Subject: Jazz / Language: English / Year: <span class="from" data-blrl-begin="1950">1950</span> to <span class="to" data-blrl-end="1999">1999</span> - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Extent:: 18.3 linear feet (47 boxes)
Abstract:: Ted Weems (1901-1963) was a musician, an American bandleader, and the director of the Ted Weems Orchestra. He gained national renown for several hits, including "Somebody Stole My Gal," "Piccolo Pete," and "Heartaches." This collection documents the professional musical career of Weems with scores, sheet music, and song sheets; photographs and images; scrapbooks; and recordings. There is limited family and personal material; and in general, this collection shows Weems's public persona rather than the private man.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 13.5 linear feet
Abstract:: Nels R. Nelson (1923-1996) was a jazz columnist and theater critic who worked for the Philadelphia Daily News for over 40 years. The Nels Nelson clippings files on jazz musicians, 1980-1995, contain newspaper clippings, photocopies of magazine and journal articles, and some proofs for Nelson's articles.

Held at: Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 12.5 linear feet (21 boxes and 10 3.5 inch floppy disks, 3 dvds, 54 compact disks.) and 2.0 gigabytes
Abstract:: James Garland Spady (1944-2020) was a writer, activist, journalist, and historian, and is credited for being one of the first scholars to document and study the evolution of Hip Hop. Broadly speaking, this collection reflects Spady's expansive interest in Black history and culture, particularly music, and is comprised of both his own writing and material that he collected on these topics. The collection contains notepads and notebooks, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, books, a large variety of articles and essays, interview transcripts, periodicals, audio compact discs, digital media, and ephemera. The collection primarily documents his professional and intellectual work from roughly 1980 until the end of his life, but very little is revealing of his personal life.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 4.25 linear feet (5 boxes) and 54.8 gigabytes
Abstract:: John Szwed (1396-) is an American anthropologist and jazz scholar who wrote a biography of Sun Ra. Sun Ra (1914-1993) was an American musician, jazz composer, and bandleader known for experimental music and theatrical performances. The John Szwed collection of Sun Ra material measures 4.25 linear feet and dates from 1935 to 2018. It includes material related to Szwed's biography of Sun Ra, Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra and research on Sun Ra documenting his life, band, and music.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 34.33 linear feet
Abstract:: The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts was founded in 1966 as the social club of the Union Local No. 274 of the American Federation of Musicians. Local No. 274, the Black musicians union of Philadelphia, was in existence from 1935 to 1971. With members such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie, Local 274 was an important organization in the development of jazz in Philadelphia. The Clef Club served as a foundation for the city's jazz community, advancing projects to benefit jazz musicians. The Club continued to function as a social club until 1978, when it expanded its activities to include jazz performance, jazz instruction, and the preservation of Philadelphia's rich jazz history. The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts records, 1925-1974, include records of both the Black Musicians Union Local No. 274 and the Clef Club. The records, which appear to be fairly comprehensive, consist primarily of administrative records, financial records, and records...(see more)

Held at: Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 2.6 linear feet (one legal size document box and two 20 x 24 flat boxes. several poster size prints in a flat file drawer.)
Abstract:: Le Sony'r Ra (1914-1993), known as Sun Ra, was a jazz musician and composer, band leader, and poet known for his avant-garde approach to music, association with Afrofuturism, esoteric beliefs, and the theatrical performances with his band, The Arkestra. This collection contains examples of artwork used for about two dozen of his albums, a series of photographs that offer a good representation of different periods of his life and work, and a set of promotional fliers, poetry, philosophical writings, and ephemera.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

Search