"Robinson composed nearly five hundred tunes, over four hundred of which were published. They The Les Zacheis Jazz Collection ranged from rags to movie music, from senti­ mental ballads to war songs." We seldom recognize the valuable service private collec­ tors provide through gathering materials within a special subject area and depositing them in archives, libraries, and museums to be preserved and made available for public The twenty-five reel-to-reel tapes contain radio interviews use. Resource centers are continually grateful to these in­ of J. Russel Robinson in 1946, 1948, and 1949, recordings dividuals who, through a combination of motivation, in­ of his compositions played by Robinson himself, and oth­ telligence, and knowledge in a particular Jield, collect ers. One tape contains twenty-two piano roll performances valuable historical items which ultimately play an important by Robinson. role in the research of future scholars. Les Zacheis is one Aside from his copious output of compositions, J. Russel of these dedicated individuals. Robinson was, in his own right, an accomplished musician. Born in 1909 on a farm in southern Illinois, Zacheis dis­ He was a pianist for several years with the Original Dix­ covered early in his life that learning how to play the tenor ieland Jazz Band, touring and recording with the famous saxophone was more appealing than doing the daily chores group. He also teamed up with others to record several around the farm. Listening to jazz bands playing on the commercial releases of both his own compositions and those riverboats, which he visited on occasional trips to St. Louis, of others. The records in the Robinson collection include a further convinced him that music was to be his major in­ few of those on which he performed. While some of the terest in life. At seventeen, much to his father's regret, recordings do not appear to have any direct connection with Zacheis left for St. Louis. In 1927 he played his first en­ him at all, most are renditions of Robinson compositions gagement with a local orchestra and continued playing by a wide variety of artists. Perhaps not all the artists in professionally until the depression, when, seeking a more the Robinson collection are household names. Whatever steady occupation, he served as an apprentice to a jeweler, became of Frank Froeba and His Boys, Paul Goupil's Royal working in music during the evening hours. As the music Tahitians, or Husk O'Hare's Super Orchestra of Chicago? business became more lucrative, Zacheis joined a territory On the other hand, Robinson's compositions were also re­ band which performed in an area west of the Mississippi corded by some of the most popular performers of the day. from Texas to Canada, and west to the Rockies. Life on the Among the renowned names in the collection are Bessie road was grueling, and after sending out several letters Smith, Cab Calloway, Mildred Bailey, and Bix Beiderbecke. applying for a job as a jeweler, he received a response in One of Robinson's greatest successes was "Margie." About 1935 informing him that a position was waiting for him in "Margie," DuncanSchieElt, in Th~Jazz £tate of Indianawrite-s, Cedar Rapids, Iowa ~ He.. was working in Texas at the time, "He hit gold .... The tune seems to epitomize the decade and when he finished the engagement that evening, he that followed. Its easy and bright melody, the catchy lyric, packed his saxophone and clarinet in their cases and left and its dance able rhythm herald the raccoon coat, the pipe, for Cedar Rapids. He never touched his horns again. the ukulele, the megaphone, the short skirt, rolled stockings During the years Zacheis worked as a musician, he had and all the other trappings of the collegiate whirl that was heard recordings by and tales of the "great jazzmen," and soon to embrace the new music." (Schiedt 1977:6,20). In soon after settling in Cedar Rapids he began to collect re­ the Robinson collection are six different interpretations of cordings of outstanding jazz bands and musicians. He fol­ "Margie." They span the gamut of performers from Brother lowed every lead-record producers and manufacturers, Bones and His Shadows, immortalized on the Tempo label, old retail outlets, junk shops, second-hand stores-and even to such notables as Eddie Cantor and Earl Hines. made house-to-house canvasses searching for rare items. It To the Archives, the J. Russel Robinson collection is a was while following a lead to a defunct record manufacturer most valuable addition to a growing collection of original in Iowa City that he discovered a rare cache of early jazz early jazz and popular recordings. To the researcher and discs on the little-known Claxtonola label. Another large the general public, it is a compendium of the legacy of one collection of unsold discs in the basement of a local hard­ of Indiana's, and one of