a handwritten document: Selma Goksel e-mail, March 23, 2009.
she was furious: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 12, 2009.
“I have no religion”: Mango, Ataturk.
“Although my father was basically a timid man”: AE, undated autobiographical fragment, AE Archive.
“left behind the teeming hodgepodge”: Ibid.
“the clean quiet serenity”: Ibid.
“this bland beautiful sterile country”: Ibid.
18 Kalcheggweg: Selma Goksel e-mail, May 13, 2009.
“a mixture of Turkish”: AE, undated autobiographical fragment, AE Archive.
eight days: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 15, 2009.
“Hanimefendi”: Selma Goksel e-mail, July 3, 2009.
A short, stout: Photo, AE, “What’d I Say.”
“the sad haunting Oriental”: AE, undated autobiographical fragment, AE Archive.
“would never participate”: Ibid.
“a beloved distant”: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 2, 2008.
“a miserable-looking beggar”: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 8, 2009.
“perhaps a bit spoiled”: Ibid.
“He was like a hero”: AE, undated autobiographical fragment, AE Archive.
In a photograph from this period: Photo, AE, “What’d I Say.”
“was always a bloody”: AE, undated autobiographical fragment, AE Archive.
33 rue de Villejust: Selma Goksel e-mail, May 13, 2009.
“I don’t like this”: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 7, 2008.
broomstick as a mast: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 2, 2008.
Stephan Mallarmé, the actor Jean Gabin: www.forum.prepas.org.
Josephine Baker, the Mills Brothers: Gross, “The Real Sultan of Swing.”
“It’s nothing”: AE, undated autobiographical fragment, AE Archive.
a street full of holes: Mica Ertegun, 4/25/09.
“Mother, what happened”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, 11/13/02, AE Archive.
At his own request: Official Document, Department of State, Division of International Conferences and Protocol, June 25, 1934, AE Archive.
“a couple of ruffians who”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
his mother panicked: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 7, 2008.
July 23, 1932: Selma Goksel e-mail, April 5, 2009.
invited to dine: Selma Goksel e-mail, April 2, 2009.
practiced her curtsy: Ibid.
“they hardly ever saw”: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 7, 2008.
“was very British and very strict”: Ibid.
“We wore our party”: Ibid.
“was interested in women”: Goksel.
“Ahmet just sort of left”: Ibid.
“the King of Jazz”: Newspaper clip, source unknown, Richard Havers e-mail, July 2, 2009.
“His Famous Orchestra”: Newspaper ad, source unknown, Richard Havers e-mail, July 2, 2009.
The grandson of a former slave: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellington_Duke.
“typically expected of black artists”: Harvey G. Cohen, “Dawn of the Jazz Age.”
“the primitive, discordant, rule-breaking”: Ibid.
three huge cardboard cutouts: Photo, ibid.
pearl gray: Lawrence, Duke Ellington and His World.
nearly four thousand: Ibid.
9 pence: Newspaper ad, source unknown, Richard Havers e-mail, July 2, 2009.
the kind of extended ovation: Harvey G. Cohen, “Dawn of the Jazz Age.”
three trumpet players: Photo, ibid.
“a display of neat and fast footwork”: Newspaper clip, source unknown, Richard Havers e-mail, July 2, 2009.
“the original snake hips girl”: Lawrence, Duke Ellington and His World.
“the program to a happy conclusion”: Ibid.
“scores of smartly dressed young English people”: Ibid.
“hundreds in the hinterlands”: Ibid.
“a small army of”: Ibid.
“besieged the Duke”: Ibid.
“a precursor to Beatlemania”: Harvey G. Cohen, “Dawn of the Jazz Age.”
“It was nothing like”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
to see Cab Calloway: Gross, “The Real Sultan of Swing.”
“I was twelve”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, November 13, 2002, AE Archive.
“there were very many cowboys there”: AE letter, October 21, 1934, AE Archive.
“I kiss you”: Ibid.
“making the trip”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, November 13, 2002, AE Archive.
four days, thirteen hours, and fifty-eight minutes: en.wikipedia.org/SSRex.
“a rung above the first-class cabins”: Selma Goksel e-mail, November 20, 2009.
“But when the sea”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, November 13, 2002, AE Archive.
“There were only”: Selma Goksel e-mail, March 27, 2009.
“enjoyed roaming around”: Selma Goksel e-mail, November 20, 2009.
“thousands of dollars”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, November 13, 2002, AE Archive.
“We arrived in”: Ibid.
“the black Pullman”: Ibid.
“very strict”: Ibid.
“Americans were savages”: Ibid.
“a shameful act”: Akcam, A Shameful Act.
“outlawed ethnic and minority”: Balakian, Author Interview.
“earnestly hoped”: Minassian, Musa Dagh.
“utterly negative”: Ibid.
“If the movie is made”: Ibid.
“Munir Ertegun became”: Balakian, 2/16/09.
“My personal view”: Selma Goksel e-mail, 2/8/09.
donated $3.5 million: Draft of press release, August 26, 1994/For release September 12, 1994, AE Archive.
“There are different”: Bennetts, “Devil in a Bespoke Suit.”
“made it clear”: Sassounian, “Ahmet Ertegun Knew What’s Good for Turkey.”
“a shame that the”: Ibid.
“I could not write”: Ibid.
