Jelly Roll Morton

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New Orleans, United States (1890 – 1941)

Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton was a New Orleans French Creole born Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe (October 20, 1890 / July 10, 1941). He was an American virtuoso pianist, bandleader, and composer of songs including “Whining Boy Blues,” “King Porter Stomp,” “The Pearls” and “The Crave, ”Alabama Bound,” “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor,” “My Gal Sal,” and various other rags, blues, stomps, marches and stride numbers. . Morton was a highly intelligent, colorful character whose business card referred to him as the “Originator of Jazz.”

New Orleans
He was (along with Tony Jackson) one of the best regarded pianists in the Storyville District early in the 20th century. According to Morton, Jackson was the only pianist “in the world” better than he.

In his prime through the 1920s, Mr. Jelly Roll was at the the top of his game as a composer and piano player, making money handily to the point where he could afford custom tailored suits, new cars, and other trappings of musical success.

He recorded numerous sides for Victor Records and fronted a number of jazz bands in New Orleans, New York City and Washington DC including the Red Hot Peppers and The Incredibles. But his personality – unlike that of, say, African American bandleader King Oliver – was not amenable to band leadership, the reason why he couldn’t hold onto a band for very long.

By the late 1930s, at age 48, he had become reduced to penury – thanks in part to the rise of the big bands, the ascent of the vocal blues idiom and the cultivation of blues shouters and chanteuses like Big Joe Turner and Bessie Smith.

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1		Black Bottom Stomp			167
2		King Porter Stomp			131
3		The Pearls			103
4		Doctor Jazz			97
5		Dead Man Blues			95
6		Wolverine Blues			77
6		Grandpa's Spells			77
8		The Chant			62
9		Original Jelly Roll Blues			59
10		Mamanita			57
11		The Crave			48
12		Wild Man Blues			43
13		Sweet Jazz Music			38
14		Georgia Swing			35
15		Maple Leaf Rag			31

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