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In 1938, jazz/blues pianist and singer Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe—better known as Jelly Roll Morton—sat down behind the grand piano at the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium.
Left, pianist Jelly Roll Morton. Right, a cover image of "Jelly Roll" blues sheet music. “It’s the audience, not the artists, that supplies the scene, and in the case of early blues, I began ...
“Jelly Roll Blues” begins and ends with a deep dive into Morton’s “Murder Ballad,” not so much a song as a half-hour long, 59-verse, Homeric blues epic about one woman’s punishment for ...
Elijah Wald, author of "Jelly Roll Blues: Censored Songs & Hidden Histories." ... his solo piano and ensemble recordings made from 1923-30 that helped define and refine jazz.
Many blues songs were born from raw, raucous life experiences, set to music. ... Jelly Roll Morton (at piano) and the Red Hot Peppers ca. 1926. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.