William Russell (February 26, 1905 – August 9, 1992) was an American music historian and modernist composer. Named Russell William Wagner at birth, when he decided to become a classical music composer, he dropped his last name—as it already "was taken" by

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. He was commonly known as "Bill Russell".

Composer

Born in the small

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

city of Canton, Bill Russell was a leading figure in percussion music composition, influenced by his acquaintances John Cage and

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 20 ...

. In turn, Russell also influenced Cage, in his emphasis of percussion. During the 1930s, predating Cage's main work, Russell's percussion works called for vernacular textures such as Jack Daniels bottles, suitcases, and Haitian drums, as well as "prepared pianos", although it is not clear how specifically he wanted the piano to be prepared. One notable performance of his "Fugue for eight percussion instruments" took place in 1933, with the ubiquitous and influential critic-writer-performer

Nicholas Slonimsky Nicolas Slonimsky ( – December 25, 1995), born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (russian: Никола́й Леони́дович Сло́нимский), was a Russian-born American conductor, author, pianist, composer and lexicographer. ...

conducting. The fugue was performed at Carnegie Hall on a program that included Varèse's iconic percussion composition "Ionisation." These performances took place under the auspices of the Pan-American Association of Composers, an organization which included Cowell,

Ruth Crawford Seeger Ruth Crawford Seeger (born Ruth Porter Crawford; July 3, 1901 – November 18, 1953) was an American composer and folk music specialist. Her music was a prominent exponent of the emerging modernist aesthetic and she became a central member of a ...

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined ...

, Slonimsky, and other composers of American ultramodernism. Russell, on occasion, performed other Pan-Am composers' chamber works on violin. In 1990, Russell's oeuvre was performed integrally, assisted by Cage, in New York, leading to a recording of Russell's extant works by

Essential Music Essential or essentials may refer to: Biology *Essential amino acid, one that the organism cannot produce by itself Groups and organizations * EQ Media Group, formerly Essential Media Group, a global television production company * Essential Me ...

Music historian

Bill Russell also was one of the leading authorities on early

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

. He authored articles and books, including three essays in the milestone book, '' Jazzmen'' and the voluminous 720-page

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a ge ...

scrapbook, ''Oh, Mister Jelly''.''Oh, Mister Jelly'' - JazzMedia 1999. and he made many recordings of historical interest. Russell founded

American Music Records American Music Records is a jazz record company and label that was established by Bill Russell in 1944. Russell produced new recordings and reissues, concentrating on New Orleans jazz musicians such as Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Baby Dodds, an ...

, which helped bring many forgotten New Orleans performers, including

Bunk Johnson Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson (December 27, 1879 – July 7, 1949) was an American prominent jazz trumpeter in New Orleans. Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a dec ...

, back to public attention. He became an important force in the New Orleans jazz revival of the early 1940s. He moved to New Orleans in 1956, settling in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...

, where he opened a small record shop and from which, he also performed violin repairs. Russell also played

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

with the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra. In 1958, Russell co-founded and became the first curator of the

Hogan Jazz Archive The Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, and is one of the special collections of the Tulane University library. The archive specializes in Dixieland Jazz, gospel, blues, rhyt ...

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

. Russell collected a large quantity of material related to the history of New Orleans, early jazz, ragtime, blues, and gospel music, all of which he kept in his French Quarter apartment. During his lifetime he always was willing to share access to the material with serious researchers. At his 1992 death in New Orleans at the age of 87, he left the collection to The Historic New Orleans Collection, where it continues to be a valuable resource for researchers. His obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' noted that: "Russell was the single most influential figure in the revival of New Orleans jazz that began in the 1940s."

References

Sources

*Ramsey, Jr., Frederic and Smith, Charles Edward (Eds) - Jazzmen - Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1939.

External links

William Russell Jazz Collection
- research holdings of The Historic New Orleans Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Bill 1905 births 1992 deaths Modernist composers American male violinists Jazz musicians from New Orleans American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century American violinists People from Canton, Missouri 20th-century American composers Jazz musicians from Missouri Classical musicians from Missouri 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians