Audiotapes, CDs and digital files: an ongoing project to interview and preserve the memories of people important in the jazz world, including jazz musicians, singers, dancers, producers, arrangers, and others. A list of interviewees and interviewers follows.
The following is a list of the individuals who conducted the interviews.
1. Brown, Anthony
2. Baker, Lida
3. Burstein, Julie
Interviewer
2. Bluiett, Hamiet
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into six series.
Series 1, DAT and CD Original Interview Recordings, 1992-2012
Series 2, Cassette Reference and Master Interview Tapes, 1992-2012
Series 3, Audio CD Reference Copies, 2000-2012
Series 4, Video/CD, 1994-2012
Series 5, Transcripts and Abstracts, 1992-2014
Series 6, Supplemental Documentation, 1992-2012
Biographical / Historical:
The Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, a project of "America's Jazz Heritage, A Partnership of the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Smithsonian Institution" initiative was created in 1992. More than 150 in-depth oral history interviews were conducted from 1992 through 2002. The collection was transferred to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in 2000. Now part of the National Museum of American History's American Music History Initiatives, the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program continues to conduct interviews as funding is available.
The Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program was established to document significant jazz musicians, performers, producers, and business associates in their own words and voices. Program staff contacted and worked with potential interviewees to arrange for interviews. Each interview was conducted by a jazz authority and was recorded on digital audiotape by a professional audio engineer. The interviews averaged 6 hours in length and covered a wide range of topics including early years, initial involvement in music, generally, and jazz specifically, as well as experiences in the jazz music world, including relationships to musicians. The original DAT interview tapes were then dubbed to audiocassettes and CD to create protection and access copies. More recent interviews have been recorded using fully digital technology and the interviews are preserved and made availbel as digital files.
A number of the interviews were conducted as part of the Ella Fitzgerald Oral History Project of the Jazz Oral History Program. Funded by the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, these interviews focus on the life and work of Ella Fitzgerald. The National Endowments for the Arts Jazz Masters Oral Histories Program continues to support new interviews with NEA Jazz Masters.
For more information about jazz concerts, education, collections, Jazz Appreciation Month, and the Jazz Master orchestra, visit Smithsonian Jazz.
Provenance:
The interviews were made for the Smithsonian Institution under the auspices of the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program supported by America's Jazz Heritage, funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Oral Histories Program. Additional interviews were conducted with support from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Researchers must use reference copies.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Release forms exist for most interviews.
[Interviewee name] Interview, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2014, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
The interviews were made for the Smithsonian Institution under the auspices of the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program and supported by America's Jazz Heritage, funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Oral Histories Program. Additional interviews were conducted with support from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
Collection consists of approximately 320 titles from the Jimmie Lunceford Band Orchestrations.
Scope and Contents:
The Frank Driggs Collection of Jimmie Lunceford Orchestrations consists of ca. 310 music titles dating from approximately 1935 to 1954. The titles are arranged alphabetically. Many arrangements are by Edwin Wilcox but the orchestrations also include arrangements by Sy Oliver
and Willie Smith who with Wilcox were the "architects" of the Lunceford style. There are a few arrangements by Lunceford and others including Fernando Arbello, Al Cobbs, Tadd Dameron, Bill Doggett, Eddie Durham, George Duvivier, Bud Estes, Horace Henderson, Dave McRae, Billy Moore, Jr., Don Redman, Roger Segure, Willie Smith, Lonnie Wilfong, and Chappie Willett. The arrangements are found in a variety of configurations. Some have a score only, some have parts only, some have both scores and parts, and a few have incomplete sets of parts. Several pieces contain piano or drum parts only. Many parts bear the musician's name rather than the instrument he played. It can be assumed by the condition of the material that the band continued to use the arrangements of Sy Oliver and Willie Smith after their departure in 1939. It appears they replaced those parts for their arrangements when they deteriorated from use. Although most of the material is in good condition, some older frequently used arrangements are in poor condition. Oversized scores were removed to one larger box; this box is at the end of the Collection and the reference see oversize.
