Frank Gillis
Frank J. Gillis (born 1914 in Toronto , † September 17, 1999 in Grand Marais , Minnesota ) was an American jazz pianist , ethnomusicologist and specialist bibliographer .
Live and act
Gillis, who grew up in Detroit , first learned to play the violin. At the age of 17 he took piano lessons and from the mid-1930s and 1940s played in the local Ash Trumpet Club with musicians of traditional jazz such as Bobby Hackett , Red Nichols , Jack Teagarden and Doc Cenardo. After earning his bachelor's degree at Wayne State University in Detroit , he studied musicology (especially ethnomusicology) at Columbia University in New York . He then earned a Masters in Library Science from the University of Minnesota .
During the 1950s and 1960s he played regularly with Doc Evans and can also be heard on a number of Evans albums. Then he directed the Superior Jazz Band . Gillis spent 25 years in the Archives of the Traditional Music Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana , from 1964 to 1977 as Associate Director and from 1977 to 1981 as Director. He was responsible for the acquisition of a collection of shellac records, supervised students, gave concerts with the Faculty Five in Bloomington and taught jazz and jazz research at the university .
Gillis was also (co-) author of several musicological bibliographies, from 1973 to 1975 President of the Society of Ethnomusicology and from 1966 to 1970 editor of the journal Ethnomusicology , to which he also provided numerous original bibliographical articles, some of which also cover the disco and filmographic aspects of the treated persons included. He also published the record documentation Indiana Ragtime , which he provided with an introductory booklet and to which he himself contributed an audio sample as a pianist. He was also involved in editing the memoirs of jazz trumpeter Lee Collins .
Publications
- Frank Willis, Minnesota Music in the Nineteenth Century: A Guide to Sources and Resources (1958)
- Frank Willis & Alan P. Merriam, Ethnomusicology and Folk Music: An International Bibliography of Dissertations and Theses (1966)
- Frank Willis & Neil V. Rosenberg, Catalog of Indian Folk Music and Folklore (1970)
- Frank Willis & Ruth M. Stone, African Music and Oral Data: A Catalog of Field Recordings, 1902-1975 (1976)
- John Edward Hasse & Frank Gillis: Indiana Ragtime. A Documentary Album / The Radiant Rag . Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Society. 1981
- Lee Collins: Oh Didn't He Ramble - The Life Story of Lee Collins as Told to Mary Colins. Edited by Frank J. Gills and John W. Miner . Urbana, Chicago, London. University of Illinois Press. 1974.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Gillis remembered fondly as musician mentor, Herald Times, 24 September 1999
- ↑ a b c Obituary at Star Tribune 1999 ( memento of the original from February 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Cf. Discography Doc Evans ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Biographical Portrait (University of Maryland, Baltimore County memorial page)
- ^ Society of Ethnomusicology (50th conference) (PDF; 413 kB)
- ^ Frank Gillis Collection 1920-1941 at the Jazz Institute of Chicago (Chicago University Library)
- ↑ See Paul F. Wells, Indiana Ragtime (Review). In: American Music Vol. 3 (1) 1985: 112-114
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gillis, Frank |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gillis, Frank J. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz musician and ethnomusicologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Toronto , Ontario, Canada |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 17, 1999 |
| Place of death | Grand Marais , Minnesota, United States |