music's, favorite sons. ware store yielded many important jazz recordings on the *Accession numbers 84-1452/1669-C/B and 84-1439-F. old black label Columbia series. And so it went, over the years, exciting and rewarding, locating one treasured item REFERENCE CITED after another. It became a matter of personal pride and satisfaction to fill out sets of pioneer jazz bands like the Schiedt, Duncan P. The Jazz State of Indiana. Pittsboro, Ind.: Louis Armstrong Hot Five, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Duncan P. Schiedt, 1977. Duke Ellington, the Wolverines, and the Fletcher Hender­ son Orchestra. Relinquishing the collection Zacheis had so joyfully gath­ Amy E. Novick, Bloomington, Indiana ered had its difficulties. As Zacheis wrote in one of his letters to me, "Parting with something that has been part and parcel of one's life for so many years is one of those things that is so easy to keep postponing." And yet, in making arrangements for the transfer of his collection, Zacheis stated that "The time has come when a permanent An unusual item among the Zacheis recordings is Duke home for the collection must be found. It is my feeling that Ellington's "Dusk in the Desert," erroneously released by these recordings of such great historical importance never Columbia Records in 1937 as a side in the two-disc album really belonged to me. They belong to the public, and I have of Hindemith's "Eine kleine Kammermusik." merely been permitted to serve as their custodian." The Archives of Traditional Music is thus very grateful THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN and indebted to Les Zacheis for the gift of 3,300 disc re­ RECORDINGS cordings and numerous photographs, books, periodicals, In 1922, Louis Armstrong left his native New Orleans to clippings and scrapbooks pertaining to the field of jazz. It go to Chicago and play second trumpet to King Oliver in should be mentioned that Les' wife, Jo, whose repertoire Oliver's famous Creole Jazz Band. After leaving Oliver in includes a half-dozen Jelly Roll Morton piano compositions, 1924 and working thirteen months with the Fletcher Hen­ also contributed several prize items to the collection. derson band at the Roseland Ballroom, Armstrong returned The collection is outstanding for a number of special items to Chicago and formed his Hot Five. Between November and collections. Among its high points are: 1925 and July 1928, the Hot Five, and with the addition of two new members, the Hot Seven, recorded fifty-four titles, ORY'S SUNSHINE ORCHESTRA all of which are in the Zacheis collection at the Archives. In the early 1900s, Edward "Kid" Ory was recognized as the prime New Orleans trombonist, leading a band which THE SWING ERA at various times included Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Arm­ Many recordings of big band swing by Duke Ellington, strong, Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet, and other leading Count Basie, Charlie Barnet and other orchestras dating jazz musicians in New Orleans. In 1919 he moved to Cal­ roughly from 1935 to 1942, are part of the Zacheis gift. ifornia and organized a group there which, in June 1922, made one of the earliest recordings by a black jazz band. RED ALLEN AND J. C. HIGGINBOTHAM Originally appearing on the Nordskog label as by Spike'S Henry "Red" Allen was born in Algiers, Louisiana, and Seven Pods of Pepper, the recording was reissued shortly played trumpet with his own group and other bands in after as Ory's Sunshine Orchestra with the Sunshine label New Orleans, Chicago, and New York. J. C. Higginbotham, pasted over the original Nordskog label. The Zacheis copy, a trombonist, was born in Atlanta, raised in Cincinnati, and very rare, is the Sunshine release. went to New York in the early 1930s. Allen and Higgin­ botham performed as a team from 1929, when they made FLETCHER HENDERSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA their first recording, throughout most of the 1940s. The Pianist, composer, and arranger, Fletcher Henderson was Archives owns a nearly complete collection of the Allen­ the leader of the first large band to acquire a reputation by Higginbotham recordings. playing jazz. He made his first recording as Henderson's Dance Orchestra in July 1922. His initial recording under KID ORY-"MUTT" CAREY the name of the Dixie Stompers, from which the Zacheis The Archives is fortunate to possess acetate copies of the collection dates, was made in November 1925. Henderson famous Kid Ory-Mutt Carey broadcast for Orson Welles, continued to record with his orchestra until 1941. which took place in San Francisco in 1944. Thomas "Mutt" Carey worked with Kid Ory in New Orleans and followed THE LUIS RUSSELL ORCHESTRA Ory to California in 1919. He played trumpet with Ory's A talented pianist and composer, Luis Carl Russell was group in the 1922 session for Sunshine Records