The 23rd Bill Russell Lecture
sponsored by The Derbes Foundation
Recorded live in the Williams Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana on
April 20, 2022
With a career spanning 40 years, Mahalia Jackson is widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. She was a trailblazer whose devotion to God and singular voice changed gospel music forever. For the 23rd Bill Russell lecture, Dr. Mark Burford, Dr. Valerie Francis, and vocalist Andaiye Alimayu present a night of lecture and music to celebrate Jackson’s extraordinary life and career.
Presenters
Andaiye Alimayu, Zion Trinity Band
Dr. Mark Burford, Reed College
Dr. Valerie Francis, Nicholls State University
ABOUT THE BILL RUSSELL LECTURE
The Bill Russell Lecture at The Historic New Orleans Collection focuses on New Orleans jazz, in honor of the William Russell Jazz Collection housed at THNOC. This collection documents Russell’s lifelong study of New Orleans jazz and related musical forms such as brass bands, ragtime, and gospel music. Born Russell William Wagner (1905-1992), William Russell was a modernist composer as well as a jazz historian and collector who focused on traditional New Orleans-style jazz. He amassed an extensive collection of jazz memorabilia, including musical instruments, records, piano rolls, sheet music, photographs, books, and periodicals. His collection traces the development of jazz in New Orleans and follows the movement of musicians to New York, Chicago, California, and beyond. It encompasses notes from Russell’s research, audiotapes, programs, posters, correspondence, films, business cards, notes, clippings, and scrapbooks.
ABOUT THE WILLIAM RUSSELL JAZZ COLLECTION
William Russell, born Russell William Wagner (1905-1992), was a jazz historian and collector who focused on traditional New Orleans-style jazz. The William Russell Jazz Collection documents his lifelong study of New Orleans jazz and related musical forms such as brass bands, ragtime, and gospel music. Russell amassed an extensive collection of jazz memorabilia, including musical instruments, records, piano rolls, sheet music, photographs, books, and periodicals. His collection traces the development of jazz in New Orleans and follows the movement of musicians to New York, Chicago, California, and beyond. It encompasses notes from Russell’s research, audiotapes, programs, posters, correspondence, films, business cards, notes, clippings, and scrapbooks.
Russell conducted extensive research into jazz and the cultural milieu from which it arose; his collection includes his notes, drafts of articles, discographies, oral history tapes and transcripts, photographs of musicians and the places associated with them, and other documents resulting from his research. Russell was a friend of many of the musicians he researched, including Louis Armstrong, George Lewis, Mahalia Jackson, and Baby Dodds. He kept letters from them as well as other mementos of his friendships. Also represented in Russell’s correspondence are his fellow jazz enthusiasts such as Eugene Williams, Roy J. Carew, and John Steiner.
Large portions of the collection focus on the lives of three individuals: Manuel “Fess” Manetta, Bunk Johnson, and Jelly Roll Morton. Russell interviewed Manetta at length about his life as a musician and the early days of jazz. Russell spent many years working on a book about Jelly Roll Morton; his Morton collections include manuscript music and letters written by the composer. Russell was instrumental in reviving Bunk Johnson’s career in1939. There are three series focusing on different aspects of their friendship. Russell founded American Music Records to record musicians including Bunk Johnson, Wooden Joe Nicholas, and Kid Shots Madison. The collection includes business records, photographs and notes documenting recording sessions, and liner notes.
Russell’s other research interests, such as voodoo, African American history, and New Orleans history (in particular, the Storyville, Bucktown, and Milneburg sections of the city) are represented. A member of the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Russell studied brass bands and ragtime extensively, with an emphasis on Scott Joplin. In addition, Russell had a collection of postcards of New Orleans and the Gulf South that was unrelated to jazz.
For a full description of the William Russell Jazz Collection, download the Finding Aid: www.hnoc.org/sites/default/fil...
9 май 2022