This document uses three reference abbreviations to indicate the location of the music. See indicates the material is under another title or in the oversize box (for example;Cherry Blossom Lane see It Looks Like Love In Cherry Blossom Lane); the reference sa means see also and shows
additional music under this title is found elsewhere (for example: For The Rest Of My Life see oversize ). The reference verso indicates a part on the reverse of another piece of music (for example, Honeysuckle verso Cone With The Wind).Approximately 320 titles of Jimmie Lunceford Band Orchestrations.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Jimmie Lunceford (1902-1947) was born in Fulton, Missouri. He studied music under Wilberforce J. Whiteman, father of Paul Whiteman (leader of a popular swing band in the 1930's), when Lunceford's family moved to Denver, Colorado. Lunceford graduated with a bachelor's degree in music from Fisk University. In 1926, Lunceford was a performer in Mary Lou William's (nee Scruggs) band in Memphis, Tennessee where he taught music at Manassa High School. Lunceford returned to Fisk as an assistant professor and with his former students, Edwin Wilcox (piano) and Willie Smith (alto sax), formed the Chicksaw Syncopaters in 1927. Although Lunceford was a composer and skilled on reeds, guitar and trombone, he preferred to conduct, leading the band with a white baton. In 1929, the band became professional, and due to its popularity from radio broadcasts began touring nationally in 1933. Lunceford was a disciplinarian and from the beginning the band symbolized correctness and professionalism in music and demeanor with a great sense of showmanship. Its unique arrangements distinguished the band displaying a saxophone ensemble sound and a two-beat swing that came to be known as the "Lunceford style." This sound was the creation of its earliest arrangers, Wilcox and Smith, Sy Oliver who joined the band in 1935, and Eddie Durham (guitar) in 1939. The arrangements also provided showcases for the band's unique soloists Snooky Young (trumpet), Joe Thomas (tenor sax) and Trummy Young (trombone) among others. At its peak in the mid and late 1930's, the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra offered consistently brilliant swinging performances-popular with dancers. Nevertheless, by the early 1940's, the band reputation waned and many major soloists and arrangers left. Later arrangers, including Billy Moore, Jr. (who replaced Oliver when he joined Tommy Dorsey's band in 1939), Gerald Wilson and George Duvivier continued to contribute unique arrangements to the band's repertoire but the band's performances and popularity deteriorated until Lunceford's death in 1947. Edwin Wilcox and Joe Thomas co-led the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra until 1949 when the band continued sporadically under Wilcox's leadership until the early 1950's.
Separated Materials:
Brass mutes, bandstands, and percussion instruments that are located in the Division of Cultural and Community Life.
Provenance:
The collection was acquired from Frank Driggs, jazz historian, photographer, and producer from Brooklyn, New York. It was purchased with funds from the Division of Musical History, now known as the Division of Cultural and Community Life, August 31, 1992.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form:
Music
Orchestrations
Citation:
Frank Driggs Collection of Jimmie Lunceford Orchestrations, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Frank Driggs Collection of Jimmie Lunceford Orchestrations, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Collection consists of 157 8" x 10" black-and-white photographic copy prints of photographs in Frank Driggs's collection: Duke Ellington and his orchestra. Some copy prints have Smithsonian negative numbers.
Arrangement:
Collection arranged into ten series.
Biographical/Historical note:
Photographer and collector.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
Jazz at Lincoln Center
The Frank Driggs Jazz Photograph Collection was acquired by Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2013. The collection also includes posters, sheet music, records and Frank Driggs' personal papers.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Frank Driggs, January 11, 1991.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
The Archives Center does not own rights to these photographs. Contact respository for details.
Billy Taylor, Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart, Joe Nanton, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwicke, Fred Guy, Juan Tizol, Ivie Anderson, Wallace Jones, Lawrence Brown, Harry Carney, Sonny Greer – "Saturday Night Swing Club" broadcast, CBS Radio
