"In the words of music historian David McGee, 'What Elvis Presley’s Sun recordings are to rock and roll, the Red Hot Peppers’ canon is to jazz.' During a four-year span of small-band sessions for RCA Victor - especially the milestone recordings from September 1926 through June 1927 - Morton cut a series of ebullient stomps and forceful blues. His band included such jazz legends as cornet player Kid Ory, clarinetist Johnny Dodds and drummer Baby Dodds. Morton fell on hard times during the Depression and labored in obscurity as his kind of music fell from favor. He was found tending bar in 1938 by musical archivist Alan Lomax, who thereupon documented him playing piano and telling stories. Though Morton died three years later, he was rediscovered again in the Nineties via a Broadway tribute to his life and times, entitled Jelly’s Last Jam."
More at -
http://rockhall.com/inductees/jelly-roll-morton/bio/