Jelly Roll Morton: Profiles in Jazz

Jelly Roll Morton was a towering figure in early jazz, and one with a very large number of accomplishments. As a pianist who had his own easily recognizable style, Morton was a major transition figure between ragtime and early jazz, combining the syncopations of ragtime with jazz improvisations as early as 1910. As jazz’s first significant composer, he wrote such songs as “King Porter Stomp,” “Milenburg Joys,” “Wolverine Blues,” “The Pearls,” “Grandpa’s Spells,” “Mr. Jelly Roll,” “Shreveport Stomp,” “Black Bottom Stomp,” “Winin’ Boy Blues,” “The Crave,” “Don’t You Leave Me Here,” “Sweet Substitute.” and “Wild Man Blues.” As an innovative arranger, his best recordings made superb use of the three-minute limitations of 78s, utilizing dynamics, two and four-bar breaks, arranged passages, jammed ensembles, and solos that alternated between being written-out and improvised. Listeners often did not know if the music they were hearing was worked out in advance or spontaneous because the solo passages were a logical extension of the ensembles and vice versa. Morton was one of the first jazz singers although unfortunately he only recorded one vocal (“Doctor Jazz”) in the 1920s. He was also an important bandleader who inspired several of his