Willie Ruff

Talking with American Studies 430

Yale University

April 4, 1978

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Tape a:                                                                                                           P. 1

The Ellington Fellowship‑‑the oral history archive‑‑jazz oral history vs Western music oral history‑‑Ellington the man vs the symbol‑‑"taking low"‑‑ Billy Strayhorn‑‑Ruff's background at Yale‑‑Hindemith‑‑honor to the tradition Ellington was part of‑‑Ellington as pianist‑‑Ellington and Strayhorn‑‑the Ellington Fellowship‑‑the "Yale Collegians"‑‑funding for jazz related projects‑‑jazz on college campuses in the thirties‑-the present situation of undergraduate jazz‑‑the present erosion of Blacks in the performing arts.

Tape b:                                                                                                          P. 14

the paucity of jazz bands at Yale‑‑lack of live music for schools‑-loyalty to Ellington‑‑the Smithsonian project‑‑Lawrence Brown‑‑Tom Whaley‑-the darker world of Ellington‑‑the future use of the oral history tapes‑-Ruff's favorite Ellington era‑‑live music‑‑Ellington on radio, making $900 a minute.