I was perusing our old site the other day (you should too, I was better at this back then); and came across an interesting entry where I alluded to the story of how 'Jelly Roll' Morton got his famous nickname. All of this history kind of depends on who you ask, which I think makes it all the more colorful.

Back in the 1870's and 80's, what would become 'Dixieland' jazz was just starting to develop in New Orleans - a city with one of the highest populations of free blacks in the south at the time. Jelly Roll was one of these guys who did all kinds of stuff - band leader, bartender, piano player, pimp - the list goes on. But I suppose the legend would dictate that it was pimpin'(and some allegededly...masculine endowment) that led Jelly Roll to his name.

In the day, Jelly Roll was a slang term for sex or, more specifically, that most highly prized portion of the female anatomy. And as Morton was in the business, the nickname seemed obviously fitting. Of course, helping to support that nickname was Jelly Roll's - shall we say - lyrical stylings. He was the 2Live Crew of the early 1900's. For example:
Nickle's worth of beefsteak, and a dime's worth of lard (x3)
I'm gonna salivate your pussy til my peter gets hard
I'm the Windin' Boy, don't deny my name

It gets much better, but songs with these kinds of lyrics were very rarely released on any albums at the time. Hence, Jelly Roll was named after that which was his greatest muse - pussy.

I don't know how many of ya'll are jazz fans, but some of you may have heard the phrase "summa that ol' Jelly Roll Morton shit"; in reference, of course, to his playing style. Now, story has it that Jelly Roll derived his style playing in the whorehouses and dives that he was accustomed (and, unfortunately, owes some indirect hand in his demise) to. See, he'd play piano in the lobby or foyer of these houses while the real business was going on just through the wall. Now, the walls weren't exactly built of the most soundproof materials, so Jelly Roll's job was to play over the noise from the adjoining room. He learned to match his rhythm and tempo with the ebb and flow with the raucous action in the next room.

So yeah, that's that. Feeling edumacted?