Voting Station

Jelly Roll Morton

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Musician

The Resume

    (October 20, 1890-July 10, 1941)
    Birth name was Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe
    Recorded ‘Black Bottom Stomp,' ‘Grandpa's Spells;' ‘Jungle Blues,' ‘Kansas City Stomp,' ‘King Porter Stomp,' ‘Mint Julep,' ‘My Home Is In A Small Southern Town,' ‘The Original Jelly-Roll Blues,' ‘Pacific Rag,' ‘Pearls,' ‘Red Hot Pepper,' and ‘Wolverine Blues'
    Subject of the Broadway play ‘Jelly's Last Jam' (1992)
    Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence (1998)

Why he might be annoying:

    The name Jelly Roll is sexual slang.
    He got his professional start playing piano in a bordello.
    Some of the recordings he made for the Library of Congress were considered so racy that they were not released for over five decades.
    He supplemented his earnings as an itinerant pianist by hustling pool and pimping.
    On his business card, he called himself the ‘Originator of Jazz.'
    Realizing that he was too young to make a convincing case for himself as the creator of jazz, he added five years to his age, claiming to be born in 1885.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was stabbed when a fight broke out in a club where he was playing (1938).
    He was denied admission to the nearest hospital because it was ‘Whites Only.'
    One biographer suggests that he was cheated out of a million dollars in royalties for his compositions.
    He was denied membership in ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) because of his skin color.
    His ‘Complete Library of Congress Recordings' formed an 8-CD boxed set that won a Grammy for Best Historical Album (2005).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 17 Votes: 70.59% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 38.46% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 10 Votes: 30.0% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 76 Votes: 59.21% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 55 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 40 Votes: 42.50% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 71 Votes: 53.52% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 67 Votes: 41.79% Annoying