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Guide to the Ken Ackerman Collection
ARS.0023
ARS.0023
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Table of contents
Title: Ken Ackerman Collection
Dates: 1953-1999
Collection number: ARS.0023
Creator:
Guerner, Bob
Collection size:
10 boxes,
188 open reel tapes, 279 optical disc media, 4 audiocassettes
Repository:
Archive of Recorded Sound
Abstract: Recordings and dubs of radio broadcast performances of jazz music of the 1950s and 60s by artists such as Earl Hines, Louis
Armstrong, Muggsy Spanier, Jack Teagarden, Harry James, Cal Tjader, and George Shearing at venues such as the Club Hangover
in San Francisco, California; other West Coast recordings by Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and the JATP; and Ted Heath, Johnny
Dankworth, Kenny Baker and others performing on the BBC. Additionally, there are cassette recordings and transcripts of Turk
Murphy and George Avakian interviewing musician Sid Le Protti in the mid-1950s.
Language of Material: English
Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for
assistance.
Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.
Ken Ackerman Collection, ARS-0023. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
The Ken Ackerman Collection was donated to the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound by William Carter in November 2007.
This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
The Ken Ackerman Collection consists of broadcast recordings of live jazz performances from the 1950s and 60s. The majority
were recorded at various clubs in San Francisco, particularly Club Hangover. The Club Hangover recordings, featuring such
artists such as Earl Hines, Kid Ory, and Louis Armstrong, were originally aired on radio station KCBS as part of a weekly
half-hour series, and were preserved by KCBS announcer Bob Guerner. Those tapes formed the basis of a much larger collection
of unique recordings given to friend and fellow broadcaster Ken Ackerman, where it was largely forgotten until its 2006 salvage
by Bill Carter and Dave Radlauer of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Society. Most of the original open reel tapes were
transferred by Radlauer, and copies on optical media were included in the original donation.
Other moments captured in this treasure trove include: Boyd Raeburn at the Rose Room of the Palace Hotel; Cal Tjader at Club
Macumba in 1956; Duke Ellington and Woody Herman in Portland, Oregon; Jazz at the Philharmonic in Seattle in 1956; Ted Heath,
Johnny Dankworth, Kenny Baker and others on the BBC; Al White's Orchestra at Station J; Joe Marcellino at Sabella's on KNBC;
and Kurt Edelhagen on Radio Baden-Baden. While the majority of these groups are traditional, more contemporary sounds by groups
such as Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and the Modern Jazz Quartet are also present.
Also in the Ken Ackerman Collection is a copy of the once-believed-lost interview with jazz musician Sid Le Protti, conducted
by George Avakian and Turk Murphy (with the technical assistance of Wally Heider) in 1955 or 1956. Le Protti (1886-1958) was
a musician and firsthand observer of the wide open days of the Barbary Coast and the early San Francisco jazz scene, and he
demonstrates various tunes on a piano as he speaks, in a manner not unlike the Jelly Roll Morton Library of Congress sessions.
Transcripts of the interview, which are also included in the collection, were extensively used in the book "Jazz on the Barbary
Coast." The original tapes (thought to be in the possession of Avakian) were dubbed on to four audiocassettes prior to accession.
Contact Archive for contents listing. The KA numbers were created for the transfer project, and are not on the original tapes.
Some of the tapes are numbered, however, and the contents listing includes both numbers when present (for instance, KA001
is tape 1033). The list also contains all information from the tapes, including dates and personnel. KA1-65 is listed on paper
only, and KA66-123 is listed on paper and CD-R, and is also available digitally.
The Archive of Recorded Sound also holds the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection, ARS-0030.
Ackerman, Ken
KCBS (Radio station : San Francisco, Calif.).
Le Protti, Sid
San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation.
Interviews
Jazz
Live sound recordings
Radio programs
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)