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Jelly Roll Morton Research Paper

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Jelly Roll Morton was one of the greatest most talented mans to play the pianist at the tempo he plays it’s at. After sitting and listening to for an hour and a half I realized what a great pianist was. I was exotic when I heard him playing; it was nothing to do but flow with the music after hearing it. It really lit a fire under me to actually enjoy music with a nice pitch and a definite tone.
Ferdinand Joseph “Jelly Roll Morton” LaMenthe was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 20, 1890. As a child he began to learn how to play the piano at age 10 years old. He was taught by Tony Jackson; compose of songs like “Pretty Boy” and other hits. Tony Jackson is among the few musicians whom Morton admired and respected. Jackson was also known to him as the greatest single-handed entertainers in the world. After his mother’s passing, Morton began playing in gigs in the bordellos of the Storyville district of New Orleans. In New Orleans he became active as a gambler, pool shark, and many more things that made him get kicked out by his grandmother. With him doing all of this gambling she didn’t want his sisters to see that life that he was going down. …show more content…

Louis, etc. playing with different musical groups as for musician that were needed but he could never stay long with one band. “He couldn’t stay long in one band too long because he was too irregular and emotional, and he was a one-man band himself,” bandleader George Morrison who Morton once played under said. Morton really wanted to stand out and be an over the top musician. After he left the groups he toured the south in a musician show for about a year and a half. In a bar somewhere in St. Louis where piano players hung out, Morton had to prove his skills by playing and reading music in

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