Jazz Information Explained

Jazz Information was an American non-commercial weekly jazz publication founded as a record collector's sheet in 1939 by Eugene Williams (1918–1948), Ralph Gleason, Ralph de Toledano, and Jean Rayburn (maiden name; 1918–2009), who married Ralph Gleason in 1940.

History

The first issue, dated September 8, 1939, was a four-page newsletter that was mimeographed late one night in the back room of the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan at 46 West 52nd Street.^[1] In July 1940, Jazz Information, went from a newsletter to a little magazine format, hip pocket in size with modest typesetting. George Hoefer, Jr. (1909–1967), began the "Safety Valve" column on collecting, collectors, and how collectors annoyed musicians. The publication ran sporadically until November 1941.

Editorial bent

Stephen W Smith, editor of the Hot Record Society Rag, leaned towards what then was progressive jazz. Eugene Williams, through Jazz Information, leaned towards a New Orleans revivalists bent.

Record label

Jazz Information was a record label distributed by Commodore Records that produced recordings of Bunk Johnson in 1942. Bill Russell, while gathering material for Jazzmen in 1938, discovered long forgotten New Orleans trumpeter Bunk Johnson on a farm in New Iberia, Louisiana. In 1942, Russell helped get Johnson a new set of teeth and a new trumpet. And, with Eugene Williams, editor if Jazz Information in New York; and Dave Stuart (né David Ashford Stuart; 1910–1984), owner of the Jazz Man Record Shop in Hollywood, traveled to New Orleans and made the first recordings of Bunk Johnson.

Selected articles

• "Zue Robertson: King of the Trombone" (Zue Robertson), by William Russell 1 (1940): 3
• "Omer Simeon" (Omer Simeon), by Herman Rosenberg & Eugene Williams, Vol. 2, No. 1, July 26, 1940, pps. 8–9
• "William Russell" (Bill Russell), by Ed Nylund, Vol. 2, No. 2, August 9, 1940, pps. 15–16 (earliest known published biography of William Russell)
• "Ma Rainey Discography," (Ma Rainey), by William C. Love, Vol. 2, September 6, 1940, pps. 9–14 (discography) (Love was founder of the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors)
• "Jimmie Noone" (Jimmie Noone), by Wesley Miles Neff (1913–1996) of Chicago, Vol 2, October 4, 1940, pps. 6–9, 45
• "Cow Cow Davenport" (Charles Edward Davenport), by Donald Haynes, Vol. 2, October 25, 1940, pps. 8–10
• "Barney Bigard" (Barney Bigard), by George Hoefer, Jr. (1909–1967), Vol. 2, November 8, 1940, pps. 7–13 (extensive article plus discography; Hoefer later was associate editor of Jazz & Pop)
• "Little Mitch" (George Mitchell), by Wesley Miles Neff (1913–1996), Vol. 2, No. 16, November 1941, pps. 31–32
• "A History of Jazz Information" (transcript), by Eugene Williams, Vol. 2, November 1941, pps. 93–101

New Orleans Clarinet series

• "New Orleans Clarinets: 2 – Edmond Hall" (Edmond Hall), by Herman Rosenberg & Eugene Williams, Vol. 2, No. 2, August 9, 1940
• "New Orleans Clarinets: 7 – Sidney Bechet" (Sidney Bechet), by Mary Evelyn Karoley (née Mary Frances Mellon; 1908–1993), Vol. 2, No. 8, December 6, 1940

Possible related articles

• Jazzways, George Sigmund Rosenthal (1922–1967) & Frank Zachary (né Frank Zaharija; 1914–2015) (eds.) (© 21 January 1946; Jazzways, Cincinnati) (more than 100 photos by Skippy Adelman, Bernice Abbott, and Sargent John Marsh; 1916–2003)

Cincinnati: Jazzways (1946);,

New York: Greenberg (1946, 1947);

London: Musicians Press Ltd. (1947);,

(Greenberg, Publisher, founded in 1924 by Jacob Walter Greenberg; 1894–1974; & David Benjamin Greenberg; 1892–1968; sold to Chilton Book Company in 1958)

Contributors

Vol. 1

"Report From Abroad," by Albert McCarthy

"Jazz begins," by Rudi Blesh

"Three Horns, Four Rhythm," by Dale Curran

"Going Down State Street," by Frederic Ramsey, Jr.

"Portrait of a Jazzman," Art Hodes

"Benny Goodman," by Alexander King

"Swing," by Frank Stacy, p. 49

"Lionel Hampton, by Peter Fischer

"New Orleans Today," by Eugene Williams & Julius "Skippy" Adelman (photographer) (note: Adelman, who later gave up photography, is still considered among the finest jazz photographers)

"Discollecting," by Frederic Ramsey, Jr.

