Melba Liston scores, 1896-1991 | Center for Black Music Research

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Collection Overview

Title: Melba Liston scores, 1896-1991

Predominant Dates:1957-1982

ID: 2000/LIST_2005

Primary Creator: Liston, Melba

Extent: 54.41 Linear Feet. More info below.

Arrangement:

The Liston scores are arranged in two main series: 1) lead sheets and 2) scores, both arranged in alphabetical order. A subseries of Series I consists of collections of lead sheets and song books, including music from the theatrical productions The Black Mikado and The Dread Mikado as well as collections of works by one composer.

Series II includes arrangements and transcriptions. Music for the theatrical production Smile Orange is included here. A subseries of Series II includes a selection of arrangements from gig books. Two additional subseries of Series II filed at the end of the series contain her works for individual musicians arranged alphabetically, which reflects the organization of her scores as they were originally received, and scores and arrangements by other composers.

Series III is comprised of a small number of lyric sheets and miscellaneous fragments.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1999

Subjects: Composers, Black, Liston, Melba, Musicians, Black, Trombonists

Forms of Material: Jazz

Abstract

Melba Liston (1926-1999) was a jazz composer, arranger, and trombonist. She played in the bands of several important jazz musicians, including Count Basie, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Randy Weston, and Quincy Jones. This collection primarily documents her careers as arranger, composer, and educator and includes lead sheets, arrangements, scores and parts, and 1 letter box of papers concerning her career.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Melba Liston Collection primarily documents her careers as arranger, composer, and educator rather than her accomplishments as a trombonist. It contains lead sheets to her own and other people’s compositions and manuscript scores of many of her arrangements for Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and Mary Lou Williams, among others. One extensive series contains numerous arrangements for Randy Weston, and her late computer scores for him are also present.

Liston’s career as an arranger for recording companies—especially Motown—and for performers such as Marvin Gaye, Ruth Brown, Gloria Lynne, and others, is highlighted in most jazz reference books. Arrangements for performers can be found among her scores, although details about the specific arrangements are often cryptic. Also included in her score collection are musical arrangements and lead sheets dating from her years spent as an educator in Jamaica, although once again, related documentation is sparse or lacking.

Liston's surviving papers document very little of her life, reflecting mainly on her music, which to her was all-important. Performers will find her scores and lead sheets useful. Potential biographers will find it necessary to rely on secondary sources and interviews to place her music in its historical context.

Collection Historical Note

Melba Liston was a jazz composer, arranger, and performer born in 1926. She was a trombonist during an era (1942–1985) when few women played brass instruments and even fewer toured with jazz bands. She played in the bands of several important jazz musicians, including Count Basie, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Randy Weston, and Quincy Jones. Liston had an active career as an arranger for important jazz composers as well as popular music record labels. She also worked with youth orchestras in the troubled neighborhood of Watts, California, leaving the United States to teach at the Jamaica Institute of Music for six years (1973–1979). After suffering a stroke in 1985 that left her paralyzed, she continued to arrange using a computer through the 1990s until her death in 1999.

Biographical Note

Melba Liston, b. 1926; jazz arranger and conductor, trombone; member of Ernie Henry Octet; d. Apr. 23, 1999

Subject/Index Terms

Composers, Black
Liston, Melba
Musicians, Black
Trombonists

Administrative Information

Repository: Center for Black Music Research

Alternate Extent Statement: 54.41 linear feet (44 boxes)

Access Restrictions: None

Use Restrictions: None

Physical Access Note: Includes manuscripts

Acquisition Source: Stattion, Thelma

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Lead sheets],
[Series 2: Scores, including arrangements and transcriptions],
[Series 3: Lyric sheets, fragments, miscellaneous],
[All]

Series 2: Scores, including arrangements and transcriptions

Arranged alphabetically including parts.

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

Box 11

Box 12

Box 13

Box 14

Box 15

Box 16

Box 17

Box 18

Box 19

Box 20

Box 21

Box 22

Box 23

Sub-Series 1: Arrangements from Gig Books

Box 25
Box 26

Sub-Series 2: Works for Individual Musicians

Box 27

Folder 1: Funky Brown; Scores and Arrangements

Box 28

Folder 2: Ruth Brown; Scores and Arrangements
Folder 4: Betty Glamann; Scores and Arrangements
Folder 7: Louis Jordan; Scores and Arrangements
Folder 11: The Metronomes; Scores and Arrangements

Box 29

Folder 3: Marvin Gaye; Scores and Arrangements (Oversize)
Folder 5: Ivy Hunter; Scores and Arrangements (Oversize)

Box 30

Folder 6: Milt Jackson; Scores and Arrangements (Oversize)

Box 31

Folder 8: Jon Lucien; Scores and Arrangements
Folder 9: Gloria Lynn; Scores and Arrangements
Folder 10: Junior Mance; Scores and Arrangements

Box 32

Folder 12: Lyn Roman; Scores and Arrangements (Oversize)
Folder 13: Calvin Scott; Scores and Arrangements

Box 33

Folder 14: Stovall Sisters; Scores and Arrangements

Box 34

Folder 15: Clark Terry; Scores and Arrangements

Box 35

Folder 16: Kim Weston; Scores and Arrangements (Oversize)

Box 36-38'

Folder 17: Randy Weston; Lead Sheets

Box 39

Folder 18: Randy Weston; Scores and Arrangements (oversize)

Box 40-41'

Folder 19: Mary Lou Williams; Scores and Arrangements (Oversize)

Sub-Series 3: Scores and Arrangements by Other Composers

Box 43

Folder 1: Davis, Kenny
Folder 2: De Caprio, Angelo
Folder 3: Coerne, Louis Adolphe
Folder 4: Granados, E.
Folder 5: Henderson, Rick
Folder 6: Scott Joplin, arr. Bob Lowden
Folder 7: Keita, Mansa Dieta (Lee Bailey)
Folder 8: Mendelssohn
Folder 9: Jodora B. Marshall (Middleton, McIntosh)
Folder 10: Mitchell, J.R.
Folder 11: Pozo, Chano, arr. Wendell Logan
Folder 12: Smith, Hale
Folder 14: Villa-Lobos, Hector
Folder 15: Vincent, B.A.

Box 42

Folder 13: Scott and Smith, arr. Roger Spatts (oversize)

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Lead sheets],
[Series 2: Scores, including arrangements and transcriptions],
[Series 3: Lyric sheets, fragments, miscellaneous],
[All]