The
jazz pianist and composer Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe "Jelly Roll" Morton,
born Gulfport, La., Sept. 20, 1885, died July 10, 1941, was one of the
first great New Orleans jazz artists and orchestrators and perhaps the
first jazz theorist. Morton learned his art as a RAGTIME pianist in New
Orleans bordellos and then played in other cities as a part-time musician;
he was also a pool shark, vaudeville comic, and nightclub owner. His most
memorable recordings were made in the 1920s: a number of piano pieces recorded
in 1923-24, and a series of instrumentals (1926-30) made with his group,
The Red Hot Peppers.
The
jazz pianist and composer Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe "Jelly Roll" Morton,
born Gulfport, La., Sept. 20, 1885, died July 10, 1941, was one of the
first great New Orleans jazz artists and orchestrators and perhaps the
first jazz theorist. Morton learned his art as a RAGTIME pianist in New
Orleans bordellos and then played in other cities as a part-time musician;
he was also a pool shark, vaudeville comic, and nightclub owner. His most
memorable recordings were made in the 1920s: a number of piano pieces recorded
in 1923-24, and a series of instrumentals (1926-30) made with his group,
The Red Hot Peppers.