William Russo Music and Personal Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Strayhorn, Billy (William Thomas), 1915-1967
label: Photographer
content: Claxton, William
label: Composer
content: Kenton, Stan
label: Photographer
content: Leonard, Herman, 1923-2010
label: Musician
content: Mulligan, Gerry
label: Creator
content: Russo, William, 1928-2003
label: Names
content: Chicago Jazz Ensemble
label: Names
content: Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
topic: label: Occupation
content: Composers -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Opera
label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Jazz
label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William Russo. Papers collected after Russo's death in 2003. The 2007 addendum sent by Russo's sister and daughter were also part of the bequest.
creator: label: Creator
content: Strayhorn, Billy (William Thomas), 1915-1967
label: Photographer
content: Claxton, William
label: Composer
content: Kenton, Stan
label: Photographer
content: Leonard, Herman, 1923-2010
label: Musician
content: Mulligan, Gerry
label: Creator
content: Russo, William, 1928-2003
setName: label: See more items in
content: William Russo Music and Personal Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Papers and audiovisual materials documenting Russo's career in music.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: William Russo, renowned American jazz composer, arranger, and founder of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, had a music career that spanned five decades and included performance, conducting and composition. During his career he worked with such diverse talents as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Leonard Bernstein, Cannonball Adderly, Yehuidi Menuhin, Dizzy Gillespie, Seiji Ozawa, and Billie Holiday. Although critics acknowledged Russo mainly for his pioneering contributions to the big-band jazz canon, his talents extended to a far wider range of musical styles, creating groundbreaking jazz scores, rock operas, classical works, film scores, and educational textbooks on jazz orchestration and arrangement. In all, he composed over 200 pieces for jazz orchestra with more than 25 recordings of his work. In 1990, Russo received a Lifetime Achievement award from NARAS, the organization that presents the Grammy Awards. 

As a young trombonist, Russo studied with Lennie Tristano, the pianist and theorist who became a leader in the progressive jazz movement. During the late 1940s, Russo led the revolutionary Experiment in Jazz band. At age 21, he became one of the chief composers/arrangers for the Stan Kenton Orchestra, one of the most innovative and influential jazz orchestras of the postwar era. In his four years with Kenton, Russo penned such classic Kenton works as "23° North – 82° West," and "Frank Speaking."

Russo made several major jazz recordings under his own name before his classical "Symphony No. 2 in C (TITANS)" received a Koussevitsky award in 1959; it was performed by the New York Philharmonic that same year under Leonard Bernstein, who had commissioned the work. This award marked Russo's "official" entry into the world of classical music. Russo continued to write major symphonic works throughout his career, including his 1992 grand opera, "Dubrovsky."

After his tenure with Kenton, in the early 1950s, Russo led his own successful bands, The Russo Orchestra in New York, and the London Jazz Orchestra, before returning to Chicago to form the Chicago Jazz Ensemble in 1065. With the Ensemble, he presented Duke Ellington's "First Concert of Sacred Music" in 1967. This was one of the rare times when Ellington allowed one of his compositions to be arranged and performed by a jazz orchestra other than his own, and was a reflection of Ellington's respect for Russo. Shortly after this performance, Russo composed a rock cantata, "The Civil War," that led him into the field of rock opera. After concentrating on classical music again in the 1970s, in the late 1980s, Russo began to re-explore the history of jazz through his revived Chicago Jazz Ensemble. In 1995, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble made history with the first-ever complete live performance of Gil Evans' and Miles Davis' "Sketches of Spain" in its original form. Recent Russo works that premiered in Chicago included "Chicago Suite No. 1," and "Chicago Suite No. 2," a recording that was published posthumously in the spring of 2003.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 87 Cubic feet (188 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1920-2002
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0845
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Type
content: Music
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Librettos
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Posters
label: Type
content: Programs
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Scores
label: Type
content: Lecture notes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into nine series.

Series 1: William Russo's Music

Series 2: Teaching Notes

Series 3: Correspondence

Series 4: Publicity, Programs, and Reviews

Series 5: Posters and Artwork

Series 6: Photographs

Series 7: Books and Lecture Notebooks

Series 8: Memorabilia

Series 9: Audiovisual Materials
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Daniel Alonzo, Charlotte Gray, Peiling Li, Adrienne Mullins, Sarah Winnan, interns, supervised by Scott Schwartz, archivist, 2003.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Genre/Form
content: Music -- Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Librettos
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Programs
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Scores
label: Genre/Form
content: Lecture notes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection includes Russo's original and published music scores, parts and arrangements; audiovisual materials including recordings of broadcasts of Russo's radio show, performances of Russo's compositions, including performances by Duke Ellington, and film and video recordings of Russo's productions in theater and opera; and personal papers such as correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, publicity files, contracts, etc. Among the most significant items in the collection are experimental jazz arrangements for Stan Kenton in the late 1940s-early 1950s, undated arrangements for Gerry Mulligan, Russo's original arrangement of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert, scores to his first and second symphonies, and scores and libretti to several early rock operas. The photographs include images of persons such as Ellington, Kenton, and Billy Strayhorn, and photographs by jazz photographers Herman Leonard and William Claxton. 2007 addendum includes correspondence, mostly between Russo and his family; eighteen diaries for 1946-1967 (not all years are present) with sparse entries, some in Italian; and additional music manuscripts, parts, scores and libretti.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

William Russo Transcription and Arrangement of Duke Ellington's First Concert of Sacred Music, 1967-1968 (AC0406)