922, Jelly Roll left California to conquer Chicago, which he practically did.
By 1923, Morton was recording nonstop. and from that period some of the most innovative and creative Jazz and popular music emerged. Tunes like, King Porter Stomp, New Orleans Blues, Kansas City Stomp, Shreveport Stomp, and the Original Jelly Roll Blues. Jazz connoisseurs consider Jelly's work during this period to be one of the defining moments for twentieth century popular music. His work had laid the foundation for the next important phase of the evolution of Jazz and popular music, Swing.
He was a talented arranger who wrote special scores that took advantage of the three-minute limitations of the 78 rpm records. He was also a real character whose spirit shines brightly through history, like his diamond studded smile. He worked as a gambler, pool shark, pimp, vaudeville comedian, and as a pianist. He was an important transitional figure between ragtime and jazz piano styles. Morton 's 1923 and 1924 recordings of piano solos for the Gennett label were very popular and influential. He formed the band the Red Hot Peppers and made a series of classic records for Victor. The recordings he made in Chicago featured some of the best New Orleans sidemen like, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, Johnny Dodds, Johnny St. Cyr, and Baby Dodds.
During the 20s, Paul Whiteman, one of Jazz Music's first successful big band leaders, was frequently billed by music promoters as the 'King of Jazz'. Needless to say, Jelly Roll challenged that claim as well. He confronted one music promoter and club owner on the South Side of Chicago who was booking Whiteman at the time and stated in no uncertain terms, "You bring Paul Whiteman
out here and pay any price he wants because he has the name of 'King of Jazz'. But you happen to be talking to the real King of Jazz. "I invented it and I brought it here."
Morton relocated to New York in 1928 and continued to record for Victor until 1930. His New York version of The Red Hot Peppers featured sidemen like Bubber Miley, Pops Foster, and Zutty Singleton. Like so many of the Hot Jazz musicians, the Depression was hard on Jelly Roll. Hot Jazz was out of style. The public prefered the smoother sounds of the big bands. He fell upon hard times after 1930 and even lost the diamond he had in his front tooth, but ended up playing piano in a dive bar in Washington D.C.
Jelly capped a brilliant and some would say controversial musical career with a massive recording session for the Library of Congress in 1938, where he related his version of Jazz History to Alan Lomax and illustrated it with piano solos and songs. Fifty-two records with more than one hundred individual compositions were the results, but it wasn't until a decade later that these interviews were released to the public.
"Jelly Roll Morton," states Eddie Edwards, Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong Foundation in New Orleans, "was first and foremost, a musician. He had the respect of other musicians. Jazz players like Kid Ory and Barney Bigard, two giants in the evolution of Jazz would rush to work with Jelly, that's the type of respect he held". As Louis Armstrong took New Orleans music to an international audience, Jelly Roll Morton continually brought the New Orleans musicians to the fore by placing them in his ever
evolving band. New Orleans musicians like Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, Henry 'Red' Allen, Zutty Singleton and the list goes on, all owed a great deal of allegiance to the 'Roll.'
From;
"I invented Jazz," is how
Jelly Roll Morton often introduced himself. And the fact is, he was probably right. That is, Jazz as we've come to know it today.
Martin Williams, writes, "Trumpeter Lee Collins, one of the best Jazz session musicians in the country during the 20s recalled that he was once asked to perform with Jelly in a recording session. When he initially met Jelly Roll Morton, the first thing that Morton said to the astonished Collins was, 'you know you will be working for the world's best Jazz Piano player...not one of the greatest - I am the Greatest'." His confidence or 'cockiness' was ever present. He was confident in his abilities and could easily back up his claims.
'It Must be Jelly' from The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation 1996
and
'Mister Jelly Roll' by Alan Lomax, Deull, Sloan and Pearce, 1949
and
'Mr. Jelly Lord' by Laurie Wright, Storyville Publications, 1980