POP/SNEAK PEEK : PASADENA PROFESSOR'S JELLY ROLL MORTON FIND.

A local college professor and musician has discovered a previously unknown collection of memorabilia once belonging to 1920s jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton.

Dr. Philip Pastras, an assistant professor of English at Pasadena City College, was researching a book on Morton late last month when he found the collection in Portland, Ore., through a string of personal contacts that began with the daughter of New Orleans trombone pioneer Kid Ory.

Morton, considered the first great jazz composer, penned such standards as ``King Porter Stomp,'' ``Original Jelly Roll Blues,'' ``Black Bottom Stomp,'' ``The Pearls,'' ``Wolverine Blues'' and other tunes, some recorded with his band the Red Hot Peppers.

Pastras' find includes a personal scrapbook containing newspaper articles, photos, fan letters, booking contracts and a 60-year-old letter to Robert Ripley of ``Ripley's Believe It or Not'' fame in which Morton lays claim to the creation of jazz.

``It's a big, old-fashioned scrapbook with 58 pages tied with a string,'' Pastras said. ``It gives us a remarkable portrait of Jelly Roll.''

In addition, a small separate collection of material includes the guest register from Morton's funeral and two handwritten notes.

Morton died in Los Angeles in 1941 at age 50. Pastras is currently on sabbatical from Pasadena City College while researching the pianist's West Coast years (1917-22 and 1940-41).

``There was a little-known period where he worked as a boxing promoter,'' Pastras said, referring to Morton's life after the Depression, when he drifted into obscurity. ``The scrapbook contains fliers advertising fights he was involved with putting on.''

Pastras, a jazz pianist and singer, handed over the Morton memorabilia to jazz archivist and historian Floyd Levin this week for eventual transmission to the Smithsonian Institute.

Jayhawks return to roots

Nobody could accuse the Jayhawks of having good timing.

When the Minneapolis quintet disbanded in November 1995, it was just as a new audience was discovering alternative country in the shape of Son Volt, Wilco, the Bottle Rockets and other rootsy outfits.

Now, four of the original Jayhawks - Gary Louris, Marc Perlman, Tim O'Reagan and Karen Grotberg - have regrouped to record a new album, ``Sound of Lies'' (American), due April 22.

The fifth original Jayhawk, guitarist-singer Mark Olson, left the band to spend more time with his wife, singer-songwriter Victoria Williams, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

``With some bands when they split, there can be two opposing camps and one wants the other to fail,'' Louris said. ``But thankfully, that's not what the Jayhawks' situation is about.''

From NoHo with love

Need a good tip for a club show this weekend?

Try the adventurous North Hollywood-based quartet Spanish Kitchen, appearing Saturday at Dragonfly in Hollywood. Information: [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Philip Pastras, a musician as well as an assistant professor of English, discovered a scrapbook put together by Jelly Roll Morton while researching a book on the early jazz composer.