JELLY ROLL MORTON
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz’s first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition “Jelly Roll Blues”, published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre.
1926: Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers: Morton center with Omer Simeon, Andrew Hilaire, John Lindsay, Johnny St. Cyr, Kid Ory George Mitchell. All but Mitchell were from New Orleans.
Courtesy Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University.
Sidney Bechet, Sidney DeParis, Zutty Singleton, Albert Nicholas, Jelly Roll Morton, Albert "Happy" Cauldwell at Jelly's last RCA Session 1939.
