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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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  • Continental, The/Heywood's Boogie

  • Blues Piano Orgy

  • Music from the South

  • Arbee Stidham (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons - Spring(Copy)

  • Music of the South, Vol. 4: Horace Sprott 3

  • Hawk Squat!

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, AUG 23 1953

  • Loch, Nature Sounds, AUG 09 1953

  • Dance-A-Long: Rhythmic Exercises 1950

  • Wise Guys (You're a Wise Guy)/All I Ever Do is Worry

  • I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate/Got to Cool My Doggies Now

  • Rosetta/Deep Forest

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown at Howard University

  • Circus Slide/When the War Breaks Out in Mexico

  • Ramsey Recordings: Fleetwing and Union Volunteer Fire Compay

  • text in Japanese

  • I'll Keep the Lovelight Burning (In My Heart)/Maybe It's Because

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Ballads of the Civil War: 1861-1865

  • Here to There

  • Chicken Rhythm/School Kids Hop

  • Break in number scheme??

  • Love for Sale/Be Easy, Be Tender

  • Sterling Brown at Howard University, MAY 06 1963

  • BP1

  • Music from the South

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing

  • Music from the South, JUN 22 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Dora Williams

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Rare Blues of the Twenties

  • March on Washington AUG 28 1963 (CDR copy)

  • Speaking Drums from Equatorial Africa, JUN 14 1953 (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Unmarked

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAY 11 1953

  • Ramsey Recordings: AJR, Rags

  • Songs and Pipes of the Hebrides

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Lead Belly WNYC Radio Show, SEP 26 1948

  • Joog Joog/The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Music of the South, Vol. 1: Country Brass Bands

  • Indra Waltz/Dollar Waltz

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, NOV 12 1952

  • Music of Poland

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

  • Georgia Jubilee/Emaline

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, NOV 22 1952

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

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

  • Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia/Lincoln and Douglas: The Years of Decision

  • Charlie Patton, 1929-32

  • Tell Me, Marianne/Lillette

  • AJR, Rags, JUN 01 1966

  • Lead Belly Legacy Vols 1 & 2, Take This Hammer

  • I Didn't Know What Time it Was/How's Trix?

  • Someday Sweetheart/Hollywood Jump

  • Czy Panny Sa Wierne/Zlaczona Milosc

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott APR 26 1954 (CDR copy)

  • When That Man is Dead and Gone/Jenny

  • Find Out What They Like/Carolina in the Morning

  • Come Back to Sorrento/Chinese Lullaby

  • Rock it for Me/Barefoot Blues

  • Indian Music of Mexico

  • Sounds of Four Seasons - Summer, Reel B

  • Coppin' Out/Blues Collins

  • Churritos Calientes/El Sordo

  • I Want to Linger/What's Your Story

  • Folk Festival at Newport, 1960, Vol. 2

  • Daddy/Street of Dreams

  • NBC Pilot Sync, Horace Sprott

  • Hello My Lover, Goodbye/Easy Come, Easy Go

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 23 1965

  • Me and the Blues/I'll Close My Eyes

  • On Stage: Concert, Vol. 2

  • Swedish Pastry/Who Sleeps

  • Music from the South

  • Ramsey Recordings: AJR, Rags to Burn

  • Ramsey Recordings: Odyssey Show

  • My Honey's Lovin' Arms/Suddenly It Jumped

  • Jazz Odyssey

  • Only a Moment Ago/Rainbow Gal

  • Music from the South: Chickadee

  • St. Louis Town 1929-1933

  • Chant du Pirate, Le/Adieu Mon Couer

  • Copenhagen/Louella

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News

  • Ballads

  • Blues on the Down Beat/Kaycee on My Mind

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar, JUN 25 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Blue Light Blues/I'm Coming Virginia

  • Stars Fell on Alabama/Temptation

  • Charlie Was a Sailor/Martin on Every Block

  • High Society/Wabash Blues

  • The Warm Valley/Flaming Sword

  • Jail-House Blues/Graveyard Dream Blues

  • The Restoration Sophisticate

  • Angry/Mickey

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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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