Amoeba Music

By Stuart Kremsky

             Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton may not have invented jazz, as he claimed, but there’s more than a germ of truth to his boast. A nonpareil pianist, composer, arranger and band-leader, Morton was a key figure in the early days of the music. From the start, Morton made distinctions among ragtime, blues and jazz, and he incorporated into his music all that he heard, including rags, work songs, the blues, opera and classical music. There was also the influence of songs in French and Spanish that were popular at the time, the basis of “the Spanish tinge” that Morton saw as essential to jazz. Morton’s influence has... Read More

City Of Origin:

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Genre:

Jazz, Classic Jazz, Ragtime

Birthdate:

09/20/1890

Death date:

07/10/1941