Black Bottom Stomp: Eight Masters of Ragtime and Early Jazz

Black Bottom Stomptells the compelling stories of the lives and times of eight seminal figures in American music history, including Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton. Drawing on original archival research, the authors give and entirely new and more complete look at the music, lives, and impact of these figures. Richly illustrated with rare photographs from newspapers, sheet music, and other hard-to-find sources, the work will appeal to the reader interested in popular music, ragtime, and early jazz. Reading Black Bottom Stomp, you'll learn that: Scott Joplin died penniless in New York, after years of attempting to establish himself as a composer. Jelly Roll Morton claimed to have "invented" jazz in 1902 (when he was just 12 years old!) Louis Armstrong was raised by a Jewish family, the Karnofskys, who virtually adopted the child when he began working for them on their coal truck. And much more!