MSS 506 Interviews with Musicians about Jelly Roll Morton 1938-1991 Bulk dates 1968-1970 Extent: 487 items This collection, a part of the larger William Russell Collection, consists of typed interviews about the jazz composer, pianist, and conductor Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton (1885?-1941) and of other material which Russell collected for an intended book about Morton. The title of the collection derives from Russell‟s own descriptive phrase on folders and other packing material. However, the interviews were conducted not only with musicians, but also with others who could shed some light on Morton‟s story, including Frances M. Oliver (folder #118), Morton‟s sister; Joseph Fogarty (folder #54), grandson of Judge John J. Fogarty, who is mentioned in a Morton song; two retired vaudeville performers known as Mack and Mack (folder #108); Morton‟s one- time manager Harrison Smith (folder #174); and many others. Also in this collection are a few letters (folder #157, for instance), many of Jelly Roll‟s own autobiographical writings (folder #104), and several clippings, including an important obituary of Roy Carew (folder #87). The few photographs (none of Morton) are generally those mentioned in the accompanying interview article, and were probably intended as illustrations. Russell also collected the output of other people‟s research. John Steiner‟s chronology, “Jelly Roll in The Chicago Defender” (folders 183-185) and the beginning of Dave Stuart‟s book about his own friendship with Morton (folders 187-191) are examples of these. This material served as the basis for William Russell‟s book “Oh Mister Jelly!”: A Jelly Roll Morton Scrapbook. Cite as: Interviews with Musicians about Jelly Roll Morton, MSS 506, Williams Research Center, The Historic New Orleans Collection. Arrangement: Original order. Language: English. Restrictions: Researchers may be limited to consulting one or two items at a time, per the discretion of the Reading Room staff. Reproduction of original documents, when permitted, must be performed by the Williams Research Center staff. How to Order: Please provide the reference staff with the manuscript call number and folder number. Accession number: 92-48-L MSS 506, Williams Research Center, page 2 Table of Contents Folder # Name of Interviewee 1-2 Bernard Addison 3-4 Red Allen (by John Chilton) 5-6 Shep Allen 7-8 Hayes Alvis (by Bob Greene) 9-11 Frank Amacker 12-13 Lil Hardin Armstrong 14-15 Louis Armstrong 16-17 Lovie Austin 18-19 Paul Barbarin 20-21 Danny Barker 22-24 Paul Barnes 25-27 Tommy Benford 28-30 Barney Bigard (by Floyd Levin) 31-34 Eubie Blake 35-36 Rudi Blesh 37-38 Joseph “Fan” Bourgeau 39-40 Bricktop 41-42 Georg Brunis 43-44 Albert “Happy” Caldwell 45-47 Roy Carew [See also George W. Kay] 48-49 Lillie Delk Christian MSS 506, Williams Research Center, page 3 50-53 Amide Colas and Gene Colas 54-57 Bill Colburn 58-59 Lee Collins 60-62 Sam Davis (by John G. Heinz) 63-64 Volly De Faut 65-66 Wilbur De Paris 67-68 Baby Dodds 69-70 Natty Dominque 71-72 Harold Drob 73-74 Charles Elgar 75-78 [Duke] Ellington, Etc. “A Few Other Opinions on Jelly Roll” Wallace Bishop Shelton Brooks Dave Brubeck Duke Ellington John Hammond Earl Hines Louis Metcalf Marili Morden [Levin] Rex Stewart 79-81 “Quotes by Others Not Used” Donald Byrd Cozy Cole Leonard Feather Louis Metcalf George Orendorff Harry Prather Charley Thompson Joe Turner 82-83 Don Ewell MSS 506, Williams Research Center, page 4 84-85 Joseph Fogarty (Interviewed about Judge John J. Fogarty) 86-87 Pops [George Murphy] Foster 88-89 Ed “Montudi” Garland 90-91 Bob [Robert S.] Greene 92-93 George Guesnon 94-95 J. C. Higginbotham 96-97 Paul Howard 98-99 Kenneth Hulsizer 100-101 Willie Humphrey 102-103 Preston Johnson 104-105 Dink Johnson 106-107 Bunk Johnson 108-110 James P. Johnson 111-112 Manzie Johnson 113-114 Rosalind Johnson 115-122 George W. Kay 123-124 Karl Kramer 125-126 Floyd Levin 127-128 Creole Charlie Levy 129-130 Harry Lim 131-133 Alan Lomax 134-135 Jelly Roll Morton “Jelly Writings” (autobiographical essays) [see also William Russell] MSS 506, Williams Research Center, page 5 136-137 Lawrence Lucie 138-139 Billy McBride and Mary McBride [Mack & Mack] 140-141 Manuel “Fess” Manetta 142-143 Punch Miller 144-145 George Mitchell 146-147 Albert Nicholas 148-149 Frances M. Oliver 150-151 Kid Ory 152-153 Russell Procope 154-155 Fred Ramsey (Frederic Ramsey, Jr.) 156-157 Bill [Beale A.] Riddle 158-159 “Banjo” Ikey Robinson 160-161 Al Rose 162-163 Jimmy Rushing 164-167 William Russell “Jelly Roll at the Music Box” 168-186 William Russell “Orchestration” and “Jelly Orchestration” files 174 Frog-I-More Rag 175 Morton‟s piano style 176-178 Stop & Go 179 Fingerbreaker 183 Victor Album Notes 187-190 William Russell “Jelly in Europe” 191 William Russell “Order of Pages in Jelly Book” MSS 506, Williams Research Center, page 6 192-193 Eleanor Simeon 194-195 Omer Simeon 196-197 Marge Creath Singleton 198-201 Zutty Singleton 202-203 Charles Edward Smith 204-207 Harrison Smith 208-210 Stephen W. Smith 211-212 Willie “The Lion” Smith 213-214 “Reb” and Johnny Spikes 216-217 Johnny St. Cyr 218-221 John Steiner “Jelly Roll in The Chicago Defender” (Chronology) 222-226 Dave Stuart 224-226 “Dave Stuart‟s Jelly Roll Book” 227-228 Billy Taylor 229-231 Butch Thompson 232-233 Benny Waters 234-235 J. Mayo “Ink” Williams 236-237 Willie Woodman 238-239 Al[bert] Wynn 240-241 Trummy Young Folder List Folder 1 Bernard Addison (New York, 1970 May 7) Typed interview with introduction. Annotated. Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 4 pp., 1 item Folder 2 Folder marked “Bernard Addison,” with other notations (pencil), 1 item Folder 3 Red Allen (London, 1973 August 30) “John Chilton‟s Notes on Red Allen and Jelly Roll.” Typed, with annotations in ink and red pencil. Page four in pencil in Russell‟s hand. 4 pp., 1 item Folder 4 Folder marked “Red Allen (Chilton),” with other notations (pencil) Verso: flyer for “Stand Up for Life” Rally, 2 items Folder 5 Shep Allen (Washington, DC, 1970 July 15) Typed interview with introduction. Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview (photocopy), 3 pp., 1 item Folder 6 Folder marked “Shep Allen,” with other notations (pencil) Note, “Shep Al 2 items Folder 7 Hayes Alvin (Washington, DC, 1968 October 23) Typed interview by Bob Greene, with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 4 pp. With duplicate , 2 items Folder 8 Folder marked “Hayes Alvis,” with other notations (pencil), 1 item Folder 9 Frank Amacker (New Orleans, 1970 October 23) Typed interview with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 2 pp., 1 item Folder 10 Photograph (glossy black and white, 12½ cm X 17½ cm), of Frank Amacker. With duplicate (photocopy), 2 items Folder 11 Folder marked “Amacker,” with other notations (pencil) Note, “Frank Amacker” (ink and pencil), 2 items Folder 12 Lil Armstrong (New Orleans, 1969 Jan. 19) Typed interview with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 3 pp., 1 item Folder 13 Folder marked “Lil Armstrong” with other notations (pencil) Two notes, “Lil Armstrong” and “Lil” about interview and photographs. 3 items Folder 14 Louis Armstrong (1970 May 5) Typed article from interview. Article, 3 pp., 1 item Folder 15 Folder marked “Louis Armstrong Jelly Roll Article” with other notations (pencil), 1 item Folder 16 Lovie Austin (Chicago, 1969 April 25) Typed interview with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 3 pp., 1 item Folder 17 Folder marked “Lovie Austin,” with other notations (pencil) Note, “Lovie Austin” (pencil), 2 items Folder 18 Paul Barbarin (New Orleans, 1968 December 4) Typed interview with introduction. Annotated. Introduction [1] p.; interview, 5 pp., 1 item Folder 19 Folder marked “Paul Barbarin,” with other notations (pencil) Note, “Use with Paul Barbarin” (ink and pencil) Note, “Pau , 3 items Folder 20 Danny Barker (New Orleans, 1968 August 18; 1985 December 21) Typed interview with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 12 pp., 1 item Folder 21 Folder marked “Danny Barker” (pencil) Clipping, advertisement for Hart Schaffner & Marx suits, 4 items Folder 22 Paul Barnes (New Orleans, 1968 October 15) Typed interview with annotations, 6 pp., 1 item Folder 23 Two drafts of a biographical sketch of Paul Barnes Each is 1 p. (pencil with ink annotations) Verso: 1955 Oct. 31 invoice, Co-Service Printing Co., Newark, NJ, to American Music Records, Chicago, IL Verso: 1949 July 19 TLS, Lee Ruttle, Oakland, CA, to [William] Russell, [Pittsburgh, PA?] Photo of Jelly Roll Morton and band (photocopy), 3 items Folder 24 Folder marked “Paul Barnes,” with other notations (pencil) ncil) Note, “Make Correc 3 items Folder 25 Tommy Benford (New York City, 1970 May 4) Typed interview with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview, 4 pp. (photocopy), 1 item Folder 26 Photograph (black and white, 26 cm X 21 cm) of Palm Cafe (photocopy) Photograph (black and white, 6½ cm X 14 cm) of Tommy Benford (photocopy), 2 items Folder 27 Folder marked “Tommy Benford,” with other notations (pencil) , 2 items Folder 28 Barney Bigard (Los Angeles, 1969 July 25) Typed interview by Floyd Levin, with introduction Introduction, [1] p. (p. “A”); interview (photocopy), 4 pp., 1 item Folder 29 Clipping, “Jelly Roll Morton, an Interview with Barney Bigard [by Floyd Levin]” by Bill Russell, Footnote, 1980 Aug./Sept. Annotated photocopy. Includes cover (photograph of Barney Bigard), 1 item Folder 30 Folder marked “Barney Bigard,” with other notations (pencil) , 2 items Folder 31 Eubie Blake (New Orleans, 1969 June 5) “Eubie Blake Talks About Jelly” Typed interview Includes photocopy of photograph of Eubie Blake by Jules Cahn.