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Saturday, 14 January 2006 19:48 |
Jelly Roll Blues
for Rick Pinkerton
Jelly Roll Morton left New Orleans
before he was 17, to travel along the coast
through Gulfport, Biloxi, Mobile, Pensacola
playing piano in the gambling joints & nightspots
& hustling pool between sets, during which
while he was playing
he paid strict attention to the pool tables
& the prowess of his potential competitors--
Jelly was a one-man army
leading the charge from New Orleans
to make a place for the city's music
in the cities of the South,
& then in Los Angeles,
Chicago, New York City,
Washington DC (where he recorded his life story
at the Library of Congress)--
But now it's a gray day
in New Orleans
early in the 20th Century, & Jelly Roll
won t be in today,
they told Mr. Lomax,
Jelly Roll's got the blues today
& he just caught the train
for Memphis
Detroit
June 3, 2003/
December 9, 2005
3.1.696 |
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