The Jelly Roll Blues arguably was the first published jazz composition. Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (better known as Jelly Roll Morton) claimed to have written it in 1905 after inventing the musical form three years earlier.
I especially like Morton’s 1920s version of Louis Armstrong idol Joe “King” Oliver’s Doctor Jazz. The first time I heard it, though, I thought Morton was saying “Cactus Jack,” referring to legendary Texas pol John Nance Garner. Not likely.
Civil War note: Morton got his start playing piano in a brothel in New Orleans, then wandered the country, made records, etc. Wound up in D.C. in the historic Shaw neighborhood which grew out of freed slave camps and was named for Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. He commanded the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first Union black regiments, which was celebrated in the movie Glory. Jelly Roll Morton, whose music still is available, died in 1941.
You could hardly do better than to own a copy of Doctor Jazz. Even though it has nothing to do with Cactus Jack.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Listening on YouTube right now. Wow.
Thanks.
It jumps. Swings. Whatever.
Thanks, Dick. Lots of interesting information there about Jelly Roll Morton and the beginnings of jazz. Know something about Jelly Roll, but lots of things had not known about before, including the meaning of Jelly Roll! Unfortunately my PC is not equipped with sound so I cannnot hear it until I get to one, probably at the public library. Look forward to hearing Jelly Roll’s music.
Note: The Shaw neighborhood in DC is also the location of the African-American Civil War Memorial. Read it about at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Civil_War_Memorial
Years ago, when I was working my way through college, I drove a mail truck for the P.O. at night and picked up mail from corner boxes in the Shaw, among other places.
I know about the museum. It’s linked on one of my Civil War blogs, but thanks for putting the link here.
As for LaMothe calling himself “Jelly Roll,” since he wasn’t a woman, it seems to imply what he did with his spare time.