Chris Albertson RIP, April 24. Producer, writer, biographer, historian ....

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"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"

A bit late with this because I've only just found out. Chris was a fascinating guy, a producer for Prestige, and then Riverside in its artistic prime, THE biographer of Bessie Smith, conductor of the last interview with Lester Young and much much more.

I only knew him through the old Newark Jazz Corner site around 2 decades ago. He was highly opinionated, feisty to the end, and not afraid of uncomfortable truths as he saw them, and always stimulating to read. I suggested to him once that he write his autobiography, and he did blog a lot on his past in his final years. Always worth reading.

A big big loss in many respects.

RIP.

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for putting us in the know, BN.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

It's a lifetime of experience and commitment. And what impressed me in my exchanges is that he had immense respect for the music and it's key players, but almost none for those (a surprising & influential number) who had ridden to fame and lucrative careers on the back of it. A romantic without any "romanticism" if that makes any sense.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It's a lifetime of experience and commitment.

- I hadn't heard of Chris Albertson before, but this sense of commitment shone through in your OP, Bluesnik. Many thanks for posting.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

He deserves to be known for a great many things, but he was the highly significant biographer of Bessie Smith and cleared away much of the mythology surrounding the circumstances of her death. He also pressured John Hammond into a major reissue programme of her complete works. Friend of a vast range, Randy Weston, Lonnie Johnson, Kenny Dorham etc etc. A life exceptionally well lived from Iceland to Denmark to the States.

[Ian Thumwood]

I initially didn't make the connection but his obituary can be found here:-

https://jazztimes.com/features/tributes-and-obituaries/jazz-and-blues-historian-chris-albertson-dies-at-87/

I must admit that I have found some American posters extremely opinionated on some of the old message-boards. Some of the comments have been quite informed and been posted by people who are regulars at jazz clubs from the 50's onwards as well as other musicians who could be amazingly defensive about some pretty mediocre stuff. Seem to recall the guitar-playing son of a mainstream jazz guitarist from the 1950s being particularly vehement about the merits of white jazz musicians from that era. He was opinionated to the point of rudeness. Got to admit that I thought he was an absolute c*ck and he was one of the few people I have resorted to being really offensive to on line. Almost as annoying as Trevor Cooper, late of these boards who was, if anything, even more narrow minded.

I sometimes think that although American critics are often there "on the spot" to listen to jazz, writers who are based in Europe and perhaps more divorced from the "action" are more balanced. Still, it is interesting to hear American perspectives and to realise that these voices from the States are as opinionated and controversial as in the UK. Just found that a lot more effort seemed to be given in American message-boards to defending white musicians and justifying their significance. I still get the impression that there is still an undercurrent of trying to overstate the significance of white jazz musicians on these American boards whereas I would have thought the bias in Europe was the other way around.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

One of the things I got from him, or rather had confirmed, is that this music is not *simply* about who plays "the best", or who is the most innovative, technically advanced, pushes the boundaries etc etc. It's also about the sheer craft, the integrity, communication, humanity, honesty...the second and third tiers, it's the soil as well as the "blooms". I have really had enough of jazz as a marking score, plus points for this, minus for that, often from people a safe distance removed from its reality dressing up their subjectivity as an iron law. Ticks are for accountants.