Born in New Orleans in 1890, Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, better known as Jelly Roll Morton, claimed to have “invented” jazz in the year 1902. While that’s viewed as an exaggeration, he undoubtedly shaped jazz in the 1920s, performing his hits “Kansas City Stomps” and “Dead Man Blues” around the country. In 1991, the director George C. Wolfe adapted Morton’s story into a tap-dance musical. Confined to purgatory, Morton looks back over his life and the burgeoning jazz genre. As part of the 2024 Encores! Series, Jelly’s Last Jam is onstage for two weeks at the New York City Center. In 1992, when the musical premiered on Broadway, it starred Savion Glover and the late, great Gregory Hines as the younger and older Morton. This month, Nicholas Christopher stars as Jelly Morton and Alaman Diadhiou is young Jelly. —Jensen Davis