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Frederic Ramsey audio recordings

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Object Details

Shared Stewardship of Collections
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Creator
Ramsey, Frederic, 1915-1995
Place
Southern States -- Music
Topic
Blues (Music)
Music -- African-American
African American musicians
Jazz musicians
Jazz -- Louisiana -- New Orleans
Jazz
Provenance
This collection was donated by Frederic Ramsey's daughter Alida Porter in 1996.
Creator
Ramsey, Frederic, 1915-1995
See more items in
Frederic Ramsey audio recordings
Summary
This collection contains open reel recordings made by noted jazz scholar Frederic Ramsey during his tour of the American South in the 1950s.
Biographical / Historical
Frederic Ramsey Jr. (1915-1995), son of painter Charles Frederic Ramsey, was a jazz scholar and author who worked with a number of musicians in the South and the New York/New Jersey area, notably Lead Belly. After receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953, Ramsey undertook a tour of the South in order to explore and document the African-American music environment. His goal was to record the speech and music of persons at least sixty years of age or older in an attempt to trace the evolution of the musical genre that would become jazz. Ramsey produced a number of recordings for the Folkways label in the 1950s-1960s. [From Jeff: Frederic Ramsey Jr. (1915-1995) was a jazz critic, scholar, fieldworker and record producer. He was the author of a number of books on jazz, including Jazzmen (with Charles Edward Smith) and the Jazz Record Book. He became one of the main producers for Moses Asch at Asch, Disc, and Folkways Records of jazz and blues. Ramsey was one of the first to deploy an open reel tape recorder using it in New York City in 1949 to record Lead Belly in a set of sessions at his apartment, that were to be Lead Belly's last. What was noteworthy about this is that a reel to reel deck allowed one to record a longer recording than the previous 4 minutes on instantaneous discs. This allowed Led Belly to stretch out and do his extended rhymes and longer songs and to tell stories of his life. It was released by Folkways as a 2 LP 2-records each set. Each side was one track so more material could be fit in. The new LP format allowed for Folkways to create anthologies of music with multiple tracks per side. This allowed Ramsey the ability to create a 11-volume anthology of jazz in the early 1950s. It was the first of many anthologies for Folkways. He also received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1954-56 to go to Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to record vernacular African American music. This included field hollers, spirituals, and brass bands. It was Ramsey's desire to find the roots of jazz in early African-American music forms. He recorded hundreds of tapes they make up the bulk of Ramsey Tape Collection. A 10 LP set Music from the South was released from these trips. Also, there was a book Been Here and Gone with his magnificent photographs from the trip. Other notable recordings released by Folkways include an interview album of Baby Dodds, a box set of shape-note singing, and recordings of a, then, teenaged Michael Hurley. In 1975, with other grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Ford Foundation, he researched the life of Buddy Bolden. After the death of Frederic Ramsey Jr., folklorist Kip Lornell arranged the donation of Ramsey's tape and record collection to the Smithsonian.]
Extent
8.83 Cubic feet
Date
1945-1959
Archival Repository
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
Identifier
CFCH.RAMS
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Citation
Frederic Ramsey audio recordings, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
The tapes are organized and shelved by accession number.
Processing Information
Prepared by Jeff Place and revised by Stephanie Smith.
Rights
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Scope and Contents
The collection includes 400? Open reel audio tapes. They are from Ramsey's fieldwork and various projects, many for Folkways Records. The bulk of the recordings come from Ramsey's fieldwork in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana in 1954-56.
Restrictions
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Related Materials
Frederic Ramsey's personal papers are available at Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies. Ramsey's photograph collection (many from the same field projects) can be found in the collections of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1649109300700-1649109308066-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/bk5ebc883ed-96f3-4f1b-9e4b-1b8fde86e4f4

In the Collection

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  • Instantaneous Discs

  • Ella Fitzerald

  • 33 1/3 RPM Records

  • The Faulse Lady recorded by Moses Asch

  • untitled

  • Vera Hall; What Month Was Jesus Born?; Jacques Levesque-Amelia Ramsey; Silent Night Kids in Courtyard; Stille Nacht

