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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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  • Lead Belly Last Sessions,OCT 15 1948 (CDR copy- also CDR 305)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, AUG 1953

  • Soul Sister

  • Carioca/All the Things You Are

  • I Wished Someone Cared Enough to Cry/Texas Hop

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Oh Jeanette/Flower of Love

  • Porter's Love Song, A/Since I've Been with You

  • Buddy Boy Hawkins and His Buddies

  • Tour de Monde, Le: Des Petis Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois

  • Tivoli Hambo/After Brollopet

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Dave Van Ronk Sings Ballads Blues and Spirituals (on FW Wall)

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, AUG 23 1964

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown at Howard University

  • St. Louis Tickle/Silver Bell

  • Price, Bonner, Carey ,JUN 22 (CDR copy)

  • AJR, Rags, FEB 21 1960 (CDR copy)

  • Revolver

  • Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band

  • Under a Peaceful Sky/High Society

  • Lead Belly WNYC Radio Show

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown

  • Doo De Doo on an Old Kazoo/beautiful Eyes

  • Do You Believe in Magic

  • Poemontages: 100 Years of French Poetry, 1948

  • Gregg's Pipes

  • Cat-Iron

  • March on Washington AUG 28 1963

  • He Didn't Ask Me/I Ain't Talkin'

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, MAR 16 1964

  • Music from the South, Vol. 9: Song and Worship

  • Music from the South, St. Matthew Baptist Church, JUN 22 1954 (CDR copy)

  • That's Good Enough for Me/Row, Row, Row

  • Jazz Odyssey (CDR copy)

  • Polkas

  • Dinah, pts. 1 & 2

  • Embryo/A Jacquet for Jack the Bellboy

  • Let the Good Times Roll/Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens

  • Draggin' My Heart Around/Blues for Someone

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown

  • Them Old Country Songs

  • Music from the South

  • After Hours/It's Full or it Ain't No Good

  • AJR, JUL 16 1966

  • 14 Blue Roads to St. Louis

  • Vie en Rose, La/C'esty Si Bon

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, SEP 18 1967

  • The Wagoners Sing Folk Songs for Camp

  • Faulkner Reads His Works

  • Foolin' Myself/I Must Have That Man

  • L'il Liza Jane/When My Sugar Walks Down the Street

  • Roy Harris: Folksong Symphony 1940

  • Definitive Album by Louis Armstrong

  • On a Cocoanut Island/To You Sweetheart, Aloha

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 16 1965

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAY 04 1953

  • Fred Ramsey In Person Interview, WCBS, DEC 21 1960 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, JUN 29 1954 (CDR copy)

  • My Gal Sal/Beyond the Moon

  • Music from the South, Sanctified Church

  • You Can Depend on Me/Stormy Weather

  • Chuberry Jam/Maelstrom

  • V.I.P.'s Boogie/Jam with Sam

  • Jazz Odyssey, Vol. 1, side 1, record II (CDR copy)

  • Jazz Odyssey, Vol. 1, side 1, record III

  • Easter Parade/Tell Me

  • Sounds of Four Seasons Original Sample, 1953

  • text in Japanese

  • Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band

  • Ramsey Recordings

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 11 1965

  • When My Sugar Walks Down the Street/Pyramid

  • I Didn't Like it the First Time/Sit Down and Drink It Over

  • Band Ain't Draggin/Love Locked Out

  • Skiffle in Stereo

  • Apurksody/Jungle Madness

  • The Carol of the Birds/Carol of the Angels

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Lead Belly Radio Show Edited Master (from RR-227, 186, 201, 226) 1948 (CDR copy, also CDR 309)

  • Music from the South, Dora Williams

  • Blow-Top Blues/Robbins in Your Hair

  • Lots More Blues, Rags and Hollers

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • Sounds of Four Seasons, MAY 25 1964

  • Blues/I'm Coming Virginia

  • It Must Be True/Harmony Grits

  • Music from the South, Rev. Lewis Jackson

  • Happy Blues/Them There Eyes

  • It's the Talk of the Town/Meandering

  • Damp Weather/Tip Easy Blues

  • Lead Belly Last Sessions, SEP 27 1948

  • Music from the South, Vicksburg, JUN 29 1954 (CDR copy)

  • The Sit-In Story

  • Collier's Clambake/Collier's Climb

  • Salute to Fats/These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

  • Music from the South, Morning Star Baptist Church, JUN 17 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Deep Purple/Rhapsody in Blue

  • Messin' Around/Adam's Apple

  • Here's a Little Girl from Jacksonville (Let's See What She Can Do)/Leave My Man Alone

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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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