Celebrating Jelly Roll Morton

In mid-November, Cityfolk showcases the timeless music of pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, America’s first great jazz artist, with a pair of special concerts.

The solo concert by Aaron Diehl, hailed by the New York Times as a “revelation,” takes place Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 8:00 pm at Sears Recital Hall on the University of Dayton campus. Mark Wedel of the Kalamazoo Gazette relates that Diehl "roused the crowd with the truthfully-titled Jelly Roll Morton barnstormer, 'Finger Buster.' and showed "what made his 2010 Gilmore Rising Stars recital a treat - urbane jazz that embraced contemporary sounds and roots."

The second concert, by Dayton’s favorite traditional jazz ensemble, Dave Greer’s Classic JazzStompers with pianist and Jelly Roll Morton authority James Dapogny, will take place Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 8:30 PM, at Gilly’s. Pianist, bandleader, writer, educator and musicologist James Dapogny is the author of Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton: The Collected Piano Music and he wrote the liner notes for the Rounder box set of Morton’s Library of Congress recordings. With his Grammy-nominated Chicago Jazz Band, Dapogny has recorded numerous albums of traditional jazz over the past 35 years, including three recordings, The Piano Music of J.R. Morton, Laughing at Life and Original Jelly Roll Blues, containing his brilliant interpretations of Morton’s music.

To learn more about Jelly Roll Morton, read this essay about his life and work by James Dapogny, explore the listening guide compiled by Dave Barber, or attend one of the educational workshops to be led by James Dapogny on November 17 or 18 in local schools. This week-long celebration is made possible with support from the Isabel Herbst Fund of the Dayton Foundation.