Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 110
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

This was posted on FB today by Ricky Riccardi: 

Every now and then, my job requires me to embody Indiana Jones (minus the hat) and do some archeological digging. Today, I ended up in hellishly hot storage unit in Amityville, NY where, joined by intrepid staff members from the Armstrong House and the Institute of Jazz Studies, we collected precious artifacts belonging to the late Chris Albertson. Here I am, drenched in sweat, surrounded by heavy boxes, sitting on the ground, going through a filing cabinet....and finding an unpublished autobiographical manuscript written by Lil Hardin Armstrong in the 1960s! One of the all-time great work moments. I’ll have more to post on it once we start processing it at the Archives—stay tuned!

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

This was posted on FB today by Ricky Riccardi: 

Every now and then, my job requires me to embody Indiana Jones (minus the hat) and do some archeological digging. Today, I ended up in hellishly hot storage unit in Amityville, NY where, joined by intrepid staff members from the Armstrong House and the Institute of Jazz Studies, we collected precious artifacts belonging to the late Chris Albertson. Here I am, drenched in sweat, surrounded by heavy boxes, sitting on the ground, going through a filing cabinet....and finding an unpublished autobiographical manuscript written by Lil Hardin Armstrong in the 1960s! One of the all-time great work moments. I’ll have more to post on it once we start processing it at the Archives—stay tuned!

 

Wow!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very glad to hear that the archives were placed in a storage unit sometime before and it sounds like they were willed to the Institute and the Armstrong House.  I had visions of a landlord ordering the pitching of things into a dumpster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, EKE BBB said:

Chris was working on a Lil Armstrong autobiography (“as told to”) for some time but he gave up some years ago.

And he talked about it here and there in his postings (and on his blog IIRC) so while it would be great to see it published this does not seem to be some news out of the blue.

1 minute ago, Dan Gould said:

Very glad to hear that the archives were placed in a storage unit sometime before and it sounds like they were willed to the Institute and the Armstrong House.  I had visions of a landlord ordering the pitching of things into a dumpster.

Yes, this is very comforting to know. I had similar fears (it has all happened before, and dispersing archives like this piecemeal on ebay or elsewhere isn't much better).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/31/2019 at 8:18 PM, Chuck Nessa said:

This was posted on FB today by Ricky Riccardi: 

Every now and then, my job requires me to embody Indiana Jones (minus the hat) and do some archeological digging. Today, I ended up in hellishly hot storage unit in Amityville, NY where, joined by intrepid staff members from the Armstrong House and the Institute of Jazz Studies, we collected precious artifacts belonging to the late Chris Albertson. Here I am, drenched in sweat, surrounded by heavy boxes, sitting on the ground, going through a filing cabinet....and finding an unpublished autobiographical manuscript written by Lil Hardin Armstrong in the 1960s! One of the all-time great work moments. I’ll have more to post on it once we start processing it at the Archives—stay tuned!

 

WOW! I wonder if there would be interest in crowdfunding the publication of this manuscript? Or perhaps there is enough interest that wouldn't be necessary ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just found this under a photo on Ricky's Instagram account :

"Famed jazz historian, producer and author Chris Albertson passed away on April 24 at the age of 87. The Jazz Foundation of America helped find a home for Albertson’s massive collection, with most of it going to the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers. But Albertson has a close relationship with Louis’s second wife, Lillian Hardin Armstrong, and the Jazz Foundation decreed that anything relating to Lil and/or Louis could go to the Louis Armstrong House Museum. Yesterday, on a sweltering hot summer day, a team comprised of Armstrong House staff members Ricky Riccardi, Sarah Rose, Hyland Harris and Junior Armstead descended upon a storage unit in Amityville, NY to search for Lil and Louis items. 210 boxes were opened and rifled through (with help from Rutgers, New School and Jazz Foundation friends) and we’re happy to report that we have brought some stunning artifacts back to Queens! 
This includes an autobiographical manuscript Lil and Chris worked on in the 60s; other autobiographical writings by Lil; numerous letters from Lil to Chris; rare photos of young Lil; photos of Louis and Lil from one of her scrapbooks; a framed autographed photo of Louis; a poster for Louis’s 1932 debut at the London Palladium; Lil’s framed version of an original King Oliver publicity photo; and more."

BTW The photo makes the storage space look more like a warehouse than a storage space-- not quite of Citizen Kane/Raiders of the Lost Ark proportions but more like someone's basement than a Pod. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Damn.  I didn’t even know that Chris had passed away.   :(
I was flipping through his Bessie book a few weeks ago and wondering what he was up to. 
We had lots of….um, ‘spirited’ exchanges in the old Politics threads long ago …….but also a great many pleasant email and PM exchanges on the side.    Sad news. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

Who was the journalist who had the floors collapse in his NYC apartment from the weight of the records? I can't remember if it was Chris Albertson, but it was someone who had been on the scene a long time and is now deceased.

 

 

 

Wasn't him. I was at his apartment once. It had "some" records, but not a lot. He lived in a pre-war apartment building on Central Park West. Those buildings don't just collapse, even under the weight of billions of dollars housed in them.

But just to let your imaginations run wild - was he an heir to the Albertson's Supermarkets fortune?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...