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JELLY’S LAST JAM • Gregory Hines Original Broadway Cast Recording Image 1 of 4

Jelly’s Last Jam

Shows · Jelly’s Last Jam

Unlike other “and then he wrote” biographies of composers, Jelly’s Last Jam not only explores the music, but also explores the man. In the opening scene Jelly Roll Morton (Gregory Hines) is at death facing the Chimney Man (Keith David), the “concierge of your soul,” who accuses Morton of having denied his African heritage and of believing that he invented jazz. He forces Morton to re-examine his life and to possibly…

Opened
1992
Performances
569
Type
Musical
Era
Megamusical
Music: Jelly Roll Morton, musical adaptation and additional music composed by Luther HendersonLyrics: Susan BirkenheadBook: George C. Wolfe

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available
UK Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature21 passages

Wolfe, George C. Bring In ’Da Noise, Bring In ’Da Funk Jelly’s Last Jam book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p387

Jelly’s Last Jam (4/26/92; 569 performances) was a musicalization of the life of Jelly Roll Morton, self-proclaimed inventor of jazz. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p569

George Wolfe scrunched the songs of Jelly Roll Morton (the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz) into the musical theatre idiom in 1992’s Jelly’s Last Jam. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p75

26 April: Jelly’s Last Jam, a fantasy on Jelly Roll Morton’s last day on earth starring Gregory Hines, opens at the Virginia Theater for a run of 569 performances. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p31

Jukebox musicals showcasing music and performances by African Americans such as Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978, featuring the music of Thomas “Fats” Waller) and Jelly’s Last Jam (1992, featuring the music of Jelly Roll Morton) have been extremely successful. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p45

Glover, who had starred on Broadway as a 12-year-old tap dancer in Jelly’s Last Jam, was a remarkable presence in the show as both dancer and choreographer. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p81

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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