October 20 - Jelly Roll Morton (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton (20 October 1890[?] – 10 July 1941) was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer.

[For last year's limericks on Charles Ives and Robert Craft click here.] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tales of 1902

"Morton's claim to have invented jazz in 1902 was criticized. Music critic Scott Yanow wrote, 'Jelly Roll Morton did himself a lot of harm posthumously by exaggerating his worth...Morton's accomplishments as an early innovator are so vast that he did not really need to stretch the truth.' " -- Wikipedia

Jelly Roll Morton claimed he invented

  Jazz in nineteen hundred two,

Which was close to the case, if slightly augmented  

  By his ego-inflated view.

Getting a Start

Jelly Roll Morton played, as a teen,

  In houses of ill-repute;

The young man Brahms was heard and seen

  In venues as dissolute.

Envoi

In retrospect it’s infra dig,

But when you’re young, a gig’s a gig.

 

 

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