Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton (October 20, 1890 - July 10, 1941) was a virtuoso pianist, a bandleader, and a composer who some call the first true composer of Jazz music.

Morton's Later Years

During the period when he was recording his interviews, Morton was seriously injured by knife wounds when a fight broke out at the Washington D.C. dive he was playing in. His recovery from his wounds was incomplete, and thereafter he was often ill and easily became short of breath.

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Morton made a new series of commercial recordings in New York, several recounting tunes from his early years that he had been talking about in his Library of Congress Interviews.

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He then moved to Los Angeles, California with a series of manuscripts of new tunes and arrangements, planning to form a new band and restart his career. However he took seriously ill shortly after his arrival and died on July 10, 1941.

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