JELLY ROLL MORTON IN NEW ORLEANS, c. 1908

Jelly Roll Morton
in New Orleans, c. 1908

Jelly Roll Morton is shown, in what looks like a street scene in New Orleans in front of Southern housing, but the photograph might well have been taken in a studio with an artificial background. Morton is impressively dressed with a heavy coat and sports a long watch chain.

A clipped version of this photograph was first published in Shining Trumpets: A History of Jazz by Rudi Blesh (1946) and is shown between pages 80 and 81. [26] Blesh mentions that Jelly Roll’s elder half-sister, Mrs. Amède Colas, provided the photograph.

Shown in Mr. Jelly Lord (1980) by Laurie Wright, page 205, and in Oh, Mister Jelly (1999) edited by William Russell, page 3.

The print in Oh, Mister Jelly has Jelly Roll’s signature added, possibly just for publication in the book.

courtesy of Alfred Lemmon

© 2004 Historic New Orleans Collection

© 2004 Ate van Delden Collection