JAZZ MYTH NO. 11

It seems to bother Leonard Feather inordinately that Jelly Roll Morton has achieved the status of jazz giant (“10 Long-Playing Myths Versus the Facts,” Aug. 3). Feather’s justification for debunking Myth No. 6--”The first great jazz composer-arranger was Jelly Roll Morton”--degenerates into a personal diatribe against the artist and a eulogy for Don Redman.

Jelly Roll Morton died in 1941, so it is impossible to compare his accomplishments with Redman’s after that date. Before then, and especially in the 1920s, I think Morton’s compositions were more distinguished and his arrangements swung much more than Redman’s.

Feather omitted one of the most obvious myths of all--that Leonard Feather is a reliable jazz critic.

HARRY HALL

San Gabriel