Vol. 2

"Jazz begins," by Rudi Blesh

"Old Photographs"

"Going Down State Street," by Frederic Ramsey, Jr.

"Condon Mob"

"Hot Royalty"

"Benny Goodman," by Alexander King

"Lionel Hampton, by Peter Fischer

"Swing," by Frank Stacy (Stacy was, in the early 1940s, the New York editor for Down Beat)

"New Orleans Today," by Eugene Williams & Julius "Skippy" Adelman (born around 1924) (photographer) (note: Adelman, who later gave up photography, is still considered among the finest jazz photographers) Philadelphia jazz journalist Nels Nelson wrote in 1985 that Adelman was among the greatest jazz photographers in the world. In 1990, Nelson wrote that renowned jazz photographer "[Bill] Gottlieb ranks second only to the elusive Skippy Adelman in his capacity for capturing the moment."

"Discollecting," by Frederic Ramsey, Jr.

"Collector's Items"

"One for the Money"

"Two for the Show"

"Concerto for Woody"

"Portrait of a Jazzman," by Art Hodes (Hodes launched The Jazz Record in February 1943, which ran for 60 issues that ended November 1947)

"Three Brass, Four Rhythm," by Dale Curran, p. 24

Selected discography

Artists re-issued by Jazz Information

• Freddie Keppard (Paramount)
• Ollie Powers (Claxtonola)
• Leola B. Wilson (Paramount)
• Trixie Smith (Paramount)
• Red Onion Jazz Babies (Gennett)
• Bunk Johnson (Purist)
  • Bunny Berigan (unissued, Vocalion, Columbia)
• Frank Froeba (unissued, Vocalion)
• Don Albert (Vocalion)
• Boots and His Buddies (Bluebird)
• Carolina Cotton Pickers (Vocalion)
• Ernie Fields (Vocalion)
• Louis Armstrong (Storyville)
• Joe Newman (Metronome)
• Gerry Mulligan (Ingo)

Artists produced by Jazz Information

• Bunk Johnson

Personnel

Magazine staff

• 1939–1941: Eugene Williams, publisher, graduated from Columbia College in 1939
• 1939–1940: Ralph Gleason, associate editor, co-founded Rolling Stone in 1967
• Ralph de Toledano
• Herman Rosenberg
• George Hoefer (né Elmer George Hoefer, Jr.; 1909–1967) – born in Laramie, raised in Chapel Hill with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from UNC Chapel Hill – Hoefer went on to become a prolific jazz historian. From 1959 to 1961, he was the New York editor for Down Beat for which he had a column, "The Hot Box."

Magazine tag line

"The weekly magazine," September 19, 1939, to June 14, 1940

Library access

Re-publications

• • (microfilm)

Online transcriptions, current and archived

1. Book: 26 May 2012. Vol. 1, Nos. 2–10. September 19, 1939, to November 14, 1939 . May 16, 2022 . Blog of Benedict Eastaugh and Chris Sternal-Johnson at WordPress.

Archived via Wayback Machine

2. Book: September 19, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 2 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307200315/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz12.html . March 7, 2005 .

3. Book: September 26, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 3 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307011317/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz13.html . March 7, 2005 .

4. Book: October 3, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 4 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307011525/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz14.html . March 7, 2005 .

5. Book: October 10, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 5 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307011854/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz15.html . March 7, 2005 .

6. Book: October 17, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 6 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307012219/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz16.html . March 7, 2005 .

7. Book: October 24, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 7 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307012522/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz17.html . March 7, 2005 .

8. Book: October 31, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 8 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307203533/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz18.html . March 7, 2005 .

9. Book: November 7, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 9 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050312090337/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz19.html . March 12, 2005 .

10. Book: November 14, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 10 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307013124/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz20.html . March 7, 2005 .

11. Book: November 24, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307014149/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz21.html . March 7, 2005 .

12. Book: December 1, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307011309/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz22.html . March 7, 2005 .

13. Book: December 8, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 13 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050309094806/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz23.html . March 9, 2005 .

14. Book: December 15, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 14 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307011810/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz24.html . March 7, 2005 .

15. Book: December 22, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050310192900/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz25.html . March 10, 2005 .

16. Book: December 29, 1939 . Vol. 1, No. 16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307012458/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz26.html . March 7, 2005 .

17. Book: January 5, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307012722/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz27.html . March 7, 2005 .

18. Book: January 12, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 18 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307200311/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz28.html . March 7, 2005 .

19. Book: January 26, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307200840/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz29.html . March 7, 2005 .

