Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz | |
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Location | 6801 Freret Street, Jones Hall, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, United States |
Type | Research library and archive |
Established | 1958 |
Collection | |
Items collected | Oral histories, recordings, sheet music, images, research notes |
Size | approx. 140,000 holdings as of 2009 |
Other information | |
Website | jazz |
The Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz is an academic repository located at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The archive specializes in Dixieland Jazz, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, Creole songs, and related musical genres. Its collection includes oral histories, audio and video recordings, photos and other images, sheet music, personal papers, and teaching aids. [1]
Originally named the Archive of New Orleans Jazz and later renamed the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive, [2] it is often simply referred to as the Hogan Jazz Archive. [3] As of 2001, the archive was the world's largest jazz archive, with oral histories of more than 500 musicians of the genre. [4]
In 1958, then Tulane University graduate student Richard B. "Dick" Allen started a project on the oral history of New Orleans jazz. William Ransom Hogan (1908-1971) was a professor in the history department at Tulane University from 1947 until his death in 1971. [5] Hogan obtained grants from the Ford Foundation to develop much of the original collection at the archive and to support Allen's graduate thesis project. [6] [2]
Allen was adept at interviewing jazz musicians, and he emphasized musicians that were active early in the history of New Orleans-style jazz. His interviews resulted in a collection of oral histories occupying more than 2000 reels of audio tape, which form a core part of the Hogan Jazz Archive. [7]
At the time of its founding in 1958, the original goal of the Hogan Jazz Archive was to record the history of the local form of jazz music. [7] The original name of the archive was the "Archive of New Orleans Jazz". [2]
The Department of History at Tulane University had responsibility for management of the archive until the archive was moved to Jones Hall Library of Tulane University in 1965, which houses the special collections of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. [2]
Music historian and composer William Russell was the first curator of the Archive. He was succeeded by Richard B. "Dick" Allen served as curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive from 1965 to 1980. [8] Allen was then succeeded by Curt Jerde, and then by Bruce Boyd Raeburn (Wikidata). [6] In December 2019 musicologist Melissa A. Weber became curator. [9]
Under Russell's direction as curator, the archive emphasized documenting the heritage of older jazz musicians, and so an early history of was Papa Jack Laine who had performed as early as the 1884 World Cotton Centennial. Another early musician emphasized at the outset of the oral history project was the oral history of Dominic LaRocca who in 1917 founded the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. From the beginning of the archive, it strived to document the extensive influence of African-Americans and Creoles of color in the early development of New Orleans jazz. [4] [10]
The scope of the archive expanded as the archive developed. By 2022, the archive's collection went beyond oral histories, to include most types of media related to documenting the people important in the musical heritage of the jazz genre, the history of the business of jazz, and the culture that surrounded the musical genre. [2] Some areas of emphasis have included, but are not limited to: post-Civil War military music, African-American jazz funerals, African-American second-line parades, as well as Italian-American influences such as Sicilian open-air brass performances, funeral corteges, and Catholic Saints' Day processions. [11]
Over the years, the name of the archive has changed. William Ransom Hogan died in 1971, and, in 1974, the archive was re-named the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive. In 2020, the name of the archive was changed to the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz. [2]
Jazz musician Paul Crawford was associate curator of the archive. Music historian and jazz specialist Fred Ramsey served as a consultant to the Hogan Jazz Archive. [12]
Through the archive's history, it has relied on donations of archival material by musicians and others active in the music industry. At times, the archive has received grants, an example being a 2006 grant from the Grammy Foundation. [10] Grants have included financial backing to support the digitization of the archive's holdings. [13] The archive includes a digitized sheet music collection dating to 1838. [14]
At times, the Hogan Jazz Archive provides fellowships to visiting scholars to conduct research at the archives. These include the Louis Prima Research Fellowship and the Björn Bärnheim Research Fellowship, among others. [15]
The collection of the Hogan Jazz Archive continued to expand through its development. As of 2009, the collection included recordings of more than 700 jazz musicians. There were approximately 80,000 jazz recordings and 60,000 sheets of early jazz music. [6]
By early 2022, the collection of the archive included more than 2000 oral histories of jazz musicians and others important in the musical genre, these histories dating to the late 19th century. Many of these are digitized and available on-line. The collection includes sheet music covering the period 1838 to 1938, as well as rare books and thousands of photographs, ephemera, and personal papers of Jazz musicians and others involved in the art form. [2] [16] More recent oral histories are often in video format. The scope of the collection by that time also encompassed the full range of popular music of the New Orleans metropolitan area. [4]
The Hogan Jazz Archive had its own journal and newsletter, known as The Jazz Archivist, which was published from 1986 to 2019. The articles were written by members of the archive's staff and also independent music scholars. The complete set of issues of The Jazz Archivist is available on-line as of early 2022 (ISSN 1085-8415). [17]
Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca, was an American early jazz cornetist and trumpeter and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band, who is credited by some as being "the father of modern jazz". He is the composer of one of the most recorded jazz classics of all-time, "Tiger Rag". He was part of what is generally regarded as the first recorded jazz band, a band which recorded and released the first jazz recording, "Livery Stable Blues" in 1917.
