Kansas City Jazz
Subject
Subject Source: Local sources
Found in 52 Collections and/or Records:
Ahmad Alaadeen Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0205
Scope and Contents
The Ahmad Alaadeen Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections and Marr Sound Archives, UMKC Miller Nichols Library, by his widow, Victoria “Fanny” Dunfee, in February 2012. The collection consists of personal and professional material, contracts, correspondence, grants and awards, programs and event ephemera, publications and news clippings, music and teaching material, photographs, audio recordings, videos, and other miscellaneous items. Collection highlights include rare images...
Dates:
1950 - 2011
American Dance Band Music Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0194
Scope and Contents
American Dance Band Music Collection Finding Aid (PDF).The American Dance Band Music Collection consists of commercially published stock arrangements and instrument charts for thousands of popular titles, 1800s-1960s. The collection contains music charts for various instruments for a given song. While several titles contain a complete set of parts, most are incomplete but...
Dates:
1800s - 1960s
Bernard “Step Buddy” Anderson Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0020
Scope and Contents
The Bernard "Step Buddy" Anderson Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections in 1997 by the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors. The collection captures Anderson’s life and career from 1944 until his death in 1997, but also includes correspondence dating back to 1930. The collection is particularly strong in Anderson’s literary and musical creative output, most of which was created between 1958 and 1993. Encapsulated is a wide range of writings from jazz compositions to musical stage...
Dates:
1930 - 1996
Betty Crow Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0243
Scope and Contents
The Betty Crow Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Betty Crow in 2013. The bulk of the collection contains over 2200 photographs from a multitude of musical jam sessions performed at various venues throughout the Kansas City area. There are images of many of the great Kansas City jazz legends such as Jay McShann, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Milt Abel, Sonny Kenner, Tommy Ruskin, Julie Turner, Jim Mair, Todd Wilkinson, Lonnie and Ronnie McFadden, Paul Smith, Mama Ray and...
Dates:
1929 - 2013
Bettye Miller and Milt Abel Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0067
Scope and Contents
The Bettye Miller-Milt Abel Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries by Linda Abel, wife of the late Milt Abel, in April 2006. The collection focuses on the time that Bettye Miller and Milt Abel spent together as musicians and as husband and wife. The couple was locally and nationally known in the jazz community and performed together in cities all over the country.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscript collection includes correspondence, contracts and...
Dates:
1912 - 2006
Bob Cowan Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0296
Scope and Contents
The Robert Cowan Collection was donated to the LaBudde Special Collections at UMKC Miller Nichols Library by Cowan himself in June of 2016. Cowan was an avid performer of the jazz trombone, and this collection chiefly consists of scores and parts to arrangements of jazz standards. There are twenty five pencil manuscript full scores in the collection, and sets of parts (although some are incomplete) to around sixty pieces. The works are not Cowan’s own, but included in the collection are,...
Dates:
c. 1940s
Brian Thurn Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0050
Scope and Contents
The Brian Thurn Collection was formed by various purchases from Brian Thurn Antiques of Kansas City, beginning with the initial acquisition in January 2006. The collection consists of photographs, posters and miscellaneous material that primarily reflect aspects of the African-American cultural experience during the 20th century, particularly in and around Kansas City. Some material has been removed from this collection to form discrete collections: Ernest Daniels Collection (jazz...
Dates:
Undated
Carleton Coon Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0294
Scope and Contents
The Carleton Coon Collection was donated in September 2015 by Carl Jakopec. Personal documents and correspondence, articles and periodicals, and photographs comprise the bulk of this collection. The items represent a large swath of Coon’s brief life, with photographs from his childhood until the period shortly before he passed away. There is also some information about other players who performed with Coon.As the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawks Orchestra was one of the first...
Dates:
1918 - 1993
Carroll Lewis Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0272
Scope and Contents
The Carroll Lewis Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Paul Smith in April 2015.The bulk of the collection consists of handwritten music manuscripts composed and/or arranged by Lewis. Rounding out the collection are miscellaneous items such as photographs, awards, publications and scrapbooks.Addendum I was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Paul Smith. This addendum contains miscellaneous photocopies of various materials pertaining to Carroll Lewis’...
Dates:
1959 - 2006
Claude "Fiddler" Williams Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0147
Scope and Contents
The Claude “Fiddler” Williams Collection was gifted to UMKC Libraries in January 2009 by Blanche Fouse Williams, widow of Claude Williams. Inclusive dates are circa 1960s-2008, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1989-2004, the year of his death.The manuscript materials include correspondence; contracts; numerous awards; event programs; posters; news clippings; photographs; and miscellaneous ephemera and memorabilia. In particular, the correspondence, awards and various...
Dates:
1960 - 2019
Dan Jaffe Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0188
Scope and Contents
The Dan Jaffe Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections in March, 2011.Materials date from the 1940’s to 2011, with the bulk of the material ranging 1960 to 1990.Within lies a culmination of literary capital from the inspirational career and a life of creativity by a publisher, scholar, mentor and wordsmith guru. Included are correspondence,published and unpublished manuscripts, plays, operas, graphics, photographs and miscellaneouspublications. In addition to the Jaffe...
Dates:
1914 - 2012
Dave E. Dexter Jr. Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0021
Scope and Contents
The Dave E. Dexter, Jr. Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries by Dave Dexter prior to his death in 1990.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscripts collection includes correspondence, writings and photographs. Dexter's correspondence with Capitol Record executives and other individuals provide pertinent information concerning the recording industry. His prolific writings are reflected in numerous formats from record liner notes to typed drafts and published works,...
Dates:
1926 - 1988
David Basse Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0162
Scope and Contents
The David Basse Collection was a gift to the University Libraries from David Basse in January 2010. Materials date from 1954-2010, with the bulk of materials ranging from 1990-2009. The collection includes items mostly related to Basse’s musical career, but also contains some personal ephemera. The jewel of the collection lies within the plethora of photographic images which document Basse’s musical career, dating back to the early 1970s. Also noteworthy are the numerous posters which...
Dates:
1926 - 2012
Dolores Hobley Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0271
Scope and Contents
The Dolores Hobley Collection was formed by various purchases from her business at Waldo Antiques of Kansas City, beginning in the early 2010s, with the bulk acquisitions made in March 2015. The collection consists of photographs and other material that primarily reflect aspects of the African-American cultural experience during the late 19th century and into the 20th century, including in and around Kansas City. The photographs make up the bulk of the collection and are largely...
Dates:
1890 - 2003
Ed Dix Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0275
Scope and Contents
The Ed Dix Collection was donated to the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City by Ed Dix. The manuscript collection is housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections, while the sound recordings are held in the Marr Sound Archives. The collection contains seven boxes and is divided into ten series, which includes scrapbooks, correspondence, contracts, photographs, manuscript scores. It provides an invaluable perspective on the life and work...
Dates:
1940 - 2014
Ernest Daniels Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0045
Scope and Contents
The Ernest Daniels Collection was purchased by the Department of Special Collections from Brian Thurn Antiques of Kansas City in January 2006. The collection primarily consists of photographs, but also includes postcards, news clippings and other ephemera and memorabilia, related to Ernest Daniels, a Kansas City jazz drummer, vibraphonist and percussionist.
Dates:
1911 - 1979
Eugene G. Ramey, Sr. Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0096
Scope and Contents
The Eugene G. Ramey, Sr. Collection was gifted to the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1991 by his son Eugene G. Ramey, Jr. The manuscript collection is housed in the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections and contains material related to the life and career of Ramey: correspondence, performance contracts, royalty statements, programs, membership and business cards, news clippings and articles(including by Ramey), address and appointment...
Dates:
1913 - 1989
Evie Quarles Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0249
Scope and Contents
The Evie Quarles Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections in May 2013. Inclusive dates are 1990-2008, with the bulk of the material ranging in date from 1997-2002. The collection includes programs, promotional material, miscellaneous ephemera, various blues publications,news clippings,and musical CDs, most of which are housed in the Marr Sound Archives. One jewel of this collection is Quarles’ book manuscript, Journey to the Blues. To illuminate that experience follows an...
Dates:
1988 - 2016
Frank Driggs Jazz Oral History Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0109
Scope and Contents
The audio materials in the collection are browsable here: Cataloged Sound Recordings from the Frank Driggs Jazz Oral History CollectionThe collection contains 300+ oral histories, conducted from 1956 to 1986, that capture the development of jazz as related by a host of musicians and...
Dates:
1956 - 1986
Frank Smith Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0289
Scope and Contents
The Frank Smith Collection was donated to UMKC Libraries by Smith’s wife, Doreen Maronde, in January 2016. The collection contains materials related to the jazz pianist’s personal and professional life. Materials include photographs; awards, newspaper clippings and other publicity; and an array of printed and handwritten music. Much of the music consists of lead sheets of jazz standards arranged by Smith.Housed in the Marr Sound Archives, the audiovisual materials contain audio...
Dates:
1962 - 2010
Frederick "Fritz" Swischer Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0156
Scope and Contents
The Frederick “Fritz” R. Swischer Collection was donated to the UMKC Libraries in 2001. The materials had been acquired from Swischer by Chuck Haddix, Kansas City jazz exponent, radio host, and Curator of the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, for use as research material in writing Haddix’s book Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop – A History, co-authored with Frank Driggs (Oxford University Press, 2005).Swischer’s research, culminating in the...
Dates:
1934 - 2004
George Geelan Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0046
Scope and Contents
The George Geelan Blues and Jazz Festivals Collection was donated in November 2005 to the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections by Sara Geelan, niece of George Geelan; it was delivered to the library by Cindy Terwilliger. The heart of the collection consists of over 1500 photographs and over 80 sleeves of negatives, dating from 1995 to 2003. These images primarily document area blues and jazz festivals, such as the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival; the Kansas City,...
Dates:
1994 - 2005
Grand Emporium Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0038
Scope and Contents
The Grand Emporium Collection was donated to Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City, in Summer 2004 by Roger Naber and C. Herb Palmer, co-owners of the Grand Emporium (along with George Myers).Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscript collection primarily chronicles from 1985-2004 the venerable Kansas City nightclub at 3832 Main Street and consists of approximately 15,000 flyers, handbills, and posters; 4,000 photographs, negatives, and slides;...
Dates:
1969 - 2007
Harold Ashby Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0055
Scope and Contents
The Harold Ashby Collection was acquired in December 2005 by the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections and the Marr Sound Archives through Gary White and his sister Margaret. The collection consists of personal and professional documents, awards and certificates, correspondence, promotional/publicity material, audio recordings, videos, and other miscellanea related to Harold Ashby’s life and career. Also in the collection are roughly 200 photographs and dozens of...
Dates:
1937 - 2003
Helen Werr (Ellen White) Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-0354
Scope and Contents
The Helen Werr collection was anonymously donated to the Department of Special Collections in May 2017. It is dedicated to Werr’s career as a singer during the 1940s under the pseudonym, Ellen White. There are photos of a young Werr, as well as photos of her on tour in the 1940s. Additionally there are newspaper clippings, contracts, scripts from shows, a scrapbook of her performing career, and recordings.
Dates:
1944 - 1949
