Editing Jelly Roll Morton (section)

==Biography==

=== Early life ===
[[File:Jelly Roll Morton - Tiger Rag.ogg|thumb|Jelly Roll Morton - Tiger Rag]]
[[File:Jelly Roll Blues 1915.jpg|upright|thumb|Morton claimed to have written "Jelly Roll Blues" in 1905.]]
Morton was born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (or Lemott), into the [[Creoles of color|Creole]] community<ref>John Szwed, "Doctor Jazz", booklet in ''Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings'', Rounder (2005), p. 3.</ref> in the [[Faubourg Marigny]] neighborhood of [[New Orleans]] around 1890; he claimed to have been born in 1884 on his WWI draft registration card in 1918. Both parents traced their Creole ancestry four generations to the 18th century.<ref>Detailed information, complete with charts, and drawing on the research of Lawrence Gushee, is available from Peter Hanley's [http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/genealogy.html ''Jelly Roll Morton: An Essay in Genealogy'' (2002)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210201739/http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/genealogy.html |date=February 10, 2021 }}</ref> Morton's birth date and year of birth are uncertain, given that no birth certificate was ever issued for him. The law requiring birth certificates for citizens was not enforced until 1914.<ref>Hanley, ''Jelly Roll Morton: An Essay in Genealogy''. His baptismal certificate lists his date of birth as October 20, 1890, but Hanley prefers September 20, 1890. John Szwed, on the other hand, prefers 1895. See "Doctor Jazz" in ''Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings'' (Rounder Records, 2005), p. 4.</ref> His parents were Martin-Edouard Joseph Lamothe, also known as Edward Joseph Lamothe, a bricklayer and occasional trombonist,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ed2TF84G-t8C&dq=Jelly+Roll+Morton+trombone+father&pg=PA34 |title=Musical Gumbo - The Music of New Orleans |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |year=1993 |isbn=9780393034684 |access-date=May 11, 2022}}</ref> and Louise Hermance Monette, a domestic worker. His parents were never legally married and his father left his mother when Morton was around three years old. After his mother married William Mouton in 1894, Ferdinand adopted his stepfather's surname, anglicizing it to Morton, adapting "Ferd" as an unofficial forename. Ferd had two sisters, one of whom, Eugénie, married Ignace Colas, in 1913.<ref>[http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/igamede.html Ignace Colas Biodata] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719033809/http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/igamede.html |date=July 19, 2023 }}, doctorjazz.co.uk. Accessed July 18, 2023.</ref>

=== Career ===
[[File:MortonBricktopRowCropMortonFace.jpg|thumb|left|Morton in 1918]]
At the age of fourteen, Morton began as a piano player in a brothel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oakley |first=Giles |url=https://archive.org/details/devilsmusichisto00oakl_0 |title=The Devil's Music |date=1997 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=978-0-306-80743-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/devilsmusichisto00oakl_0/page/102 102]}}</ref> He often sang smutty lyrics and used the nickname "Jelly Roll", which was African-American slang for female genitalia.<ref name="stewart">Stewart, Rex (1991). ''Boy Meets Horn''. Claire P. Gordon, ed. University of Michigan Press. Cited in {{Cite book |last=Levin |first=Floyd |url=https://archive.org/details/classicjazzperso00levi |title=Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians |date=2000 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520213609 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/classicjazzperso00levi/page/109 109]–110 |access-date=October 16, 2015 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Major |first=Clarence |url=https://archive.org/details/jubatojive00clar |title=Juba to Jive: The Dictionary of African-American Slang |date=1994 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780140513066 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/jubatojive00clar/page/256 256] |url-access=registration}}</ref> While working there, he was living with his churchgoing great-grandmother. He convinced her that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory. After Morton's grandmother found out he was playing music in a brothel, she disowned him.<ref name="cultureshock">{{Cite web |date=February 2, 2000 |title=The Devil's Music: 1920s Jazz |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/jazz.html |access-date=October 5, 2015 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109215809/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/jazz.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "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 house. She told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall..."<ref name="cultureshock" /> The cornetist [[Rex Stewart]] recalled that Morton had chosen "the [[Pen name|nom de plume]] 'Morton' to protect his family from disgrace if he was identified as a whorehouse 'professor'."<ref name="stewart" />

