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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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  • J'Attendrai/Le Fiacre

  • Lead Belly 1048 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott

  • Music from the South, Small High Society, JUN 02 1954 (CDR copy)

  • 78 rpm Records

  • Music from the South, Louis Jones, JUN 04 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Battle Hymn of the Republic, pts. 1 & 2

  • Music from the South, Dave Butler

  • St. Louis Town, 1929-1933

  • Buffalo Rag, The/Barnyard Serenade

  • Blues dubs, JUL 05 1959

  • Irish Black Bottom/Memphis Blues

  • Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams/Someday, Sweetheart

  • Ramsey Recordings: Ragtime dubbed from WBAI

  • Music from the South, Eureka Brass Band

  • Continental, The/Nothing But D. Best

  • Kansas City Man Blues/Wild Cat Blues

  • Old Man Blues/Nobody Knows the Way I Feels Dis' Morning

  • My Melancholy Baby/Wrappin' it Up

  • Sweet and Lovely/I Saw Stars

  • Music from the South, Dorothy Melton APR 28 1954 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Morning Star Baptist Church

  • Sounds of Four Seasons - Fall (Copy)

  • I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly-Roll/Ballin' the Jack

  • Armchair Boogie

  • Peace Moratorium March, NOV 15 1969 (CDR copy)

  • Jaleo, El/Ya Se Paso La Negra

  • Doo Wacka Doo/Ook McGlook

  • North Journey

  • March on Washington, AUG 28 1963

  • Ragtime dubbed from WBAI, MAY 14 1971

  • Kerry Testimony before Senate Committee, APR 22 1971 (CDR copy)

  • Ghetto Reality

  • Songs and Stories, JAN 31 1965 (CDR copy)

  • Tracy Chapman

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown at Howard University

  • Music from the South, Morning Star Baptist Church

  • Ain't She Sweet/I Love You

  • Music from the South, Dora Bliggen

  • Mike Hurley, First Songs, APR 09 1964

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

  • Vol. 9: Up the Mississippi

  • Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Songs

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott, APR 27 1957 (CDR copy)

  • Valentino Tangos

  • Windy Williamson, Coon and Fox Hunts NOV 27 1962 (CDR copy)

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

  • Walt Robertson Sings American Folk Songs

  • Poemontages: 100 Years of French Poetry, SEP 13 1948

  • Chante, Je/Fleur Bleue

  • Riffin' at 24th Street/King Jacquet

  • Ballad Hunter, The: John Lomax Pts. 9 & 10

  • House Party Blues/After You've Gone

  • AJR, Rags, DEC 29 1961

  • Misc., including NYC Safety, Vera Hall (CDR copy)

  • Ramsey Recordings: Karl Dietrich Test for NBC

  • Kent Massacre dubbed from WBAI MAY 06 1970

  • Ramsey Recordings: Church Service in Addor

  • Poppity Pop (Motor Sickle)/Slim's Jam

  • Puttin' on the Ritz/Singing a Vagabond Song

  • Red Army Sings, The: A Revolution in Hi-Fi

  • Mardi Gras/Blues in Riff

  • Ten Years in Memphis, 1927-37

  • Medley from Congress Dances/Showers of Gold

  • ABC Song Makers, Ramsey interviews, Clara Littrie (CDR copy)

  • Back in Your Own Back Yard/All the Wrongs You've Done to Me

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC N

  • It's Mad, Mad, Mad/Don't Be So Mean to Baby ('Cause Baby's So Good to You)

  • Hip Hip Hooray/But She's My Buddy's Chick

  • Drums, NOV 25 1962 (CDR copy)

  • His Feet Too Big for De Bed/After You

  • D'Natural Blues/Little Girl, Don't Cry

  • Music from the South, Dora Bliggen

  • Dub of Rutgers Radio Center's `Why Work? AUG 1973 (CDR copy)

  • Music from the South, Scott Dunbar

  • Ramsey Recordings: Windy Williamson, Coon Hunts

  • Big Boy Blue/Margie

  • Music from the South, Vol. 6: Elder Songsters 1

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sterling Brown

  • Together Again!

  • Ramsey Recordings: Mike Hurley, First Songs

  • How Come You Do Me Like You Do/Washington and Lee Swing

  • I Can Hear it Now, 1919-1932, Vol. 3

  • Mississippi Portrait transcription, NBC News, APR 21 1965

  • Stompin' at the Savoy/Breakin' in a Pair of Shoes

  • Music from the South, Louis Jones

  • Lotus Blossom/Dream Lucky Blues

  • When Your Lover Has Gone/Carnegie Horizons

  • Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

  • Firemen's Polka/Ooomp-Pah Waltz

  • Rhumboogie/Cow Cow Blues

  • Travelin' Man

  • AJR, Rags, JUL 31 1966

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Church Service in Addor, SEP 23 1956

  • American Patrol/La Sorella March

  • Ramsey Recordings: Sounds of Four Seasons

  • Music from the South, Horace Sprott SEP 28 1956 (CDR copy)

  • It's Right Here for You/Strut Miss Lizzie

  • Drop Me Off at Harlem/Merry-Go-Round

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Studs Terkel's Weekly Almanac on Folk Music
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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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