How did Jelly Roll Morton contribute to the genre of Jazz?
Morton claimed to have personally INVENTED jazz! He is a very important figure in the development of jazz, and 20th century American music in general. He wrote a number of tunes that became favorite standards, probably the most popular being King Porter Stomp, which was popular up into the Big Band era. He was also instrumental in the development of piano music in the 20th century, providing a link between ragtime and ‘stride’ piano. In large part the story of jazz was written on the piano. Here is the Wikipedia page on him. Always a good place to begin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_… Here is his page from RedHotJazz, a wonderful resource for lovers of early jazz, with lots of recordings. Even if you don’t think you like jazz you will enjoy the recordings! They were made for your great-grandparents but they are still wonderful even today.