Algiers is a historic neighborhood of New Orleans and is the only Orleans Parish community located on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Algiers is known as the 15th Ward, one of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. It was once home to many jazz musicians Algiers frequently although dubiously bills itself as the second oldest neighborhood in the city.
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was an American writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, and blues producer. He is best known for his non-fictional writing on the field of music; his work as a music journalist for The New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine; his production work for blues recordings ; and his clarinet playing as a member of the 1960s jazz band, the Insect Trust.
Thaddeus Bunol "Tad" Jones was an American music historian and researcher. His extensive research is credited with definitively establishing and documenting Louis Armstrong's correct birth date, August 4, 1901.
Boyd Albert Raeburn was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.
Edmond Hall was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. Over his career, Hall worked extensively with many leading performers as both a sideman and bandleader and is possibly best known for the 1941 chamber jazz song "Profoundly Blue".
The New Orleans Jazz Museum is a music museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history of jazz music. Originally a separate museum, the collection is now affiliated with the Louisiana State Museum. The New Orleans Jazz Museum is located in the Old U.S. Mint building on 400 Esplanade Avenue, bordering the historic French Quarter neighborhood.
John Robichaux (1866–1939) was an American jazz bandleader, drummer, and violinist. He was the uncle of Joseph Robichaux.
Alcide Louis "Slow Drag" Pavageau was an American jazz guitarist and double-bassist.
Edmond "Doc" Souchon was an American jazz guitarist and writer on music. He was a pivotal figure in the historical preservation of New Orleans jazz in the middle of the 20th century.
"Livery Stable Blues" is a jazz composition copyrighted by Ray Lopez and Alcide Nunez in 1917. It was recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band on February 26, 1917, and, with the A side "Dixieland Jass Band One-Step" or "Dixie Jass Band One-Step", became widely acknowledged as the first jazz recording commercially released. It was recorded by the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York City at its studio at 46 West 38th Street on the 12th floor – the top floor.
Elizabeth Allison Miner was a music promoter and manager who was instrumental in the early production of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the later career of pianist Professor Longhair.
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is the university library on the uptown campus of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. A member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is ranked among the top 120 research libraries in North America and is a significant educational and cultural resource in the community. During Hurricane Katrina, the Library suffered extensive damage to its collections and its buildings.
James Brown Humphrey, also known as "Professor Jim" Humphrey (1859–1937) was an American classical musician, dance band leader, and music instructor in New Orleans, Louisiana, and central figure in the formation of jazz as a contemporary musical art form. Humphrey predates the jazz genre as an active performer and is not himself considered a jazz musician. However, his involvement in the formal training of large numbers of musicians along the southern plantation belt of the Mississippi River delta during the immediate years following the reconstruction era resulted in many virtuoso performers who would go on to originate jazz as a distinct musical genre. Consequently, he is regarded by some in the jazz aficionado community to be "the grandfather of jazz".
Paul Crawford was an American jazz musician, music arranger, and music historian. He specialized in Dixieland jazz.
Susan Tucker is an American archivist. She was the Curator of Books and Records for the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library at Newcomb College of Tulane University for over 30 years. She retired in 2015. She is a longtime member of the Society of American Archivists and is active in the Women's Collection Roundtable. She is now an archival consultant specializing in genealogy and family records.
Florence Edwards Borders was an American archivist, historian, and librarian. She specialized in the preservation of African American historical artifacts, especially those related to Afro-Louisianans.
Kevin J. McCaffrey is an American filmmaker, writer, editor, and oral historian based in New Orleans. His documentary and archivist work primarily focuses on Louisiana history and culture, with an emphasis on the region's culinary history and environmental issues. McCaffrey's work has received both national and regional recognition. He has worked with a number of notable organizations dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Louisiana and New Orleans, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Louisiana State Museum, Historic New Orleans Collection, WYES-TV, Loyola's Center for Environmental Communication, and the Louisiana Folklife Commission.
The Zion Harmonizers is an American gospel music group founded in 1938 and based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
External media | |
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Media links for the Hogan Jazz Archive | |
Images | |
A photograph of Allen and Russell interviewing a musician is available through The Journal of American History | |
Video | |
“Video introduction to the Hogan Jazz Archive", as published on YouTube | |
“Bruce Raeburn's Oral History of the archive", as published on YouTube |