Guide to the Jim Goggin Oral History Collection

Sean Dickerson

African American Museum & Library at Oakland

659 14th Street

Oakland, California 94612

Phone: (510) 637-0198

Fax: (510) 637-0204

Email: aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org

URL: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/locations/african-american-museum-library-oakland

Guide to the Jim Goggin Oral History Collection

Collection number: MS 185

African American Museum & Library at Oakland

Oakland, California

Processed by:: Sean Dickerson
Date Completed:: 2017-03-03
Encoded by:: Sean Dickerson

Descriptive Summary

Title: Guide to the Jim Goggin Oral History Collection

Dates: circa 2000s

Collection number: MS 185

Creator: Goggin, Jim.

Collection Size: .5 linear feet ((1 box)

Repository: African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)

Oakland, CA 94612

Abstract: Jim Goggin was the founder of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation. During his career Goggin helped produce many West Coast jazz recordings and liner notes, and authored numerous jazz articles and ten published books about West Coast jazz music and its performers. The Jim Goggin Oral History Collection consists of 8 oral histories with jazz drummer and band leader Earl Watkins, an oral history with musician and session pianist Rodney Burge, and material as published in the book Earl Watkins: The Life of a Jazz Drummer by Jim Goggin.

Physical location: African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.) Oakland, CA 94612

Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.

Access Restrictions

Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.

Publication Rights

Permission to publish from the Jim Goggin Oral History Collection must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.

Preferred Citation

Jim Goggin Oral History Collection, MS 185, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Biography / Administrative History

Jim Goggin was the founder of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation. Created as a non-profit in 1981, the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation stated, as its primary mission, the archival preservation of thousands of items related to the West Coast Jazz Revival that began in San Francisco about 1939. In 2009 the Foundation completed the transfer of the main body of those materials to Stanford University’s Music Library.

During his career Goggin helped produce many West Coast jazz recordings and liner notes, and authored numerous jazz articles and ten published books about West Coast jazz music and its performers. Many of these books were produced as scrapbooks that gave recognition to musicians who were personally known to the author such as Bob Mielke, Dude Martin, Turk Murphy, Sal Carlson, and Bob Scobey. In 2005 Goggin published Earl Watkins: The Life of a Jazz Drummer, a scrapbook dedicated to jazz drummer and band leader Earl Watkins.

Earl Thomas Watkins, Jr. (January 29, 1920 - July 1, 2007) was born in San Francisco, the only child of Earl Watkins Sr. and Susie Bynum Watkins. Watkins grew up in the Fillmore, San Francisco, California and attended Galileo High School where he was a 2nd Lt. in the ROTC. While in his teens Watkins developed an interest in the drums and learned to play from John Randolph. During World War II, Watkins worked in the shipyards during the day and in clubs at night. One memorable evening he played an impromptu jam session with Billie Holiday and musicians from the Jimmy Lunceford Band. Watkins was recruited into the Navy as a musician and stationed at St. Mary's College which had become a pre-flight school. After the war Watkins played at the Slim Jenkins Supper Club in Oakland. He played with Johnny Cooper at the California Theater Club in San Francisco and from there he worked at other San Francisco clubs such as the Story Club, the Blackhawk, the Say When and "Gay and Friskie." He also played the Cotton Club, now the Great American Music Hall. In 1950 Watkins was the first drummer at Jimbo's Bop City, the famous after-hours club in the Fillmore district. Bob Scobey called Watkins to perform with his Dixieland Band at the Tin Angel, in 1955. San Francisco was promoting Dixieland as "Frisco Jazz" and the band was very busy with their regular gig, a TV show on Channel 5 as well as club dates in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and Los Angeles. He joined the Earl "Fatha" Hines Band at the Hangover Club in 1956 and the band played there for five years. They also traveled the country and did a radio show every Saturday morning. In 1965 Watkins was recruited to work in the Oakland office of Musicians Union Local 6. He retired from the Local in 1994 and was elected to the board of directors where he served until he died. Watkins received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for being a jazz legend and historian in 2003 and was inducted into the West Coast Blues Society Hall of Fame in 2006.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Jim Goggin Oral History Collection consists of 8 oral histories with jazz drummer and band leader Earl Watkins. All interviews include audio recordings (7 cassettes) and an interview transcript. The collection also includes 1 oral history on cassette with musician and session pianist Rodney Burge. Additionally included are reproductions of illustrations and photographs, newspaper clippings, postcards, and ephemera as published in the book Earl Watkins: The Life of a Jazz Drummer by Jim Goggin. Excerpts from the interview transcripts also appear in the Earl Watkins: The Life of a Jazz Drummer scrapbook. The collection is organized in two series: I. Oral history interviews II. Earl Watkins: The life of a jazz drummer.

