JElly’s Blues
the life, music, and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton made musical history by proving that a freely improvised art form could be captured on paper, thanks to his ground-breaking compositions. The New Orleans pianist-bandleader also was the first to frame jazz as an autonomous art form, as he explained in his landmark Library of Congress recordings of 1938. Yet Morton, who died in 1941 at age 56, long was considered a braggart whose words could not be believed. Howard and colleague William Gaines established the truth of Morton’s claims and showed that the first jazz composer was correct in asserting that he had been robbed by his Chicago music publisher and by ASCAP.
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What They Say
“An important, vindicatory contribution to music history, restoring Morton to the high station he deserves in American jazz.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“This wonderful biography of a jazz original is the definitive one.”
Studs Terkel
