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Jelly Roll Morton Collection, 1905-1941 [collection]

Title

Jelly Roll Morton Collection, 1905-1941 [collection]

Dates Created

Span: 1905-1941

Bulk: 1905-1941

Language

English

Form

collection

Physical Description

3 boxes

Abstract

The Jelly Roll Morton Collection consists of 127 copyright deposits, both manuscript and print, that range in date of composition from 1905 to the year of his death in 1941. Among the manuscript lead sheets and scores are at least nine holographs, including "Big fat ham," "Frog-i-more rag," and "Mr. Jelly Lord." Many of the other manuscript copies are transcriptions of Morton's recordings, particularly those transcribed for purposes of copyright by J. Lawrence Cook, who was the arranger of many of Morton's piano rolls, and by Roy J. Carew, who established the Tempo-Music Publishing Company in the late 1930's to protect and publish Morton's uncopyrighted works. Approximately 25 of the manuscript lead sheets and scores have notations in pencil that appear to represent Morton's own assessment of the transcription. As many as half of the comments are dated June 6, 1938, suggesting that either Lomax or someone at the Library of Congress showed Morton these copyright deposits and asked for his opinion of them. The comments range from "Very good," to "O.K.," to "Wrong," and bear the initials "J.R.M." In addition to manuscript materials, there are 20 printed scores and 8 sets of printed parts. Most of the printed music was published either by Roy J. Carew and Tempo-Music Publishing in Washington, D.C., or by Melrose Bros. in Chicago. The preservation microfilm of the collection is organized by a chronology of the recordings of Morton's music. There are a number of printed scores and sets of parts that were filmed as part of the microfilm project but are not a part of the collection; these titles are listed with an asterisk in the microfilm index of Appendix A of the finding aid.

Contents Note

Copyright deposits, both manuscript and print, dating from the early 1900s to the 1950s.

Microfilm available

MUSIC 3018

Preferred Citation

Jelly Roll Morton Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress

Access Permissions

Researchers wishing to work with special collections are advised to inquire in advance about availability of material since many special collections are stored off-site.

Copyright

Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.

Subjects

African American Music

African Americans in the Performing Arts

Jazz Band

Jazz

Piano Music

Morton, Jelly Roll

Lomax, Alan

Cook, J. Lawrence

Carew, Roy J.

Call Number

ML31.M67

Repository

Music Division, Library of Congress

Finding Aid

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu2005.wp.0027

Last Updated: 08-28-2012