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Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller Welcome to Module One Of Module 1 Reflecting on Music - Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller Welcome to Module One of The Legendary Performers. We'll begin the course by looking at three pianists who helped shape jazz-- a major development in American popular music. And these three individuals are Jelly Roll Morton. Scott Joplin. And Fats Waller. So the first musician that we'll look at, Jelly Roll Morton, his birth name was Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe. And he was one of the very first jazz soloists, and some call him the first great jazz composer. Important note: Transcripts are not substitutes for textbook assignments. Listen to the song: King Porter Stomp 2 He was born in 1885, in New Orleans. And he grew up in a well-to-do Creole household. His grandmother helped raise him and his three sisters, and she made sure that he received a quality education, which included learning to play piano, studying European classical music, and also listening to a lot of French opera. He was a phenomenal piano player, and at the age of 13, he realized he can make hundreds of dollars a night-- and again, this is adjusting for inflation, early 20th century dollars-- by going into the Storyville of New Orleans-- the bordellos, the brothels, the whorehouses, and playing piano. When his grandmother found out how he was spending his evenings, she kicked him out of the house. And after this, he ended up going by the last name Morton instead of LaMothe as he continued to perform. And part of this was to protect his family from embarrassment as he continued to gig in these brothels. From there, he proceeded to travel throughout North America. He goes to St. Louis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Chicago, New York, and back to New Orleans. Along the way, he recorded some very influential albums, and became financially successful. And he loved to show off his wealth, wearing these fancy suits, driving fancy cars, carrying around $1,000 bill in his wallet, and 3 also having a diamond embedded into one of his teeth. Now, as you listen to Jelly Roll Morton, you'll hear that his music swings instead of something like-- (IMITATES POPPING JAZZ BEAT). Instead, it kind of has like, I feel like (IMITATES SWINGING JAZZ BEAT). And his music was also really complex. It wasn't just melody with an accompaniment, but his piano playing, it was like these different instruments were playing these different melodies. 4 Listen to the song: Wolverine Blues 5 He influenced a number of pianists who picked up on his sense of swing. And he greatly contributed to popular music with his playing behind the beats, writing arrangements that sounded improvised, and the use of breaks, where all of a sudden the music just comes to a dramatic stop, and then starts up again. But despite his legacy and his influence, he also had a knack for upsetting a lot of musicians. He'd go to a club. And at the club there would be a piano player. And he'd listen to the piano player. And then after a while, he'd just come up to the piano player, and have them move over so he could show them how it's really done. He also just absolutely insisted that he was the inventor of jazz. Now, he was certainly influential, but it's a bold claim to have single-handedly invented the genre. But he was an influential musician with a national presence. He made a series of jazz records with his band, The Red Hot Peppers-- not to be confused with funk rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers. And these records that he made are especially important for 1920s jazz. 6 Listen to the song: Black Bottom Stomp 7 He also started singing on records. Now his voice wasn't necessarily the most refined, but he sang with a sense of emotion that really captured audiences. 8 Listen to the song: Buddy Bolden's Blues 9 Jelly Roll Morton died prematurely. He was stabbed in a Washington DC club, and he never fully recovered from his injuries. He suffered breathing problems for the rest of his life, before he passed away in 1941. But while he was still alive, he recorded a series of interviews where he has a chance to chronicle his own history, along with his own discussion on the creation of jazz. These recordings are a treasure trove of information of the era, and have been saved by the Library of Congress. 10 Now, before we dive into our next legendary performer, I'd like to open with a quote. "The counters of music stores are loaded with this virulent poison, which in the form of a malaria's epidemic is finding its way into the homes and the brains of our youth. It is an evil music that must be wiped out, as other bad and dangerous epidemics had been exterminated. Whether it's simply a passing phase in our decadent art culture, or an infectious disease which has come to stay, time alone can tell. It poisons the very source of musical growth, for poisons the musical tastes of the young. It eventually stagnates the brain cells and wrecks the nervous system. It's greatest destructive power lies in the power to lower the moral standards. Decent people, decent people are beginning to be alarmed at this vulgar music and the loose conduct of the people who hear it. We are drifting towards peril, and this drift must be checked." So these are quotes from The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune referring to the musical genre of ragtime. Ragtime was this style of music that would greatly influence the development of jazz. It's worth noting that ragtime was a major step in black music idioms, specifically with rhythm being so widely heard in American popular music. And the musician who's most associated with ragtime is Scott Joplin. 11 Listen to the song: The Entertainer 12 Scott Joplin was born a few years after the Civil War ended. His father was an ex-slave, and his mother cleaned houses for a living. His father was frequently absent, and Scott would come with his mother when she cleaned houses. If there was a piano, Scott would plunk out some tunes by ear. And they ended up discovering that he had a gift for music. He studied with an old German music teacher, who provided a classical, strict, European instruction. And Joplin became known in the community for his music. He moved to Sedalia, Missouri, which made two major impacts. First, Sedalia was home to the George Smith College for Negroes. Again, it has to be noted that this was still a time of segregation in America. And Joplin enrolled and took courses in theory, and history, and piano. And all of these further refined his musicianship. Second, Sedalia was home to the largest red light district in Missouri. Like Jellyroll, Joplin realized that he can make a lot of money playing piano in the brothels, and he ended up using that money to support his family. Now the most famous club that he played at was the Maple Leaf Club. And this was remarkable at the time for being integrated. That is, not segregated. Now as we listened to the Maple Leaf Rag, listen to the rhythm. It's syncopated-- meaning notes land on weaker beats. It gives something of a jerky or a ragged feeling, which lead to the terms ragtime-- again, the genre 13 of this music-- and also with the term of rag-- a rag is a piece of ragtime music. 14 Listen to the song: The Maple Leaf Rag 15 So Joplin ended up having a successful career writing popular music. He partnered with music publisher John Stark. And Joplin was able to live comfortably off the royalties from his rags, which sold millions of copies. But beyond that, he had aspirations of writing more serious music. He wrote two operas and a ballet. Neither was particularly successful. His first opera has been lost. And is second to opera-- Treemonisha-- that actually wasn't performed until the 1970s. So this was a long time after he died. Additionally, as his life went on, he suffered from syphilis, and his mental health and his playing abilities just deteriorated. Decades after his death, the 1973 movie, The Sting, brought renewed popularity to his music, which was used as the film soundtrack. The last musician that we're going to look at in this module is Fats Waller. Now, Fats Waller is the first jazz musician to become a national phenomenon. 16 Listen to the song: Handful of Keys 17 His birth name was Thomas Waller, but he was called Fats from an early age, and the name just kind of stuck. His father was a preacher, and Fats would play organ in the church. But when he was a teenager, his mother passed away, which took an emotional toll on him. He ended up living with a family who was connected with James P. Johnson. Johnson was the father of stride piano, this virtuosic style of piano playing where the left hand flies between bass notes and chords. And this made a profound impact on Fats Waller piano playing. Some of his first gigs were playing as a theater organist providing soundtracks to silent films. And he musically cut his teeth at what were called rent parties. So these were gatherings-- generally in Harlem, New York-- where a tenant needed to raise money to pay the rent.
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