Skip to main content

Search

My Visit
Donate
Home Smithsonian Institution

Site Navigation

  • Visit
    • Museums and Zoo
    • Entry and Guidelines
    • Maps and Brochures
    • Dine and Shop
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Group Visits
      • Group Sales
  • What's On
    • Exhibitions
      • Current
      • Upcoming
      • Past
    • Online Events
    • All Events
    • IMAX & Planetarium
  • Explore
    • - Art & Design
    • - History & Culture
    • - Science & Nature
    • Collections
      • Open Access
    • Research Resources
      • Libraries
      • Archives
        • Smithsonian Institution Archives
        • Air and Space Museum
        • Anacostia Community Museum
        • American Art Museum
        • Archives of American Art
        • Archives of American Gardens
        • American History Museum
        • American Indian Museum
        • Asian Art Museum Archives
        • Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art
        • Hirshhorn Archive
        • National Anthropological Archives
        • National Portrait Gallery
        • Ralph Rinzler Archives, Folklife
        • Libraries' Special Collections
    • Podcasts
    • Stories
  • Learn
    • For Caregivers
    • For Educators
      • Art & Design Resources
      • Science & Nature Resources
      • Social Studies & Civics Resources
      • Professional Development
      • Events for Educators
      • Field Trips
    • For Students
    • For Academics
    • For Lifelong Learners
  • Support Us
    • Become a Member
    • Renew Membership
    • Make a Gift
    • Volunteer
      • Smithsonian Call Center
      • Ambassador Program
      • Museum Information Desk
      • Docent Programs
      • Behind-the-Scenes
      • Digital Volunteers
      • Participatory Science
  • About
    • Our Organization
      • Board of Regents
        • Members
        • Committees
        • Reading Room
        • Bylaws, Policies and Procedures
        • Schedules and Agendas
        • Meeting Minutes
        • Actions
        • Webcasts
        • Contact
      • Museums and Zoo
      • Research Centers
      • Cultural Centers
      • Education Centers
      • General Counsel
        • Legal History
        • Internships
        • Records Requests
          • Reading Room
        • Tort Claim
        • Subpoenas & Testimonies
        • Events
      • Office of Human Resources
        • Employee Benefits
        • How to Apply
        • Job Opportunities
        • Job Seekers with Disabilities
        • Frequently Asked Questions
        • SI Civil Program
        • Contact Us
      • EEO & Small Business
        • EEO Complaint Process
        • Individuals with Disabilities
        • Small Business Program
          • Doing Business with Us
          • Contracting Opportunities
          • Additional Resources
        • Special Emphasis Program
      • Sponsored Projects
        • Policies
          • Combating Trafficking in Persons
          • Animal Care and Use
          • Human Research
        • Reports
        • Internships
    • Our Leadership
    • Reports and Plans
      • Annual Reports
      • Metrics Dashboard
        • Dashboard Home
        • Virtual Smithsonian
        • Public Engagement
        • National Collections
        • Research
        • People & Operations
      • Strategic Plan
    • Newsdesk
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • Photos and Video
      • Media Kits
      • Fact Sheets
      • Visitor Stats
      • Secretary and Admin Bios
      • Filming Requests

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

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • next ›
  • last »
  • Ramsey Recordings: Unmarked

  • Palestine Dances

  • They All Played Ragtime

  • Music from the South

  • French Folk Songs

  • Kings of the Twelve-String

  • Te Armaras/Las Chiricas

  • Ma Rainey dubs (CDR copy)

  • American Essays, Vol. 1

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott MAY 08 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Serenade to a Poodle/Communications

  • Music from the South, Dave Butler, JUN 24 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • If I Lose, Let Me Lose (Mamma Don't Mind)/Every Every Morn' (I Want My Lovin')

