John and Devra Hall Levy Collection
name: label: Performer
content: Adderley, Cannonball
label: Performer
content: Adderly, Nat, 1931-2000
label: Performer
content: Horn, Shirley, 1934-
label: Donor
content: Levy, Devra Hall
label: Creator
content: Levy, John, 1912-2012
label: Vocalist
content: Lincoln, Abbey, 1930 -
label: Performer
content: Mbulu, Letta
label: Performer
content: Montgomery, Wes, 1925-1968
label: Singer
content: Wilson, Nancy, 1937-
topic: label: Topic
content: African American musicians
label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Jazz -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Music trade -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Sound recordings -- Album covers
label: Topic
content: Sound recordings -- Jazz -- 1930-1990 -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Devra Hall Levy.
creator: label: Performer
content: Adderley, Cannonball
label: Performer
content: Adderly, Nat, 1931-2000
label: Performer
content: Horn, Shirley, 1934-
label: Donor
content: Levy, Devra Hall
label: Creator
content: Levy, John, 1912-2012
label: Vocalist
content: Lincoln, Abbey, 1930 -
label: Performer
content: Mbulu, Letta
label: Performer
content: Montgomery, Wes, 1925-1968
label: Singer
content: Wilson, Nancy, 1937-
setName: label: See more items in
content: John and Devra Hall Levy Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Materials document Levy's short career as a musician, his longer career as a manager, and the careers of
some of his clients.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: John Levy was a renowned leading representative of jazz musicians and was the first African American to work in the music industry as a personal manager.  Born in 1912 in New Orleans, Louisiana his family moved to Chicago when he was six.  By the early 1940s he had begun playing bass in jazz bands around town. In 1944, Levy left Chicago with the Stuff Smith Trio to play an extended engagement at the Onyx Club on New York City's 52nd Street. Over the next years, he played and recorded with many jazz notables, including Ben Webster, Buddy Rich, Errol Garner, Rex Stewart, Milt Jackson, and Billy Taylor, as well as with Billie Holiday at her comeback performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948. In 1949, blind pianist George Shearing hired Levy for his own group and as they toured the country, Levy gradually took on the role of road manager.  By 1951, Levy stopped performing to become the group's full-time manager, making history as the first African American manager of a major musical group, and establishing the career he would continue for the next fifty years.

Levy's client roster included many major artists, including Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, Abbey Lincoln, Herbie Mann, Wes Montgomery, Carol Sloane, Joe Williams, and Nancy Wilson, as well as Arsenio Hall (the only comedian he has managed among some one hundred entertainers).  In recognition of his achievements, Levy has received numerous awards, including induction into the International Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Jazz Society (2002), and being named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master (2006). His autobiography, Men, Women, and Girl Singers: My Life as a Musician Turned Talent Manager, written with his wife Devra Hall, was published in 2001 and expanded into a photograph book, Strollin': A Jazz Life through John Levy's Personal Lens, released in 2008 on the occasion of his 96th birthday. Levy died in 2012 at the age of ninety-nine in Altadena, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 32.6 Cubic feet (96 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1916-2010, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1221
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Financial records
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Itineraries
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Press releases
label: Type
content: Professional papers
label: Type
content: Schedules
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Videotapes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1916-2010, undated		

Series 2: Business Records, 1957-2007, undated		
 
Series 3: Photographic Materials, 1963-2002, undated

Series 4: Artist Files, 1942-2001-05-12	

Series 5: Joe Williams, 1962-2007, undated	

Series 6: Nancy Wilson, 1959-2008, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed by Jack Barral, intern, 2019; Lauren Finkle, intern, 2019; Sarah Gediman, intern, 2019; Caroline Kleiner, intern, 2019; Abigail Phelps, intern, 2019; Erin Wiebe, intern, 2019; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2019.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Articles
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Contracts
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Financial records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Itineraries
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Press releases
label: Genre/Form
content: Professional papers -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Schedules
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Videotapes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents Levy's short career as a musician, his longer career as a manager, and the careers of some of his clients. The client most well represented in the collection is Nancy Wilson, with recordings, photographs, correspondence, financial statements, and contracts included. Papers relating to other clients include business records such as ledgers, scheduling information, itineraries, and contracts; publicity materials such as articles, press kits, photographs, and videotapes; personal correspondence; photographs; oral history interviews; scrapbook pages; recordings, some commercial and some non-commercial; and miscellany. The non-commercial recordings feature artists including Nancy Wilson, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderly, Abbey Lincoln, Wes Montgomery, Shirley Horn, Letta Mbulu, and others. Also included are some of Wes Montgomery's music manuscripts.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History


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Robert Udkoff Collection of Duke Ellington EphemeraNMAH.AC.0388

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Frank Schiffman Apollo Theatre Collection, NMAH.AC.0540

Ella Fitzgerald Papers, NMAH.AC.0584

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

William Claxton Photographs, NMAH.AC.0695

Edward and Gaye Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

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

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.0887

Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz" Radio Series, NMAH.AC.0899

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

John Coltrane Music Manuscript, NMAH.AC.0903

Miles Davis Music Manuscript, NMAH.AC.0920

Bobby Short Papers, NMAH.AC.0946

Ramsey Lewis Collection, NMAH.AC.1126

Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, NMAH.AC.1207

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

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1222

Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, NMAH.AC.1238

Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.1240

Chuck Stewart Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.1321

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC.1323

Ray Brown Papers, NMAH.AC.1362

Eubie Blake Letter and Music Manuscripts, NMAH.AC.1400

James Moody Papers, NMAH.AC.1405

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, NMAH.AC.1485

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The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties Exhibition Records, ACMA.03-024

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Arhoolie Records, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH

Smithsonian Institution Archives


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Smithsonian Resident Associate Program. Office of Public Affairs, Record Unit 632, SIA.FARU0632

National Museum of American History, Program in Black American Culture, Program Records
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Duke Ellington Collection Records, SIA.FA98-129