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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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  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, APR 01 1964

  • Star Dust/Swanee River

  • Africa 1954

  • Organ Grinder's Swing/Shine

  • Endurance Stomp/Jockey Stomp

  • Got Another Sweetie Now/Tennessee Twilight

  • Ramsey Recordings: AJR, Rags

  • Ramsey Recordings: Misc., including Fritzie the Lineman

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown at Howard University

  • Can Anyone Explain (No, No, No)/Dream a Little Dream of Me

  • Unlucky Blues/(Can't Read, Can't Write) Gonna Buy Me a Telephone

  • Broke and Hungry

  • Going to the Ventures Dance Party

  • Negro Folk Music of Alabama-Spirituals

  • Sweet Home Chicago

  • Poemontages, DEC 08 1948

  • Snaker's Here

  • Chicago Jazz Album

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, AUG 31 1953

  • ABC Sound, Scott Dunbar Music from the South

  • BP3

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Carolyn Hester

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing

  • My Sweetie Went Away/Duck's Quack

  • Oh, Marie!/On My Way Out

  • The Hard Driving Blues of Roosevelt Sykes

  • Hawk Talks, The/Fancy Dan

  • Candy Baby/Peculiar Rag

  • Madre del Cordero, La/Cancion de la Benedictina

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Music from the South, Louis Jones

  • Odyssey Show, Brass Bands

  • Music from the South, Charlie Love

  • Build That Railroad/Love You Madly

  • Sounds of Four Seasons - Fall (Original)

  • Ramsey Recordings: AJR, Rags to Burn

  • Music from the South, Henrietta Tuner

  • The Faulse Lady

  • Blues dubs

  • The Wayfaring Stranger

  • V'lirusholaim Iruchu/Oshamnu Mikoi Om

  • Candy/Byas-a-Drink

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown

  • I've Found a New Baby/Swingtime in the Rockies

  • Roosevelt Sykes in Europe

  • Satchmo at Symphony Hall, Vol. 1

  • If I Could Be With You/I Wish You Would (Love Me Like I'm Loving You)

  • Lead Belly Last Sessions, SEP 27 1948 (CDR copy- also CDR 285/301)

  • You Started Me Dreaming/Robins and Roses

  • Loch Readings and Song (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, JUL 16 1953

  • Basie English/Exercise in Swing

  • All Alone and Lonely/Careless Love

  • Blue Moon/Panama

  • Fred Waring Music; Jerome Kern Songs

  • Ramsey Recordings: Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band

  • Sounds of Four Seasons - Summer, Reel A

  • Chlo-E/Across the Track Blues

  • These are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Lead Belly 1965

  • Folk Music of the Central East USSR- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Bukhara

  • Ramsey Recordings: Ragtime dubbed from WBAI

  • Odyssey Show, OCT 17 1956

  • Ramsey Recordings: Fleetwing and Union Volunteer Fire Company

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAY 28 1953

  • Ramsey Recordings: Peace Moratorium March

  • Signe/Under Skilda Fanor

  • Poulenc, Le Bal Masque, DEC 08 1948

  • Big City Blues

  • Too Many Times/Stumbling

  • Music from the South, St. Matthew Baptist Church

  • 473 (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAY 08 1962

  • Jack the Bear/Morning Glory

  • Swingin' on the Teagarden Gate/Beale Street Blues

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band, JUN 02 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Monster Mash

  • Irish Popular Dances

  • Sleigh Ride in July/Like Someone in Love

  • Soothe Me/Lover

  • Cante Flamenco Anthology, Vol. 2

  • Music from the South, Richard Jolla

  • That's a Plenty

  • Reminiscing in Tempo, Pts. 1 & 2

  • Ballad Hunter, The: John Lomax Pts. 3 & 4

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing, Out-Takes

  • Quarterlodeons

  • Little Bird Told Me, A/What Did You Do to Me?

  • Guide to Jazz

  • King's Horses, The/Gee, It Must Be Love

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Jack Kerouac and Steve Allen: Poetry for the Beat Generation

  • The Bluebeard Blues/Golden Bullet

  • Ramsey Recordings: Lead Belly

  • Greatest Years

  • Lead Belly Radio Programs, WNYC 1948 (CDR copy, also CDR 307)

  • Charlie and Sou 1955

  • The Staple Singers

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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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