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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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  • Jazz Me Blues/Anything

  • Basin Street Stomp/Margie

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 1965

  • Music from the South, Wilson Boling

  • Slubny Wieniec/Chlopska Duma

  • Sign of the Judgement/Swing Low Sweet Chariot

  • Big Fat Ma, Skinny Pa/General Jumped at Dawn

  • ABC Song Makers, tape #24, Ramsey, McGuin, OCT 31 1966 (CDR copy)

  • Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight)/You Started Something

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Music from the South, Jake Field Cabin

  • Country Girls!, The, 1927-35: 16 Rare Blues and Ballads with Guitar

  • Satchmo at Pasadena

  • Ramsey Recordings: Marcia Charry

  • Dark Town Poker Club, The/Jelly Bean

  • Music from the South, Vol. 7: Elder Songsters 2

  • Black Magic

  • Windy Williamson, NOV 27 1962 (CDR copy)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, OCT 30 1964

  • Voices of the American Revolution

  • Duke Ellington's Greatest

  • Eastern Chimes Blues/Deep Morgan Blues

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, JAN 18 1965

  • Karl Dietrich Test for NBC (CDR copy)

  • Idaho/One Dozen Roses

  • Glory of Love, The/Take it or Leave It

  • Walking the Blues

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Black and Tan Fantasie/Creole Love Call

  • These Foolish Things Remind Me of You/Once in a While

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • First Kiss Waltz/Four Little Blackberries

  • No Variety Blues/Whattya Gonna Do

  • Music from the South, Small High Society

  • ME4, JAN 12 1965

  • (New) Call of the Freaks, The/Jersey Lightning

  • Voice of the Turtle, The/Time on My Hands

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N, APR 19 1965

  • ABC Sound, Scott Dunbar Music from the South (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: AJR, Rags

  • AJR - 11

  • Uncle Bouqui of Haiti: By Harold Courlander

  • Fasola, Sacred Harp Singing (CDR copy)

  • Badminton and Parchesi JUL 18 1964

  • Your Mother's Son-in-Law/Riffin' the Scotch

  • I'm Satisfied with My Gal/Over the Waves

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Oh, Chuck It (In a Bucket)/You Ain't Got it No More

  • Blues at High Noon/Snub's Boogie

  • Flat Foot Floogie/Big John Special

  • Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid, A/I'm a Ding Dong Daddy

  • Back O'Town Blues/Linger in My Arms a Little Longer, Baby

  • Music from the South, Rev. Lewis Jackson

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England

  • Some Day/Fifty-Fifty Blues

  • Misirlou/Babalu

  • Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band

  • Ramsey Recordings: Ragtime dubbed from WBAI

  • This Land

  • Fasola, NBC (CDR copy)

  • The Legend of Bessie Smith

  • Elli, Elli Lomo Asavtoni/A Din Toire Mit Gott

  • Music from the South, Starlight Gospel Singers

  • At Sundown/Lover, Come Back to Me

  • Lead Belly

  • Twilight Time/Shaga, Shaga, Shuffle

  • Music from the South

  • Music from the South

  • Ballad Hunter, The: John Lomax Pts. 7 & 8

  • Sterling Brown, MAR 21 1963 (CDR copy)

  • Zydeco 1967

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Alice in Wonderland, Vol. 1

  • Good to the Last Bop/You are Too Beautiful

  • Ramsey Recordings: Odyssey Show

  • 470 (CDR copy)

  • Odyssey Show, Brass Bands

  • Hop Off/Snag It

  • Baby, When You Ain't There/Lightnin'

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Swing Hallelujah

  • What Does it Matter?/Hoosier Sweetheart

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • Ramsey Recordings: Karl Dietrich Test for NBC

  • Reminiscing in Tempo, pts. 3 & 4

  • Pleasure Dome: An Audible Anthology of Modern Poetry Read by Its Creators

  • Bo Carter- Greatest Hits 1930-1940

  • Beale Street Mess Around

  • I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You/I've Got a Note

  • Music from the South, APR 09 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Lead Belly's Last Sessions, OCT 15 1948 (CDR copy- also CDR 301)

  • Native Brazilian Music, Vol. 1

  • Come on Children, Let's Sing

  • Chloe/Chloe

  • Songs of the South African Veld, Vol. 1

  • Texas Moaner/Limehouse Blues

  • April in Paris/How Strange

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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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