Bobby Tucker Papers
name: label: Musician
content: Eckstine, Billy
label: Musician
content: Jones, Quincy, 1933-2024
label: Musician
content: Tucker, Bobby, 1923-2008
label: Donor
content: Tucker, Irma
topic: label: Topic
content: African American musicians
label: Topic
content: African American music -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Music -- African-American
label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Musical arrangers
label: Topic
content: Musicians -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Pianists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated to the Archives Center in 2008 by Tucker's widow, Irma J. Tucker.
creator: label: Musician
content: Eckstine, Billy
label: Musician
content: Jones, Quincy, 1933-2024
label: Musician
content: Tucker, Bobby, 1923-2008
setName: label: See more items in
content: Bobby Tucker Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents the life and musical career of Robert "Bobby" Tucker. The collection particularly emphasizes Tucker's close collaboration with Billy Eckstine over a forty-year period from approximately 1949-1990, and includes original orchestrations of arrangements by Tucker and other arrangers, a complete set of commercial recordings by Eckstine for which Tucker served as arranger, and ephemeral material including photographs, concert programs and news clippings.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Robert Nathaniel "Bobby" Tucker Jr. was born in Morristown, New Jersey, January 8, 1923 and died there on April 12, 2007.  He was an accomplished pianist, arranger, and accompanist.  He began performing at the age of fourteen and later studied in New York at the Institute of Musical Art.  In 1946, he became accompanist to jazz vocalist Mildred Bailey and later that year, to renowned jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, with whom he remained until 1949 and with whom he had a strong and enduring, platonic friendship.  Tucker continued to make recordings with Holiday into the 1950s.  

Beginning in 1949, Tucker embarked on a lifetime collaboration as accompanist and musical director for the great African American balladeer and recording artist Billy "Mr. B" Eckstine.  After leading a highly-acclaimed band from 1944-1947, Eckstine returned to a career as a solo singer, becoming the country's most popular vocalist in 1949-1950 and signing a lucrative five-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Incorporated (MGM).  Although his popularity waned after 1951, he continued to play in major nightclubs in the United States and abroad for the next several decades and to release several popular albums.  As his piano accompanist for over forty years, Tucker helped build and sustain the singer's career, reinventing Eckstine as the nation's musical tastes changed, and the music industry evolved.  During his stint with Eckstine, Tucker worked on concerts—planning, arranging music, transcribing, and transposing works for performances; on recordings—preparing written arrangements, working integrally with recording companies. Engagements included recordings and performances with the Count Basie Orchestra; recordings under the direction of Quincy Jones; performances in Las Vegas; and band tours of Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Tucker was a renowned piano accompanist, and while working for Eckstine he was eagerly sought out by other singers, including Johnny Hartman, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, and Sarah Vaughan.  He also collaborated with other jazz accompanists such as Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Rowles, and John Malachi.  In his autobiography, Quincy Jones says that Tucker inspired him to begin studying music after they met in Seattle, while Jones was touring with Billie Holiday. Jones attributed all of the success he garnered in his career to the core skills he developed as a result of Tucker's inspiration.  Tucker worked with Jones to arrange and conduct the music for the 1978 film The Wiz, which received an Academy Award nomination for best original music score. 


Source: written by Craig Orr for National Museum of American History, Collections Committee Memorandum, October 2, 2008.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 36 Cubic feet (92 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1883-2007, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1141
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Orchestrations
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Programs
label: Type
content: Sheet music
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1: Professional Materials, 1883-1992, undated

Subseries 1.1: Music Manuscripts, undated

Subseries 1.2: Published Sheet Music, 1883-1992

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1940-2007, undated

Series 3: Audiovisual Materials, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Rebekah Keel, intern, 2015 and Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, 2015.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Orchestrations
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Programs -- Concerts
label: Genre/Form
content: Sheet music
otherfindaid: label: Other Finding Aids
content: An inventory of the music manuscripts (Subseries 1.1) that was created by James Zimmerman, public program specialist; Malcolm Stokes, intern; and Zack Greenwald, intern. See repository for details.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection primarily documents the close collaboration between Tucker and Billy Eckstine over a forty-year period, circa 1949-1990.  It articulates the growth and development of a working jazz master—Eckstine—and the diversity of the musical repertoire he performed as he cultivated new audiences throughout his career.  The collection includes original orchestrations of arrangements by Tucker and other well regarded arrangers such as Billy Beyers, Quincy Jones, Bob Enevoldsen, Marty Paich, Sammy Nestico, and Artie Butler.  All of these materials found their way into Eckstine's recording and concert repertoire, which is evidenced by the approximately twenty cubic feet of sheet music arrangements that form the bulk of the collection.  They illustrate the pivotal role Tucker played as the arranger, who interpreted and adapted original compositions to suit Eckstine's vocal style and capabilities, resulting in one of the longest-running successful collaborations in modern American musical history.

In addition, the sheet music contains Tucker's arrangements for Quincy Jones's music score for the 1978 film The Wiz.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History


NW Ayer & Sons, incorporated Advertising Agency Records, NMAH.AC.0059


Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301


Sarah Vaughan Memorial Program, 1990, NMAH.AC.0384


Herman Leonard Photographic Collection, NMAH.AC.0445


Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0491

Scurlock Studio Records, NMAH.AC.0618.S04.06


Scurlock Studio Records, NMAH.AC.0618.S04.12


William "Cat" Anderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0630


Jack Siefert Woody Herman Collection, NMAH.AC.0659


Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750


W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, NMAH.AC.0766


Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

Contains an oral history interview with Bobby Tucker, February 27-28, 2004


Pat and Chuck Bress Jazz Portrait Photographs, NMAH.AC.1219


John and Devra Hall Levy Collection, NMAH.AC.1221

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1222


Norman and Sally Coe Scopitone Film Collection, NMAH.AC.1230


Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC.1323

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH