"The Father of the Blues." Handy bought his first guitar in secret because his father believed that musical instruments were tools of the Devil. Handy took elements of African American folk music, honky-tonk, spiritual, and other forms and blended them in a style that would become known as the Blues (Blackkudos). He was also the first to publish blues songs and moved his publishing house to New York City, changing the blues from just a regional style to music that would be played all over the world ("W. C. Handy").
Jelly Roll Morton
(c. 1890-1941)
His claim to have invented jazz can't be verified; however, he did so much to create and innovate modern jazz (New World). Publishing one of the first jazz musical scores—Jelly Roll Blues in 1915—when jazz up to that point was mostly improvised, and creating the now-standard method of improvising within rehearsed group arrangements, he was in from the beginning (New World). He started playing in a Louisiana brothel at the age of 14 and went on to be a bestselling record and radio star whose work influenced both later jazz and Big Band musicians (Yannow).
