Radiocast Stars Enliven B.L.A. Open Meeting -- July 11, 2024

Chicago Tribune, 13-July-1924

The Broadcast Listeners' Association must have been an interesting organization. One of their meetings included several "radiocast stars." One of the stars was Jelly Roll Morton, "world's greatest jazz pianist." Now I'm looking for his name in the radio listings. 

New Orleans Joys -- July 10, 2024

Indianapolis Star, 24-July-1924

Gennett Records' offerings included "Perfect Rag" and "New Orleans (Blues) Joys," by Jelly Roll Morton. Morton was a great composer and pianist. His name may have been Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe or LaMenthe or something else. He told many wonderful stories about himself and some were probably true.  He said that he invented jazz.  He didn't, but he had a lot to do with its growth and increasing sophistication.  He spent time in San Francisco, playing in the Barbary Coast, where he owned a club called the Jupiter. He said the cops drove him out of town.  I would like to write a story about that. 

Jelly Roll Morton - Perfect Rag


Jelly " Roll" Morton New Orleans Joys

Jelly Roll Morton 125 -- October 20, 2015

www.listal.com

Great American composer and pianist Jelly Roll Morton may have been born 125 years ago today, on 20-October-1890 in the Faubourg Marigny of New Orleans.  His name may have been Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe or LaMenthe or something else. He told many wonderful stories about himself and some were probably true.  He said that he invented jazz.  He didn't, but he had a lot to do with its growth and increasing sophistication.  He spent time in San Francisco, playing in the Barbary Coast, where he owned a club called the Jupiter. He said the cops drove him out of town.  I would like to write a story about that. 



I heard "Doctor Jazz" played on the radio one Saturday morning when I was very young and I think that was what got me interested in jazz.




I learned something about music by listening repeatedly to this piano solo and then to Fletcher Henderson's arrangement for Benny Goodman. 






I liked the use of sounds in the opening of this one.  The Red Hot Peppers influenced the coming big band era. 




His music influenced everyone in jazz, but had a particularly strong effect on the traditional jazz movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lu Watters and Turk Murphy played many of this tunes.

Pontchartrain Railroad -- July 13, 2014

The Pontchartrain Railroad (Rail-Road) in New Orleans was one of the earliest railroads in the United States.  It was chartered and opened for business in 1830, using horses to hauls railcars from Faubourg Marigny, on the Mississippi, downstream from the French Quarter, to Milneberg, then a separate town, on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The line's first steam locomotive arrived in 1831 or 1832.  The line ran in the neutral ground (median) of Elysian Fields Avenue.

The railroad hauled passengers and freight and did well because Lake Pontchartrain offered a faster exit to the Gulf than did the river.  Around 1900, the freight business declined because larger ships could not call at Milneberg, but passenger traffic increased as Milneberg became a popular resort.  See Jelly Roll Morton's tune "Milneberg Joys." 

The line suffered from automobile competition in the 1920s, and then the city began a land reclamation project that caused most of the resorts to close.  The railroad stopped hauling passengers in 1931 and freight in 1935. 

I first read about the Pontchartrain Railroad when I was a kid.  As a Christmas present, I received a reprint of a 1930s anthology about railroads. 

The schedule is from the 03-June-1915 New Orleans Herald.