and con­ born in Panama, came to the U.S. in 1919, and played in tinued working with him on a number of occasions until New Orleans and Chicago before forming his own orches­ his death in 1948. tra. He made his first recordings with his own group in Chicago in 1926. Russell's reputation as an outstanding HOAGY CARMICHAEL AND "STARDUST" bandleader came after playing engagements at New York's A prize item which came with the Zacheis collection is Savoy and Roseland Ballrooms beginning in 1928. He con­ an original copy of the first recording of "Stardust," with tinued to record up to 1935, when Louis Armstrong as­ Hoagy Carmichael as pianist. This recording, made with sumed leadership of the Luis Russell Orchestra. The Zacheis the Emil Sidel Orchestra of Indianapolis on 31 October 1927, collection includes a complete set of the Russell Orchestra's stands as the primary documentation of "Stardust." Car­ recordings. michael composed the tune in 1927, but it was not copy­ righted, and then only in manuscript form, until 5 January DUKE ELLINGTON 1928. It was published by Mills Music on 29 January 1929. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is well known as a The recording is a welcome addition to the Archives' special pianist, composer and leader of jazz orchestras for many collection of Hoagy Carmichael materials. years. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1899, Ellington began his musical career in New York City in 1924 when his group, THE CHICAGOANS the Washingtonians, opened the Kentucky Club and made The Chicagoans were a group of white musicians, in­ the first of many recordings which followed. Many of the cluding Jimmy and Dick McParland, Bud Freeman, Frank early Ellington recordings may be found in the collection. Teschmaker, Jim Lanigan and others, who set what came A complete recording, on cassettes, of Duke Ellington's to be called "The Chicago style." They made a number of funeral ceremony, 27 May 1974, is another valuable docu­ recordings from 1927 through 1930 with a variety of per­ mentary given by Zacheis (accession number 75-012-B). sonnel. Most of their recordings are in the Zacheis collec­ tion. BIX BEIDERBECKE THE CLAXTONOLA RECORDINGS One of the most creative jazz musicians to come out of One of the most valuable collections discovered by Zach­ the midwest is trumpeter Leon Bismarck "Bix" Beiderbecke, eis is a series of recordings made by the Wolverines (under who was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1903. The Zacheis the name of the Jazz Harmonizers), Muggsy Spanier, with gift includes the total recorded output of his work. His initial the Bucktown Five, and Perry Bradford and his Jazz Phools, recordings were made with the Wolverines, a Chicago group, dating from 1923 through 1925. Originally issued on the in 1924. Hoagy Carmichael booked the Wolverines to play Gennett label, the masters were leased to the Bernard Com­ six engagements at Indiana University in the spring of 1924, pany of Iowa City, who promptly made new pressings and and it was after one of these performances that the band distributed them with the Claxtonola label. The Archives traveled to Richmond, Indiana, to record a session which now holds multiple copies, in mint condition and original included Hoagy's first composition, "Riverboat Shuffle." sleeves, of these rare recordings. Beiderbecke later recorded with his own bands, the large orchestras of Paul Whiteman and Jean Goldkette, and with IOWA TERRITORY BANDS other small jazz groups until his death in 1931. A number of acetate recordings made by Iowa Territory bands, chiefly from the 1930s, documents the musical styles THE NEW ORLEANS RHYTHM KINGS and repertoires of the big bands which traveled from town The personnel of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings con­ to town playing one-night engagements within a particular sisted chiefly of New Orleans musicians who went to Chi­ area. cago in 1921 and worked at the Friar's Inn. They recorded The Les Zacheis collection came to the Archives in 1973 twenty-four sides, all of which are in the Archives, in 1922- and was appraised at that time at $17,788 by John Steiner, 23. noted jazz record producer, collector, and dealer. The col­ lection has not been completely cataloged as yet, but is EARLY NEW ORLEANS WHITE GROUPS available for research through prior arrangement. The total Included in this special collection are most of the titles collection is cataloged under the accession number 73-103- recorded by the Halfway House Orchestra, Johnny DeDroit C. An interview with Les Zacheis is available under acces­ Orchestra, Anthony Parenti and His Famous Melody Boys, sion number 85-166-F. and other groups, all recorded between the years 1925 through 1928. Frank J. Gillis Director Emeritus Archives of Traditional Music

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