Around 1904, Morton started touring in the US South, working in [[minstrel shows]] such as [[Will Benbow]]'s Chocolate Drops,<ref>[http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/page10a.html "Jelly Roll Morton: On the Road, 1905–1917"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131092044/http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/page10a.html |date=January 31, 2020 }}. DoctorJazz.co.uk. Retrieved March 8, 2017.</ref> gambling, and composing. His songs "[[Jelly Roll Blues]]", "New Orleans Blues", "Frog-I-More Rag", "Animule Dance", and "[[King Porter Stomp]]" were composed during this period. Stride pianists [[James P. Johnson]] and [[Willie "The Lion" Smith]] saw him perform in Chicago in 1910 and New York City in 1911.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich |first=Howard |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reic |title=Jelly's Blues: the Life, Music and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton |last2=Gaines |first2=William |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-81350-5 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reic/page/39 39–41] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

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. In 1915 "Jelly Roll Blues" was one of the first jazz compositions to be published. Jelly Roll Morton was employed by Ben Shook Jr. around 1916. Shook was associated with a Jubilee club led by Mabel Lewis, a contralto singer and former member of the original Fisk University Jubilee Singers{{Citation needed|reason=Who is Shook and where does this information come from?|date=July 2024}}. In 1917 he went to California with bandleader [[William Manuel Johnson]] and Johnson's sister Anita Gonzalez, born Bessie Julia Johnson. Morton's tango "The Crave" was popular in Hollywood.<ref name="reich">{{Cite book |last=Reich |first=Howard |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich |title=Jelly's blues : the life, music, and redemption of Jelly Roll Morton |last2=Gaines |first2=William |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo |isbn=9780306812095 |access-date=27 April 2020 |via=archive.org}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 31, 2010 |title=Jelly Rolled into Vancouver |url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/2010/03/jelly-rolled-into-vancouver.html |access-date=September 9, 2010 |publisher=CBC Radio 2}}</ref> Morton returned to Chicago in 1923 to claim authorship of "The Wolverines", which had become popular as "[[Wolverine Blues (song)|Wolverine Blues]]". He released the first of his commercial recordings, first as piano rolls, then on record, both as a piano soloist and with jazz bands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich and Gaines |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich |title=Jelly's Blues |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=9780306812095 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich/page/70 70–98] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

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. These recordings by Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers included [[Kid Ory]], [[Omer Simeon]], [[George Mitchell (jazz musician)|George Mitchell]], [[Johnny St. Cyr]], [[Barney Bigard]], [[Johnny Dodds]], [[Baby Dodds]], and [[Andrew Hilaire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich and Gaines |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich |title=Jelly's Blues |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=9780306812095 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich/page/114 114–127] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

After Morton moved to New York City, he continued to record for Victor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich and Gaines |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich |title=Jelly's Blues |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=9780306812095 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich/page/132 132–135] |url-access=registration}}</ref> Although he had trouble finding musicians who wanted to play his style of jazz, he recorded with [[Omer Simeon]], [[George Baquet]], [[Albert Nicholas]], [[Barney Bigard]], [[Russell Procope]], [[Lorenzo Tio]] and [[Artie Shaw]], the trumpeters [[Ward Pinkett]], [[Bubber Miley]], [[Johnny Dunn]] and [[Henry "Red" Allen]], [[Sidney Bechet]], [[Paul Barnes (musician)|Paul Barnes]], [[Bud Freeman]], [[Pops Foster]], [[Paul Barbarin]], [[Cozy Cole]], and [[Zutty Singleton]]. His New York sessions failed to produce a hit.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich and Gaines |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich |title=Jelly's Blues |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=9780306812095 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich/page/132 132–144] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Due in part to the Great Depression, RCA Victor did not renew Morton's recording contract for 1931. He continued playing in New York but struggled financially. He briefly had a radio show in 1934, then toured in a burlesque band. In 1935, his 30-year-old composition "[[King Porter Stomp]]", arranged by [[Fletcher Henderson]], became [[Benny Goodman]]'s first hit and a swing standard, but Morton received no royalties from the recordings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich and Gaines |url=https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich |title=Jelly's Blues |date=2003 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=9780306812095 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jellysblueslifem00reich/page/144 144–146] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

