Jelly Roll Morton

American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader and composer (1890–1941)

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre.

Also known as...

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, Ferdinand Morton, and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton

• Wikipedia

---