20. Book: February 2, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 20 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050310191849/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz30.html . March 10, 2005 .

21. Book: February 9, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307011501/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz31.html . March 7, 2005 .

22. Book: February 16, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 22 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050310192904/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz32.html . March 10, 2005 .

    (transcript incorrectly identifies this as Vol. 21)

23. Book: February 23, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050310192908/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz33.html . March 10, 2005 .

24. Book: March 1, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050307203537/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz34.html . March 7, 2005 .

25. Book: March 8, 1940 . Vol. 1, No. 25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20050216101801/http://home.att.net/~joeshepherd/jazz/jazz35.html . February 16, 2005 .

    (transcript incorrectly identifies this as January 12, 1939, Vol. I, No. 21)

Bibliography

Books, journals, magazines, and papers

• Book: . Burke . Patrick Lawrence, PhD . 2008 . [{{GBurl|ZHqiAwAAQBAJ |p=130 |dq="jazz information" }} Come In and Hear the Truth: Jazz and Race on 52nd Street ]. limited preview . . May 18, 2019 . . .

• Record Changer (The) . March 1949 . . 8 . 3 . Retrieved May 18, 2019 – via Internet Archive ; .

1. . Finkelstein . Sidney (1909–1974) . Peace in the Ranks . 1949 . 11–12.
2. . Delaunay . Charles . Charles Delaunay . An Attack on Critical Jabberwalky . 1949 . 13–14 .

• Book: . Gennari . John Remo, PhD . 2006 . [{{GBurl|dcxlWTZPK-AC|p=80|dq="jazz information"}} Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics ]. limited preview . . 80 . May 18, 2019 . . ; ; .

• Book: . Hillman . Christopher . 1988 . Bunk Johnson: His Life and Times . Universe Books . 80 . registration . May 18, 2019 . . ; ; (paperback); .

• Book: . Charters . Samuel Barclay, IV . Samuel Barclay Charters IV . February 1958 . Jazz: New Orleans, 1885–1957 . . Belleville, New Jersey

  Walter C. Allen

  . 35, 140–141 . May 18, 2019 . .

• . Popular Photography . Popular Photography . June 1946 . [{{GBurl|jmczAQAAMAAJ|p=54|dq=adelman}} Jazz Pix ]. . en-US . Chicago . . 18 . 6 . 54–55 . . May 9, 2022 . .

• Book: . Toledano . Ralph de . Ralph de Toledano . 1994 . 1947 . [{{GBurl|0m6ofMIF7d4C |p=89 |dq="eugene williams"}} Frontiers of Jazz ]. limited preview . 3rd revised . . 89 . May 18, 2019 . . ; ; .

• . Welburn . Ronald Garfield, PhD . Autumn 1987 . Jazz Magazines of the 1930s: An Overview of Their Provocative Journalism . subscription . . . 5 . 3 . 255–270 . 10.2307/3051735 . 3051735 . (publication); (article); (article).
• . November 1941 . William . Eugene . Eugene Williams (jazz critic) . A History of Jazz Information . transcript . Jazz Information . 2 . 16 . 93–101 . May 18, 2019.

Retrieved May 18, 2019 – via – jazz forum site that was active for 16 years, through January 2019, registered to and maintained by Jesse Miner, a San Francisco area chef and jazz history enthusiast. The forum boards were closed in January 2019, but much of its content, as of May 2022, is accessible. The 23 links to transcripts of Jazz Information on a former website of the late Joseph Elbert Shepherd (1926–2021) of Sterling, Virginia (https://www.swingdjs.com/viewtopic.php?t=1488), have been archived by Wayback Machine.

• . Wilson . John S. . John S. Wilson (music critic) . September 1963 . A Real New Orleans Sound: The Story of Preservation Hall and Its Ancient Jazzmen . . . 59–63 & 133 . May 18, 2019 . www.americanradionhistory.com → maintained by David Frackelton Gleason of Cleveland.

News media

• News: . Philadelphia Daily News . Philadelphia Daily News . Nelson . Nels . November 22, 1985 . Some People Sweat Better Than Others . subscription . 61 . 162 . 70 . May 18, 2019 . . (US Newsstream database).
• News: . Philadelphia Daily News . Philadelphia Daily News . Nelson . Nels . June 22, 1990 . Snap Judgements – Bill Gottlieb's Photos Are a History of Jazz . subscription . 66 . 70 . 50 . May 18, 2019 . Newspapers.com. (US Newsstream database).

Notes and References

1. Web site: Armstrong . Don . An Early Fanzine Signs Off . Music Journalism History . 28 August 2022 . September 14, 2020.