By Helen Ofield
Photo: Jazz great Jelly Roll Morton
July 8, 2015 (Lemon Grove)--Film Night in the Library, July 8 at 6:30 p. m. in the Lemon Grove Library, delivers both groove and mojo just when you thought both had succumbed to bourgeois tedium. Oh, ye of little faith.
Gumbo," an episode from Ken Burns's series, "Jazz," centers on the New Orleans musicians who developed ragtime into a full-fledged American musical idiom called jazz. Musicians like saxophonist Sidney Bechtel, the great cornetists Charles Bulden, Freddie Keppard and Dominic LaRocca (the latter the only white man in the group), the legendary pianist Jelly Roll Morton, and the bandleader/composer James Europe took their brilliant improvisations to a local, then a national and international audience.
that was then, the World War I era, when a black musician couldn't get a hotel room no matter how great he was, where he was playing or who was applauding. Yet, they survived and moved into musical history as some of the greatest exponents of the genre adored by billions.
For all that jazz, don't miss this nifty show.
The program is free and suitable for ages 16 and over. Information: 619-463-0823.