  • Studs Terkel's Weekly Almanac on Folk Music

  • Avalon/The Man I Love

  • Radio Programme

  • Stephen Foster Songbook

  • Sterling Brown, APR 01 1963 (CDR copy)

  • Sing of the Sea

  • Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans

  • Benny Goodman Presents Arrangements by Fletcher Henderson

  • Jazz Odyssey, Vol. 1, side 1, record II

  • Body and Soul/Chicken Reel

  • Music from the South, APR 09 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Cat-Iron, APR 30 1957 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Charlie Love, MAY 28 1954

  • Music Masters: Stephen Foster and John Phillip Sousa

  • Alreet/Georgia on My Mind

  • Pastel Blue/Rehearsin' for a Nervous Breakdown

  • Snuff Dripping Woman/Ther Blues Stay With Me

  • Ramsey Recordings: Odyssey Show

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Whatta Ya Say We Go/Body and Soul

  • Music from the South

  • Music from the South, Starlight Gospel Singers

  • Music from the South

  • text in Greek

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Poor Butterfly/How High the Moon

  • Unmarked Tape

  • Puttin' on the Ritz/Singing a Vagabond Song

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown at Howard University

  • 100 Years of French Poetry, SEP 13 1948

  • Santa Monica Jump/That Ain't Right

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, JAN 23 1965

  • That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)/Blueberry Hill

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Lead Belly dub, Ain't Goin' Down to the Well No More, APR 17 (CDR copy)

  • Lead Belly ,1948 (CDR copy, also CDR 307)

  • Got Live if You Want It

  • Music from the South, Melton and the Star

  • Sweet Sue, Just You/My Melancholy Baby

  • Ramsey Recordings: Landowska from WNYC

  • Dizzy Boogie/Flat-Foot Floogie

  • Music from the South, Vol. 4: Horace Sprott, 3, side 1

  • Louisiana: The Right-to-Profit State and all That Jazz Strikes Again

  • Music from the South

  • Our Director's March/Yankee Shuffle March

  • Swamp Fire/Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me)

  • Take it Like You Give It

  • Folk Festival at Newport, Vol. 2

  • Maple Leaf Rag/Black and White Rag

  • untitled

  • Ramsey Recordings: Odyssey Show

  • In Praise of Oxala and Other Gods: Black Music of South America

  • dub of Stravinsky's Divertimento, FEB 07 1949

  • Overtime/Victory Ball

  • Ramsey Recordings: Kent Massacre dubbed from WBAI

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 13 1965

  • Recipes (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, AUG 21 1953

  • Pan-Demonia

  • Box Car Blues/Hello Baby

  • Poemontages: 100 Years of French Poetry, OCT 16 1948 (CDR copy)

  • Body and Soul/Something to Remember You By

  • Let's Sit and Talk About You/Futuristic Rhythm

  • Down by the Station/Ghost of a Chance

  • Chicago/The Blues/Today!, Vol. 3

  • Jeep's Blues/Castle Rock

  • Bunk Johnson: The Last Testament of a Great New Orleans Jazzman

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, MAR 22 1964

  • Music from the South, Charlie Love

  • Ramsey interviewed, Voice of America, Jazz, DEC 03 1950 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Charlie Love

  • This Little Light

  • Little Walter

  • Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me/Sultry Serenade

  • Mr. Tambourine Man

  • The Cisco Special

  • Negro Folk Music of Alabama: Game Songs and Others

  • Music from the South

  • Ultima Noche, La/La Vaca Lechera

  • Blues My Girl Friend Taught Me/Evening Star

  • Music from the South, Suddie Griffins APR 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Vagabond Shoes/Some Days There Just Ain't No Fish

  • This Joint's Too Hip for Me/Why Can't You Love That Way

  • World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: French Africa

  • Muddy River Blues/Wolverine Blues

  • Black Butterfly/You Can Depend on Me

  • Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club

  • 474 (CDR copy)

  • Songs and Dances of Norway

  • L'Honneur des Poetes

  • Discusses His Theatre Compositions

  • Riverside Blues/Cake Walking Babies

  • Ballad Hunter, The: John Lomax Pts. 5 & 6

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Studs Terkel's Weekly Almanac on Folk Music
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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