General Overview

This blog is dedicated to the Frank Driggs Jazz Oral History Collection located within the UMKC Nichols Library, Marr Sound Archives, and LaBudde Special Collections.

The Frank Driggs Jazz Oral History Collection compiles recorded interviews of early jazz musicians conducted by Driggs himself from 1956 to 1986. The interviews are conversations between Driggs and these musicians, during which they discuss certain subjects, including their experiences performing and recording with territory bands or other ensembles during the Great Depression, working with other notable musicians and band leaders, their path to success, and knowledge they have acquired throughout their careers. Driggs was inspired by analyzing the development of jazz in the Kansas City and Southwest regions. He sought to preserve information about musicians who flourished during the early jazz era, but were not as well-documented as some of their contemporaries and therefore may have been forgotten throughout history.

Marilyn K. Yee, Frank Driggs, 2005, The New York Times, New York https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/arts/music/frank-driggs-jazz-age-historian-and-photo-collector-dies-at-81.html.

An interesting connection that our group made upon researching the Frank Driggs collection is that many of the musicians included in the collection collaborated with each other or were associated with the same notable musicians in various ways. In particular, a few of the musicians we studied independently had performed with Count Basie, Benny Carter, and Louis Armstrong, among other widely recognizable names in jazz history.

Each member of our group chose one specific musician in the Driggs collection to research by listening to their interview. Maxine Sullivan was a jazz vocalist who performed and worked with artists such as Claude Thornhill and Benny Carter. She was one of the first African Americans to host a radio broadcast program, and she garnered a substantial amount of recognition for her recorded performance of Claude Thornhill’s swing arrangement of “Loch Lomond.” Saxophonist and clarinetist Buddy Tate performed with the Count Basie Orchestra for nearly ten years. Additionally, Tate worked with Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton throughout his career. Trombonist Druie Bess had much working experience in music as a child, thanks to his trombonist father. He later went on to perform with Walter Page’s Blue Devils, and eventually with Count Basie and Earl Hines, among others. Snub Mosely was another undersung trombonist, and was at one point the musical director for Louis Armstrong.

The musicians we researched also all shared similar career paths in territory bands and live and recorded performances of jazz. Frank Driggs had an interest in the aforementioned musicians and their life and work during the early jazz period, specifically those who worked in the Midwest and Southwest regions throughout the Great Depression. Driggs’ collection successfully displays the wealth of talent, skill, and knowledge that early jazz musicians exhibited. This collection is an especially helpful resource that preserves the history of many jazz musicians who may have been overlooked among the community of more well-known, household names in jazz history.

Bibliography:

Driggs, Frank. Frank Driggs Oral Jazz History Collection. MS-0109, LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri-Kansas City (2023). https://finding-aids.library.umkc.edu/

Fox, Margalit. “Frank Driggs, Collector of Jazz Photos, Dies at 81.” The New York Times (September 2011). https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/arts/music/frank-driggs-jazz-age-historian-and-photo-collector-dies-at-81.html