Arrangement

Series I. Oral history interviews Series II. Earl Watkins: The life of a jazz drummer.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

African American jazz musicians--Biography.

Dixieland music.

Blues (Music)--California--San Francisco Bay Area.

Jazz--California--San Francisco--1951-1960.

Oral history interviews

Physical Description: 9 folders

Series Scope and Content Summary

The series includes audio recordings of oral history interviews with band leader and drummer Earl Watkins and session pianist Rodney Burge, and transcripts of oral histories with Watkins, interviewed by Jim Goggin, between May 3, 2004 and December 12, 2004.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by subject, thereafter chronologically.

Audio cassettes 2002-2004

Box 1:1

Interview – Rodney Burger #1 [Side A] 3/13/2004 & # 2 [Side B] 2004-03-13

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interview # 1 July 2, 2002 2002-07-02

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interview No. 2 July 11, 2002 2002-07-11

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interview No. 3 11/13/02 2002-11-13

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interview No. 4 November 29 2002 2002-11-29

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interviews No. 4 [Side A] 11/29/02 & No. 5 [Side B ] 1/29/03 2002-11-29, 2003-01-29

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interviews No. 6 [Side A] 2/19/03 & No. 7 [Side B] 4/14/03, 2003-2-19 2003-04-14, 2003-02-19

Box 1:1

Earl Watkins interview No. 8 Dec. 23, 2004 2004-12-23

Transcripts 2002-2004

Box 1:2

Earl Watkins interview No. 1 2002-07-02

Box 1:3

Earl Watkins interview No. 2 2002-07-11

Box 1:4

Earl Watkins interview No. 3 2002-11-13

Box 1:5

Earl Watkins interview No. 4 2002-11-29

Box 1:6

Earl Watkins interview No. 5 2003-01-29

Box 1:7

Earl Watkins interview No. 6 2003-02-19

Box 1:8

Earl Watkins interview No. 7 2003-04-14

Box 1:9

Earl Watkins interview No. 8 2004-12-23

Earl Watkins: The life of a jazz drummer

Physical Description: 8 folders

Series Scope and Content Summary

Includes reproductions of illustrations and photographs, newspaper clippings, postcards, and ephemera as published in the book Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer by Jim Goggin. Included is also promotional material related to the publication.

Arrangement

Contents are arranged in their original order and as they appear in Earl Watkins: The life of a jazz drummer.

Box 1:10

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 1 circa 2000s

Box 1:11

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 2 St. Mary’s pre-flight band circa 2000s

Box 1:12

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 3 1946-1956 circa 2000s

Box 1:13

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 4 Scobe circa 2000s

Box 1:14

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 5 Fatha circa 2000s

Box 1:15

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 6 Kid Ory circa 2000s

Box 1:16

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 7 1960-1999 circa 2000s

Box 1:17

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 8 2000-2004 circa 2000s

Box 1:18

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Chapter 9 circa 2000s

Box 1:18

Earl Watkins: the life of a jazz drummer: Promotional material circa 2000s