Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection
- Creator
- Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
- Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
- Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
- Davison, Bill
- Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
- Garland, Ed
- Collector
- Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
- Donor
- Levin, Lucille
- Creator
- Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
- Wilson, Buster
- Topic
- African American music -- 20th century
- Jazz
- Jazz musicians
- Popular music -- African American influences
- Provenance
- Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Floyd Levin's widow, Lucille Levin.
- Creator
- Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
- Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
- Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
- Davison, Bill
- Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
- Garland, Ed
- Collector
- Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
- Donor
- Levin, Lucille
- Creator
- Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
- Wilson, Buster
- Culture
- African American musicians
- See more items in
- Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection
- Sponsor
- Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
- Summary
- Collection compiled over several decades by Floyd Levin, Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian, consisting of materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations.
- Biographical / Historical
- Floyd Bertram Levin a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second, contemporaneous, career as an influential jazz journalist and historian was born on September 24, 1922, in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota to Samuel William Levin (March 4, 1901 - March 1986) and Florence Herman (March 22, 1901- August 3, 1981). His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians (University of California Press, 2000), which like his articles - chronicled his first-hand encounters with countless jazz musicians. In 1949, he co-founded the Southern California Hot Jazz Society, the second-oldest jazz appreciation club in the country. Levin led the drive to create the Louis Armstrong Park and statue in New Orleans in the 1970s. During his career, he conducted scores of oral history interviews with jazz musicians, which he donated to the National Museum of American History's Archives Center and to Tulane University's jazz archive. He received several awards for his work, including the Leonard Feather Communicator Award, given annually by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Levin died on January 29, 2007, at the age of eighty-five in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.
- Extent
- 42.5 Cubic feet (110 boxes, 12 oversize folders)
- Date
- 1880-2010, undated
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.1222
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Advertisements
- Audiocassettes
- Audiotapes
- Awards
- Biography files
- Black-and-white photographs
- Black-and-white photographic prints
- Business cards
- Clippings
- Concert programs
- Correspondence
- Ephemera
- Festivals
- Interviews
- Journals (periodicals)
- Newsletters
- Obituaries
- Personal papers
- Posters
- Photographs
- Signatures (names)
- Writings
- Sound recordings
- Citation
- Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Arrangement
- The collection is arranged in ten series. Series 1, Personal Papers, 1920-2010, undated Series 2, Correspondence, 1948-2006, undated Series 3, Research Materials, 1914-2006, undated Series 4, Writings, 1949-2006, undated Series 5, Artists Files, 1880-2010, undated Subseries 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated Subseries 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004 Subseries 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001 Series 6, Subject Files, 1916-2004, undated Series 7, General Materials, 1908-2006, undated Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications, 1943-2010, undated Series 9, Photographic Materials, 1939-2001, undated Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1964-1997, undated Subseries 10.1, Audio Cassette Tapes, 1970-1997, undated Subseries 10.2, Compact Discs, 1966-1994, undated Subseries 10.3, Audio Reel-to-Reel Tapes, 1964-1973, undated
- Processing Information
- Collection processed by Rebekah Keel, intern, 2016; Elizabeth Livesey, intern, 2016; Justine Thomas, intern, 2016; Cooby Greenway, volunteer, 2016; Marian Tatum-Webb, volunteer, 2016; Ramona Williamson, volunteer, 2016; and Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, 2016.
- Rights
- Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
- Genre/Form
- Advertisements -- 20th century
- Audiocassettes
- Audiotapes
- Awards
- Biography files
- Black-and-white photographs
- Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000
- Business cards
- Clippings
- Concert programs -- 20th century
- Correspondence -- 20th century
- Ephemera -- 20th century
- Festivals
- Interviews
- Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
- Newsletters -- 20th century
- Obituaries
- Personal papers -- 20th century
- Posters -- 20th century
- Photographs -- 20th century
- Signatures (names)
- Writings
- Sound recordings
- Scope and Contents
- Research materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations compiled by Levin over several decades. The richest portion of the collection is the biographical files on jazz artists, with emphasis on lesser known but influential people, and includes obituaries, memorial programs, press releases, concert programs, and newsletters. Photographs are also widely found in the collection, many of them inscribed to, or taken with Levin and his wife Lucille, as well as posters, sound recordings, interviews, letters and other correspondence, awards and plaques, Levin's writings, business cards, newspaper articles, advertisements, and ephemera. Artists who are strongly represented include one-time Ellington Orchestra clarinetist "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard, who was a close personal friend of the Levins and whose personal papers are in the collection; Louis Armstrong; "Jelly Roll" (Ferdinand Lemott) Morton; "Wild" Bill Davison; "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington; Joe Darensbourg; Edward Bertram "Montudie" Garland; "Kid" (Edward) Ory; "Eubie" (James Herbert) Blake; and "Rosy" (James) McHargue. While Levin's collection is remarkable in that it documents lesser-known jazz artists, particularly in and around California, it suffers from a significant lack of information on female jazz musicians. Materials on such influential artists as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Bessie Smith, among others, are much more limited. The collection is arranged in ten series: Series 1, Personal Papers; Series 2, Correspondence; Series 3, Research Materials; Series 4, Writings; Series 5, Artists Files; Series 6, Subject Files; Series 7, General Materials; Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications; Series 9, Photographic Materials; and Series 10, Audiovisual Materials.
- Restrictions
- The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
