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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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  • B.B. King - Why I Sing the Blues

  • Songs and Ballads of the Scottish Wars

  • Many a Mile

  • Bongo Riff/Willow Weep for Me

  • Down in the Valley/Cowboy's Lament

  • Chicago/The Blues/Today, Vol. 1

  • I Want to Be Loved (But Only By You)/Dit Dot Dit

  • Lead Belly Last Sessions, NOV 05 1948

  • Boze Ojcze/Swiety Boze

  • Lead Belly

  • Musicians Play All Night/Kirmess Waltz

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, JUN 09 1953

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News

  • Cunha Medley/Hula Medley

  • It's My Way

  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, JUN 04 1953

  • Ramsey Recordings: Fleetwing and Union Volunteer Fire Company

  • Paper Doll/Besame Mucho

  • Music from the South, Sanctified Church

  • Music from the South, JUN 12 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Happy Go Lucky You and Broken Hearted Me/I Don't Want it No More

  • Quo Vadis/Sogno di Primavera

  • Ramsey Recordings: Odyssey Show

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

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • ?

  • A Touch of Tyrol

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Hand in Hand Blues/Tailor-Made Gal

  • Stompin' at the Savoy/A Melody from the Sky

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • World War II Army Day, APR 09 1969 (CDR copy)

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, AUG 06 1964

  • The Mariachi

  • Windy Williamson NOV 27 1962 (CDR copy)

  • Chiquita Banana/There's Still a Little Time

  • If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight

  • Little By Little/When You Wish Upon a Star

  • Music from the South, Vol. 8: Young Songsters

  • Music from the South, Louis Jones

  • Miss Eva/Who are You?

  • I Like My Sugar Sweet/Let's Go Home

  • Christmas in Austria

  • Projections

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, MAR 24 1964

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAY 26 1953

  • Dawn in a Duck Blind: A Guide to the Calls of Waterfowl

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing, MAR 14 1965

  • Never Too Late to Pray/Chicago

  • (CDR copy)

  • Big Fat Sam/Lazy Blues

  • Music from the South, Jake Field Cabin APR 18 1954 (CDR copy)

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

  • Music from the South, Vol. 5: Song, Play and Dance

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

  • Music from the South, Vol. 4 Horace Sprott, 3, side 2

  • Alice in Wonderland, Vol. 2

  • Blues Album- Test Pressing

  • Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band

  • Sterling Brown, NOV 16 1969 (CDR copy)

  • Music of New Orleans, Vol. 1: The Music of the Streets- The Music of Mardi Gras

  • New Orleans Jazz

  • Music from the South, Vol. 3: Horace Sprott, 2, side 1 (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Peace Moratorium March NOV 15 1969 (CDR copy)

  • Billy the Kid/Whattya Gonna Do?

  • Honeysuckle Rose/Willow Tree

  • Eudora Welty Reading from Her Works

  • Music from the South, Small High Society

  • 62-B (CDR copy)

  • Just a Gigolo/Huckleberry Duck

  • Prelude to a Kiss/I Can't Escape from You

  • Mundo Argentino/El Taita

  • (Oh Why, Oh Why Did I Ever Leave) Wyoming/When Rosie Riccoola Do the Hoola Ma Boola

  • A. Gray, pilot (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News

  • Music from the South, MAY 31 1954 (CDR copy)

  • RAD Clarke along with Fred and Amelia Ram SEP 28 1962

  • Train Time

  • How High the Moon/Cowboy Rhumba

  • Carry Me Back to Old Virginny/Blue Lou

  • Bob Mielke's Bearcats DEC 29 (CDR copy)

  • Soul '69

  • The Red Army Marches in Hi-Fi

  • Humoresque/Waltz Boogie

  • New Songs of the African Coast

  • Monotony in Four Flats/I Ain't Gonna Study War No More (Down By the Riverside)

  • Star Dust/Song of India

  • Mutton Leg/Symphony in Sid

  • Music from the South, Sanctified Church APR 15 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Linda Polka/The Owl Waltz

  • Gerkim, Gerkim/Rai, Rai, Ra-Ta-Tai

  • untitled

  • Under a Blanket of Blue/Hollyridge Drive

  • That Ain't Right/What's Mine is Mine

  • Bugle Call Rag/After You've Gone

  • Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day/I'm Rhythm Crazy Now

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, APR 26 1953

  • Lazy Rhapsody/Blue Ramble

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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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