  • The Blues of Alabama 1927-31

  • Anthology of Portugeuse Music

  • Bourbon Street Bounce/Pizza Pie Boogie

  • New Orleans String Band

  • Tango in Tempo/Lonely Little Music Box

  • Music from the South, Small High Society, JUN 02 1954

  • Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)/Don't Sit on My Bed

  • Organ-Oreenie/Little Red Riding Woods

  • Cat-Iron, MAY 27 1957 (CDR copy)

  • Dancing in the Dark/Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

  • Songs We Remember

  • 471 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Moanalua/Hawaiian Melodies

  • Blue-Tail Fly/Shine

  • Dziaduniu/Z Konca Swiata

  • AJR, Rags, NOV 25 1962

  • Circle Round the Sun

  • Painting the Clouds with Sunshine/Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me

  • Music from the South, Dora Bliggen

  • Loch Lomond/Camel Hop

  • Dylan Thomas Reads the Poetry of William Butler Yeats et. al...

  • Illinois Stomp/Ladies Lullaby

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Muskrat Ramble/Smokey Mokes

  • Comin' and Goin'/Hot and Anxious

  • Fifth Dimension

  • Moonglow/My Blue Heaven

  • Odyssey Show, Brass Bands

  • Where the Blues Were Born in New Orleans/Mahogany Hall Stomp

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Knockin' a Jug/Twelfth Street Rag

  • Ramsey Recordings: Odyssey Show

  • Blues

  • Crudup's Mood

  • What-Cha-Call 'Em Blues/Sugar Foot Stomp

  • A Treasury of Immortal Performances

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, JAN 20 1965

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Alma a Fa Alatt/Hova Viszi Az Oszi Szel

  • The Blues Project

  • Frankie and Johnny/Johnson Rag

  • Music from the South, Starlight Gospel Singers

  • Streamline/Sweet Lorraine

  • Sounds of Four Seasons - Winter, NOV 09 1967

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, SEP 03 1953

  • Test pressing of Various Songs

  • The I Can't Get Started/Prisoner's Song

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing, Out-Takes

  • Nocturne/Front and Center

  • South Side Soul

  • Royal Garden Blues/Jada

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • The Band

  • Good Morning Mr. Walker

  • Washington Post March/El Capitan March

  • Music from the South, Vol. 3: Horace Sprott, 2, side 1

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 19 1965

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, OCT 16 1953

  • 62-A (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Huff Cabin APR 17 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, AUG 03 1953

  • You Satisfy/Kansas City Mama

  • Songs of Ireland

  • Ramsey Recordings: Rags dubbed from collection of Trevor Tichner

  • September Song/Just a Gigolo

  • Mort Sahl at Sunset

  • Blues Project Live at the Cafe Au Go Go

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, MAR 22 1964 (CDR copy)

  • Moving Pictures at Punk'in Center/Old Country Fiddler andthe Book Agent

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott , MAY 06 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Sophisticated Lady/Stormy Weather

  • Lead Belly Last Sessions, SEP 27 1948 (CDR copy- CDR 285)

  • Hot Lips/Send Back My Honeyman

  • RAD Clarke along with Fred and Amelia Ram SEP 28 1962 (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown at Howard University

  • Blues with a Touch of Soul

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott Interview

  • Music from the South, Dora Williams APR 15 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Scotch Bagpipe Music

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • You, Rascal You/Blue Rhythm

  • Steve Weber NOV 28 1963 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott Interview, OCT 01 1956 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar, JUN 24 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Laugh Sequence, JUN 07 1959 (CDR copy)

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • next ›
  • last »
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.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer
View Finding aid

Footer logo

Link to homepage

Footer navigation

  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Get Involved
  • Inspector General
  • Records Requests
  • Accessibility
  • EEO & Small Business
  • Shop Online
  • Host Your Event
  • Press Room
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use

Social media links

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Get the latest news from the Smithsonian

Sign up for Smithsonian e-news

Get the latest news from the Smithsonian

Email powered by BlackBaud (Privacy Policy, Terms of Use)
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Back to Top