Editing Jelly Roll Morton (section)

==== 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".