A Theatrical "Me-Morial" for Jelly Roll Morton

Actor and playwright Vernel Bagneris and pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen perform selections from their show, "Jelly Roll Morton: A Me-morial," with music written by Morton, and a script taken from Library of Congress tapes of Morton from 1938. The New Yorker calls it, "an experimental study, done within a traditional Broadway-musical framework, of the life and death of a black misanthrope. . . a psychomusical."

Currently in New York, Obie-winning singer and actor Vernel Bagneris recently sold his apartment in order to move to New Orleans, where he was born. He tells us what he's heard from friends and family, and what he expects for the future. The Library of Congress has described Bagneris as "a master of the American vernacular." He wrote, directed and starred in the hit shows One Mo' Time, Further Mo', Staggerlee and Jelly Roll!

We continue our rebroadcast of our series on American Popular Song with a tribute to ragtime composer and performer Eubie Blake. He was born on Feb. 7, 1883, in Baltimore, Md. He wrote the songs for the Broadway hit Shuffle Along. African American ragtime musicians of the day sought out Eubie to write their songs. Two of Eubie Blake's best known songs are "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Love Will Find A Way." Just over 100 years after his life began, on Feb. 12, 1983, Eubie Blake died in Brooklyn, New York.