James Jenkins, founder of the Graystone International Jazz Museum & Hall of Fame, was remembered on his centennial with a jazz libation ceremony.
Mister Jelly Roll
By Harold McKinney
Listen, you children of Africa!
What of your heroes in history —
Who laid your foundations upon these shores
Only to lie forgotten in the basements of your souls?
Yesterday’s sun lights tomorrow
We cast the shadows of heroes who sang in our yesteryears:
Scott Joplin, Ma Rainey, King Oliver, Satchmo,
And Jelly Roll —
Ah, yes, Jelly Roll . . .
I hear the music of old
in the style of the now sound
Vital wisdom still ringing
in the echoes of backbeat rhythms of slave songs
And if you listen, you’ll hear
Jelly Roll playing those rhythms in his tunes
Feel the truth of slave wisdom
A fire in the depths of his soul –
Mister Jelly Roll!
Jelly Roll (scat or trumpet) – Jelly Roll (scat) – Jelly Roll (scat)
Feel the truth of slave wisdom
A fire in the depths of his soul –
Mister Jelly Roll!
Pretend you’re walking in time
With the Blues as he played them
Whinin’ boy blues got lowdown
With the monkey-time stomping rhythms
of Ragtime
Just wipe the dust of neglect
from the face of his picture —
In his eyes, there’s a vision
That still glows and mellows in you —
Mister Jelly Roll!