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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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  • Ramsey Recordings: Unmarked Tape

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Swing Time Up in Harlem/Swing High

  • Misc., including Sinatra, Benny Fields, 11 30 1950 (CDR copy)

  • Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful

  • Music from the South, Vol. 4 Horace Sprott, 3, side 2 (CDR copy)

  • Ragtime dubbed from WBAI

  • Scottish Songs and Ballads

  • Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

  • On Stage

  • My Heart Sings/Carnegie Blues

  • Open Reel Tapes

  • My Number One Dream Came True/Foggy River

  • Bound for Glory

  • Dream Kisses/ Jazz at the Philharmonic (on B side)

  • It's a Mighty World

  • I'll Get Along Somehow/Young Girl's Blues

  • Mixed-Up World of Bagdasarian

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing

  • Solitude/Delta Serenade

  • Boogin' with Mezz/I Finally Gotcha

  • 12 String Guitar

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, AUG 07 1964

  • The Legendary Peg Leg Howell

  • Ry Cooder, MAR 09 1970 (CDR copy)

  • I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now/Insensiblement

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

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

  • Ramsey Recordings: Rags dubbed from collection of Trevor Tichner

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Souveins-Toi/Ce N'etait Pas Vous

  • Music from the South, Vol. 10, side 1 Master (CDR copy)

  • 472 (CDR copy)

  • 2:19 Blues/Ace in the Hole

  • Ramsey Recordings: Steve Weber

  • Blues Project Dub (CDR copy)

  • 469 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Dorothy Melton

  • Cliff - stories - Over the Hill, APR 24 (CDR copy)

  • Texas Folk Songs with Hermes Nye and Guitar

  • Porque/Quand L'Amour Meurt

  • S'posin/Cecilia

  • Sheik of Araby, The/Chinatown, My Chinatown

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Zwei Herzen im 3/4 Takt/In Dienen Augen Liegt das Herz Von Wein

  • Monday Date, A/Weather Bird

  • The Mississippi Blues 1927-1940

  • Folk Music of Jamaica

  • Sterling Brown, SEP 16 1967 (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Windy Williamson

  • Sound of Africa Series: Kanyoka, Belgian Congo

  • How Come You Do Me Like You Do/Ballin' the Jack

  • Monster Melodies

  • Poemontages: 100 Years of French Poetry

  • Pick Yourself Up/Down South Camp Meetin'

  • Lucia Polka/Zip Oberek

  • Chant of the Weed/Two Time Man

  • Too Young/That's My Girl

  • By George/It Isn't Easy

  • His Band and Street Choir

  • West Side Soul

  • Lead Belly Radio Show "The Story of Folklore," OCT 02 1948 (CDR copy, also CDR 306/307)

  • Voices of African Birds

  • Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

  • I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate/More Than I Should

  • Hoodoo Man Blues

  • Escalay: The Water Wheel: Oud Music from Nubia

  • Sounds of Four Seasons ,JAN 10 1965

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

  • Blue Lou/The Blues

  • Music from the South, Wilson Boling (CDR copy)

  • AJR, Rags to Burn, JUN 17 1971

  • Russian Choral Music

  • Original Jelly Roll Blues/At a Georgia Camp Meeting

  • Cat-Iron

  • Goodbye Blues/Cloudy Skies 1930

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 29 1965

  • An Evening in Sapsucker Woods

  • Just a Sittin' and a-Rockin'/Don't Knock It

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott Titanic, MAY 14 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Fasola, NBC

  • Ramsey Recordings: Fleetwing and Union Volunteer Fire Company

  • Love Me Mama

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing, Out-Takes (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAR 08 1953

  • Lead Belly

  • The Wagoners Sing Folk Songs for Camp

  • Fast Fingers

  • Kruschen, Washington Press, SEP 16 1959

  • Eccentric/Guess Who's in Town

  • In My Merry Old Oldsmobile, Pts. 1 & 2

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Unmarked

  • Wire Brush Stomp/Hamtramck

  • Ramsey Recordings: Peace Moratorium March

  • Gov. Johnson opens Mississippi Legislature, JAN 05 1966

  • Blues n' Trouble, Vol. 2

  • Music from the South, Rev. Lewis Jackson

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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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