Portland born Marili Morden married Dave Stuart and founded with her husband the Jazz Man Record Shop in Los Angeles in 1939. She was a true jazz fan and her shop attracted every musician and fan in the area.

In 1940, she located Kid Ory and took part in a photo session involving Mutt Carey and the Kid, which gave him the opportunity to tackle his trombone for the first time in 10 years, prompting him to start playing again.

Dave Stuart went on to open an art gallery, and Marili became the sole owner of the shop.

She then met young Nesuhi Ertegun (future Atlantic records associate) and married him in 1943.

In the spring of 1944 Orson Welles's Mercury Wonder Show was doing well in California. A long-time jazz fan, Welles decided to feature a New Orleans band for a one-shot appearance on the show.

He asked Marili to find that band for him. She called Kid Ory who came up with Mutt Carey, Jimmie Noone, Buster Wilson, Bud Scott, Ed Garland and Zutty Singleton and brought the house down.

On the strengt of the nationwide success of the show and the subsequent Standard Oil Broadcasts, Marili and Nesuhi Ertegun founded the Crescent record label to produce some of Kid Ory's greatest records.