The Fillius Jazz Archive, a priceless oral-history collection at Hamilton College, is 25 years old this March. Under the guidance of saxophonist-educator Monk Rowe, the Clinton, New York-based archive has recorded and transcribed 380 interviews with a wide variety of well-known jazz artists.
“And we have 360 of the interviews available for anyone to see online at the YouTube channel ‘Fillius Jazz,’” Rowe said.
Among the YouTube interviewees no longer living are Harry “Sweets” Edison, Nat Hentoff, Ralph Sutton, Nancy Wilson, Clark Terry and Bob Wilber. Living subjects include New Orleans pianist Dave Torkanowsky and New York City singer Cat Russell.
“The mission of the archive has been to gather video interviews with renowned jazz personalities, saving their stories and experiences for researchers, authors and interested jazz lovers,” said Rowe.
The collection generally focuses on artists associated with mainstream jazz and the swing era. Former members of bands led by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, and the Dorsey brothers are well represented. Significant soloists and arrangers from small ensembles dating from the 1930s have also been interviewed.
“The holdings are particularly viable for material pertaining to
