Jelly Roll Morton #1441

Caption from poster__     New Orleans Jazz    Centennial Celebration   Jazz Walk of Fame     " I have been robbed of three million dollars    all told. Everyone today is playing my stuff and    I don't even get credit. Kansas City style, Chicago   style, New Orleans style hell, they're all Jelly Roll style."      “ Jelly Roll” Morton 1890 - 1941     Jelly Roll Morton was the first great composer and piano player of Jazz. He was a talented arranger who wrote special scores that took advantage of the three-minute limitations of the 78 rpm records. But more than all these things, he was a real character whose spirit shines brightly through history, like his diamond studded smile. As a teenager Jelly Roll Morton worked in the whorehouses of Storyville as a piano player. From 1904 to 1917 Jelly Roll rambled around the South. He worked as a gambler, pool shark, pimp, vaudeville comedian and as a pianist. He was an important transitional figure between ragtime and jazz