==== Music Box interviews ====
In 1935, Morton moved to Washington, D.C., to become the manager and piano player at a bar called, at various times, the Music Box, Blue Moon Inn, and Jungle Inn, at 1211 U Street NW in [[Shaw, Washington, D.C.|Shaw]], an [[African-American neighborhood]]. Morton was master of ceremonies, bouncer, and bartender. The club owner allowed her friends free admission and drinks, which prevented Morton from making the business a success.<ref name="Jazz" /> During Morton's brief residency at the Music Box, the folklorist [[Alan Lomax]] heard him play. In May 1938, Lomax invited Morton to record music and interviews for the [[Library of Congress]]. The sessions were intended to be a short interview with musical examples for researchers at the Library of Congress, but the sessions expanded to over eight hours, with Morton talking and playing piano. Lomax conducted longer interviews, taking notes but not recording.<ref name="Congress">{{Cite web |date=January 14, 2006 |title=Library of Congress Recordings of Jelly Roll Morton Win at Grammys |url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-040.html |access-date=2009-12-27 |publisher=Library of Congress. Loc.gov |archive-date=November 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103032251/http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-040.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Lomax was interested in Morton's days in [[Storyville, New Orleans|Storyville]], New Orleans, and the ribald songs of the time. Although reluctant to record these, Morton obliged Lomax. Because of the suggestive nature of the songs, some of the Library of Congress recordings were not released until 2005.<ref name="Congress" />

In these interviews, Morton claimed to have been born in 1885. Morton scholars, such as Lawrence Gushee, say that Morton was aware that if he had been born in 1890, he would have been too young to claim to be the inventor of jazz. However, Morton may not have known his actual birthdate, and there remains the possibility that he was telling the truth. He said [[Buddy Bolden]] played [[ragtime]] but not jazz, a view not accepted by some of Bolden's contemporaries in New Orleans. The contradictions may stem from different definitions of "ragtime" and "jazz".

==== Stabbing, later life, and death ====
In 1938, Morton was stabbed by a friend of the Music Box's owner and suffered wounds to the head and chest. A nearby [[racial segregation|whites-only]] hospital refused to treat him, as the city had racially segregated facilities. He was transported to a black hospital farther away. When he was in the hospital, doctors left ice on his wounds for several hours before attending to the injury. His recovery from his wounds was incomplete, and thereafter he was often ill and became short of breath easily. After this incident, his wife Mabel demanded they leave Washington.<ref name="Jazz">{{Cite web |title=U Street Jazz – Performers – Prominent Jazz Musicians: Their Histories in Washington, D.C. |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~jazz/performersp.html |access-date=2015-10-05 |publisher=Gwu.edu |archive-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611223748/https://www2.gwu.edu/~jazz/performersp.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Worsening asthma sent him to a hospital in New York for three months. He continued to suffer from respiratory problems when he travelled to [[Los Angeles]] with the intent to restart his career. He died on July 10, 1941, after an eleven-day stay in [[Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center|Los Angeles County General Hospital]]. He was generally believed to be 50 years old. According to the jazz historian David Gelly in 2000, Morton's arrogance and "bumptious" persona alienated so many musicians that few of them attended his funeral.<ref name="Gelly">{{Cite book |last=Gelly |first=David |title=Icons of Jazz |date=2000 |publisher=Thunder Bay |isbn=1-57145-268-0 |location=San Diego, California}}</ref>

An article about the funeral in the August 1, 1941, issue of ''[[DownBeat]]'' reported that his pallbearers were Kid Ory, [[Mutt Carey]], [[Freddie Washington (pianist)|Fred Washington]], and [[Ed Garland]]. It noted that [[Duke Ellington]] and [[Jimmie Lunceford]] were absent, though both were appearing in Los Angeles at the time.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=August 1, 1941 |title=Bury Jelly Roll Morton on Coast |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_down-beat_1941-08-01_8_15/page/13/mode/1up |journal=[[DownBeat]] |volume=8 |issue=15 |page=13 |access-date=13 April 2024}} Additional Morton material on pp. 1 & 4 of this issue.</ref> [[Mercer Ellington]], Duke Ellington's son, did attend the funeral. The article was reproduced in ''[[Mister Jelly Roll]]'', a 1950 biography of Morton by Alan Lomax.