Jelly Roll Morton: Original Recordings (1926-1930)

Born into the Creole community of New Orleans, it wouldn’t be long until Ferdinand LaMothe would find his passion in the fine characteristics of music and go on to become known professionally as “Jelly Roll Morton.“ At fourteen, Morton began as a piano player in a brothel, often singing smutty lyrics and using the nickname “Jelly Roll“, African-American slang for female genitalia. While working there, he was living with his churchgoing great-grandmother. He had convinced her that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory, yet after Morton’s grandmother found out he was really playing jazz in a brothel, she disowned him for disgracing the LaMothe name. As recalled by Morton himself, “When my grandmother found out that I was playing jazz in one of the sporting houses in the District, she told me that I had disgraced the family and forbade me to live at the told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall....“ This had ultimately led Morton to choose the nom de plume ’Morton’ to protect his family from disgrace if he were to ever be identified as a whorehouse ’professor’. Around 1904, Morton started touring in the US South, working in minstrel shows such as Will Benbow’s Chocolate Drops, with occasional gambling and song composition, producing “Jelly Roll Blues“, “Frog-I-More Rag“, and “King Porter Stomp“ during this period. In 1912–14, Morton toured with his girlfriend Rosa Brown as a vaudeville act before living in Chicago for three years. By 1914, he was putting his compositions on paper and in 1915 “Jelly Roll Blues“ was one of the first jazz compositions to ever be published. In 1917 he went to California with bandleader William Johnson and Johnson’s sister Anita Gonzalez where his piece “The Crave“ became a popular hit in Hollywood. From there, his name had only grown to know more ears as he was invited to perform at the Hotel Patricia nightclub in Vancouver, Canada. Author Mark Miller described his arrival as “an extended period of itinerancy as a pianist, vaudeville performer, gambler, hustler, and, as legend would have it, pimp“ In 1926, Morton signed a contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company, giving him the opportunity to bring a well-rehearsed band to play his arrangements in the Victor recording studios in Chicago. After moving to New York City, he continued to record for Victor although he had trouble finding musicians who wanted to play his style of jazz, ultimately leading to his New York sessions failing to produce a hit. Due in part to the Great Depression, RCA Victor did not renew Morton’s recording contract for 1931, leaving him to continue playing in New York but with struggling finances, briefly holding a radio show in 1934, then touring in a burlesque band. Yet in 1935, his financial instability only proved to worsen as his 30-year-old composition “King Porter Stomp“, became Benny Goodman’s first hit and a swing standard, leaving Morton with no royalties from the recordings. *Biography is continued in the pinned comment below.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Timestamps:* 0:00:00 - Doctor Jazz (rec. 1926) 0:03:34 - Black Bottom Stomp (rec. 1926) 0:06:51 - Beale Street Blues (rec. 1927) 0:10:11 - Boogaboo (rec. 1928) 0:13:33 - Buffalo Blues (rec. 1928) 0:16:42 - Courthouse Bump (rec. 1929) 0:19:46 - Dead Man’s Blues (rec. 1926) 0:23:13 - Georgia Swing (rec. 1928) 0:25:46 - The Chant (rec. 1926) 0:29:02 - Grandpa’s Spells (rec. 1927) 0:32:00 - Midnight Mama (rec. 1928) 0:34:52 - Sergeant Dunn’s Bugle Call Blues (rec. 1928) 0:37:58 - Blue Blood Blues (rec. 1930) 0:41:05 - Cannon Ball Blues (rec. 1927) 0:44:43 - Sidewalk Blues (rec. 1926) 0:48:17 - Mr. Jelly Lord (rec. 1928) 0:51:22 - New Orleans Bump (rec. 1929) 0:54:57 - Smoke House Blues (rec. 1927) 0:58:29 - Wild Man Blues (rec. 1927) 1:01:44 - Shoe Shiner’s Drag (rec. 1928) 1:05:09 - Pontchartrain (rec. 1930) 1:08:09 - Original Jelly Roll Blues (rec. 1926) 1:11:20 - Red Hot Pepper (rec. 1927) 1:14:35 - Steamboat Stomp (rec. 1927) 1:17:50 - Burnin’ the Iceberg (rec. 1929) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All music recorded and performed by Jelly Roll Morton & The Red Hot Peppers under The Victor Talking Machine Company & RCA from 1926-1930. Rights and authorizations currently held under Sony Music Labels Inc. & Sony Music Entertainment Inc.. This video is solely for the purposes of compiling and sharing the music of Jelly Roll Morton and in no way or means is being used for monetary purposes.