How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz

by Jonah Winter, Keith Mallett (Illustrator)

Overview

In this unusual and inventive picture book that riffs on the language and rhythms of old New Orleans, noted picture book biographer Jonah Winter (Dizzy, Frida, You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?) turns his focus to one of America's early jazz heroes in this perfectly pitched book about Jelly Roll Morton.

Gorgeously illustrated by fine artist Keith Mallett, a newcomer to picture books, this biography will transport readers young and old to the musical, magical streets of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century.

A Neal Porter Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596439634
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	06/16/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	278,456
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jonah Winter is the award-winning author of 25 non-fiction picture books including New York Times Best Illustrated Books, Diego and Here Comes the Garbage Barge!, and the highly acclaimed Frida and Dizzy. Winter has been listening to Jelly Roll Morton's music since he was a young boy.

Keith Mallett has been drawing and painting for as long as he can remember. As an artist and designer he has created posters and fine art prints for over thirty years. He lives in San Diego with his wife Dianne and his German Shepherd Pi. How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz is his first children's book.

Editorial Reviews

04/27/2015
Winter uses a second-person narrative to create a sense of immediacy as he describes Jelly Roll Morton’s tumultuous upbringing and immersion in music: “If you’d been Jelly Roll Morton/ you would’ve known/ that the only way to rise up/ and fly away/ was one piano note at a time.” Musical interludes and a gumbo metaphor for jazz spice up the recounting, while artist Mallett’s dramatic acrylics conjure a sense of rolling movement. An afterword discusses Morton’s influence and whether, as the musician claimed, he actually “invented” jazz. Ages 5–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

This informational picture book covers self-proclaimed "Inventor of Jazz" Jelly Roll Morton's contribution to the musical scene." Winter describes the atmosphere of the early 1900s in general terms and often uses rhyming verses to advance the story ("I thought I heard Mister Jelly Roll too/Sayin' 'I invented jazz in 1902./It was me who invented jazz-'cause it sure wasn't you.'/I thought I heard him too..."). The text is confusing in places, and readers may have to refer to the back matter to clarify certain statements. For instance, the author explains that Morton didn't truly invent jazz but created his own, inimitable style. It's Mallett's attractive, painterly, oil-on-canvas illustrations that are the real draw here, with many spreads featuring dark silhouettes positioned on vibrant backgrounds of orange and yellows among a swirl of musical notes. VERDICT While this book isn't one of Winter's strongest works, there is a dearth of material on this star jazz musician, making it suitable supplemental material on the Jazz Age or a possibility for biography collections.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Rrhyming verse and local citizens rollicking across the pages on rich oil on canvas illustrations showcase how jazz might have begun in New Orleans in the early 1900’s. However, the biography of jazz pioneer Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe is not without childhood heartache, uphill battles, and utter frustration during the inaugural of this very American style of music. Jelly Roll’s own earnest music calmed him down, one piano note at a time, as he rises above painful circumstances which paid his way through the blues. “The Recipe for Jazz” renders a lyrical formula for creating New Orleans jazz flair in combination with a variety of influences such as African beats, Calypso syncopation, Spanish melody, ragtime bands, island rhythms, symphonic instruments, and a ton of “just messin’ around.” In addition, readers learn more about his significant role as a writer and publisher of standards used by musicians played his particular arrangements. Jelly Roll Morton unfortunately did not receive much compensation for his genius as sheet music companies raked in monetary profits. Yet, his vital place in American music history is established today without question through personal interviews by music historian Alan Lomax and this fine informational picture book. Reviewer: Susan Treadway; Ages 4 up.

Children's Literature - Susan Treadway

03/01/2015
Gr 1–4—This informational picture book covers self-proclaimed "Inventor of Jazz" Jelly Roll Morton's contribution to the musical scene." Winter describes the atmosphere of the early 1900s in general terms and often uses rhyming verses to advance the story ("I thought I heard Mister Jelly Roll too/Sayin' 'I invented jazz in 1902./It was me who invented jazz—'cause it sure wasn't you.'/I thought I heard him too…"). The text is confusing in places, and readers may have to refer to the back matter to clarify certain statements. For instance, the author explains that Morton didn't truly invent jazz but created his own, inimitable style. It's Mallett's attractive, painterly, oil-on-canvas illustrations that are the real draw here, with many spreads featuring dark silhouettes positioned on vibrant backgrounds of orange and yellows among a swirl of musical notes. VERDICT While this book isn't one of Winter's strongest works, there is a dearth of material on this star jazz musician, making it suitable supplemental material on the Jazz Age or a possibility for biography collections.—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA

School Library Journal

2015-03-03
Winter offers a speculative look at the life and musical career of jazz innovator Jelly Roll Morton.Weaving a quasi-poetic text in the second person, an adulatory narrator addresses readers: "Here's what could've happened / if you were born a way down south / in New Orleans, in the Land of Dreams / a long, long time ago." Talented Morton played piano in bars as a boy; his great-grandmother threw him out for being a "LOWLIFE MUSICIAN." Regarding this trauma, the narrator contends: "just one thing in the world, / could make the crying stop: // And this is why / and this is how / a thing called JAZZ got invented / by a man named Jelly Roll Morton. / Leastwise, that's what / I thought I heard Mister Jelly Roll say." Winter intersperses italicized lyrics from several songs in Morton's repertoire, adding an invented verse to one. While the text pivots on Morton's self-promotion as the inventor of jazz (which music historians both debate and dispute), the choice of an unreliable narrator arguably muddies still waters. Mallett's acrylic paintings use red-golds and blue-blacks to evoke sunset and twilit tableaux filigreed with musical notation. Morton is mostly shown from behind or in silhouette; the cover portrait and one interior one, painted from different decades without attribution, don't cohere. Morton's seminal role in jazz deserves both celebration and elucidation; this disjointed treatment mainly accomplishes the former. (author's note, recommended listening, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews