User:Tdickma/sandbox

The National Ragtime and Jazz Archive (NRJA) was established in March 1974 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville by the Board of Trustees. Maintained by Lovejoy Library, the archive documents early recorded jazz and particularly the lives of notable jazz musicians from the St. Louis region.

In February 2012 HEC-TV featured the National Ragtime and Jazz Archive in the program, "I Love Jazz," in the video segment, "Tour of SIUE Jazz Archives and Radio Station WSIE."

The Old Guys

Many dedicated musicians and members of the University community have donated time, funds, and materials to develop the archive. Some SIUE faculty members formed a jazz and ragtime band called the "Old Guys." Included in the group were W. Deane Wiley, Dan Havens, Ray Helsel, Jack Ades, Lyman "Zeke" Holden, Warren Brown, and the popular Dixieland pianist and vocalist, Jean Kittrell. The Old Guys performed benefit concerts and issued three recordings that were sold to benefit the archive. Two albums, Hot Ginger and Dynamite and Jazz in the Parlor, were well-received.

Oral History and Research Materials

During the early 1980s the Illinois Arts Council funded an oral history project through which St. Louis area jazz musicians were interviewed. Carole Wiley, Deane Wiley's wife, was the project coordinator.The corresponding tapes and transcripts of the interviews were subsequently added to the Jazz Archive. The oral history memoirs highlight the careers of these musicians and give descriptions of musical life in the St. Louis area during the twentieth century. Carol Clarkin, Dan Havens, Charles Rose, and Deane Wiley were the primary interviewers in the project. Bob Bennett, Therese Zoski Dickman and Doug Meyer have continued conducting oral history interviews. To date the following musicians have been interviewed: Claude Abney, Willie Akins, Sam Andria, Theodore Bib, Eubie Blake, Gilbert Bowers, George Brunis, Robert Carter, Leo Chears, Bobbie Danzie, Eddie Johnson, Leon King, Singleton Palmer, Hayes Pillars, Jimmie Pounds, Eddie Randle, Vertna Saunders, Leon Smith, Lloyd Smith and Ralph Sutton.

The National Ragtime and Jazz Archive is a growing resource of historic U.S. jazz recordings, ragtime music, photographs, and oral history interviews.