---
title: "Jelly Roll Morton | American Jazz Museum"
description: "Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941). Pianist, composer, and bandleader from New Orleans whose Red Hot Peppers recordings showed that jazz could be written down and arranged without losing its swing."
canonical: https://americanjazzmuseum.org/artist-spotlights/artists/jelly-roll-morton/
---

Artist Spotlights

# Jelly Roll Morton

1890–1941. Pianist, composer, and bandleader from New Orleans whose Red Hot Peppers recordings showed that jazz could be written down and arranged without losing its swing.

![Jelly Roll Morton in a dark suit and patterned tie, smiling broadly in a head-and-shoulders studio portrait. A handwritten inscription runs across the lower right corner, and the studio’s mark reads “Bloom, Chicago”.](/_astro/morton-bloom-1927.KXbczhWy_2b3g9l.webp)

[Jelly Roll Morton, publicity photograph](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jelly_Roll_Morton_\(publicity_photo,_Bloom_photographic_studio,_c._1927\).jpg). Bloom photograph studio, Chicago, circa 1927. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

## Featured in

*   [Artist Spotlight: Jelly Roll Morton](/artist-spotlights/jelly-roll-morton-ambassador/) — October 27, 2026  
    Jelly Roll Morton did not invent jazz, whatever he claimed — but he may have been one of its first true ambassadors, carrying original music across the country years before the first jazz record. Hear his Red Hot Peppers play “Original Jelly-Roll Blues.”

## Listen

### Original Jelly-Roll Blues, Jelly Roll Morton

Recorded 1926. Released on Birth of the Hot: The Classic Chicago “Red Hot Peppers” Sessions 1926–27 (RCA Bluebird, 1995). Discussed in [Artist Spotlight: Jelly Roll Morton](/artist-spotlights/jelly-roll-morton-ambassador/).

*   [YouTube: Original Jelly-Roll Blues, Jelly Roll Morton (opens in a new tab)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1VfPojiWWY)
*   [Spotify: Original Jelly-Roll Blues, Jelly Roll Morton (opens in a new tab)](https://open.spotify.com/track/5yUXVwuVsCxXjEBCzzEvmt)
*   [Apple Music: Original Jelly-Roll Blues, Jelly Roll Morton (opens in a new tab)](https://music.apple.com/us/album/original-jelly-roll-blues-remastered-1995/298294223?i=298294792)

[All Artist Spotlights](/artist-spotlights/)