Jelly Roll Morton: A Four Part Series — The Creole World of New Orleans

Part I: The History Behind the Man Who Claimed to Invent Jazz

In the opening of Mister Jelly Roll, folklorist Alan Lomax frames Jelly Roll Morton as both a foundational figure in jazz history and one of its most persistently misunderstood. Central to his narrative was the legitimizing of Jelly Roll Morton’s claim to have invented jazz. This is a claim that is often repeated when addressing Morton as a figure, ofte…