TWO: THE NATION’S CAPITAL
“When I was just”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, April 22, 2003, AE Archive.
“seat and center of domestic”: Federal Writers Project, The WPA Guide to Washington, D.C.
“John Law”: Ibid.
“rows of small squalid houses”: Selma Goksel e-mail, January 26, 2008.
“to spend and to dream”: Scott, “Turkish Delight.”
“architectural elements of”: www.Turkeyembassy.com.
a huge ballroom: Photo, Scott, “Turkish Delight.”
cost $400,000: Scott, “Turkish Delight.”
“So we wound up”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
one of the first things: Ibid.
“I first found myself”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“unfortunately mentioned”: Ibid.
“excused from both chapel”: Letter from the Reverend Albert H. Lucas, April 13, 1935, AE Archive.
“glad indeed to”: Ibid.
“Your Excellency”: Ibid.
“learned to regard”: Ibid.
“sympathy with”: Ibid.
“Mr. Headmaster”: Letter from Mehmet Munir to the Reverend A. H. Lucas, April 16, 1935, AE Archive.
“My father took me”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“at least three times”: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 2, 2008.
“imitation black speech”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 30, 2003, AE Archive.
“Washington was like”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“a di
me apiece”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“things that others”: Poole, “Lush Life.”
“a habitué of”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“shilled for a while”: Ibid.
“was really just colored water”: Ibid.
“greasy place”: Ibid.
“all the strippers”: Ibid.
“Eastern European Gypsy”: Ibid.
“beer joints where”: Ibid.
“Black Broadway”: Virtual Tour of Shaw, www.pbs.org/ellingtonsdc/vtVenues.htm.
“the Washington equivalent of”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“everything clicked”: Ibid.
“a lot of the teachers”: AE, Landon Magazine.
“school’s more traditionalist”: Ibid.
“We were always”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“a long list of names”: Selma Goksel e-mail, January 9, 2009.
“is a made-up word”: Ibid.
“waited till the”: Wade and Picardie, Music Man.
“Satchelmouth Swing”: Weeks, interview, www.allaboutjazz.com.
“Lips Page’s special”: Ibid.
“started collecting very seriously”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“Collecting Hot”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 30, 2003, AE Archive.
“a big head”: Wade and Picardie, Music Man.
“didn’t have Communist tendencies”: Ibid.
“European”: Ibid.
“including my parents”: Selma Goksel e-mail, January 22, 2009.
“disgraceful episode”: Ibid.
“My first meeting”: Document, AE Archive.
zoot suit: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 8, 2009.
“not well known”: Holzman, Author Interview.
“You started out”: Ibid.
“jewel of the program”: Ibid.
“My first question”: Ibid.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Documents, AE Archive.
Because she had cared: Selma Goksel e-mail, January 31, 2008.
“an intellectual bookshop”: Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“said was a”: Ibid.
“a mixed crowd”: Ibid.
“very unusual”: Ibid.
“a young guy”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“We’ve been reading”: Gottlieb.
waiters in white jackets: Bill Gottlieb photo.
huge bust of Kemal Ataturk: Selma Goksel e-mail, November 23, 2009.
the only restaurant: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“quite possibly the hippest”: Rolling Stone magazine as quoted by Katz, “Lester Young Turns 100.”
“bread”: Ibid.
“That’s cool”: Ibid.
“You dig?”: Ibid.
“I feel a draft”: Ibid.
“bells”: Ibid.
“to be”: Mezzrow and Wolfe, Really the Blues.
“outraged Southern senator”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“It has been brought”: Ibid.
“that God had created”: Selma Goksel e-mail, January 28, 2009.
“errand boy”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 30, 2003, AE Archive.
“When we gave”: Ibid.
“advertised in the white”: Ibid.
“little flyers”: Ibid.
“didn’t know it”: Ibid.
“make a big scene”: Ibid.
“Swingtime in the Capital”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“Man, you gotta give”: Ibid.
“The Turkish Ambassador came”: Memorandum to the President from Adolph Berle, Assistant Secretary of the Department of State, April 6, 1940, AE Archive.
“There is a”: Ibid.
“My father”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, November 13, 2002, AE Archive.
life in the nation’s capital: Conant, The Irregulars.
“the star”: Goksel.
“Listen, you return that”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, November 13, 2002, AE Archive.
“I don’t know”: Ibid.
“heart used to sink”: Ibid.
“stand at attention”: Ibid.
“At which point”: Ibid.
“difficult, if not impossible”: Selma Goksel e-mail, April 1, 2009.
On March 14, 1944: St. John’s College Commencement Exercises Booklet, AE Archive.
medieval philosophy: Weiner, “Ahmet Ertegun.”
“whole embassy was astir”: Selma Goksel e-mail, June 19, 2008.
In a photograph: Photo, George Skadding, http://google.com/hosted/life.
“I am deeply grieved”: Statement by the President of the United States, November 11, 1944, AE Archive.
On January 25, 1946: Memorandum for the President, original signed and returned to Dean Acheson on January 25, 1946, AE Archive.
“the battleship on which”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“Although we felt”: Selma Goksel e-mail, June 19, 2008.
THREE: MAKING RECORDS
“After the Second”: AE, Author Interview, 3/11/88.
“visited by close friends”: Selma Goksel e-mail, December 16, 2009.
some of her personal belongings: Selma Goksel e-mail, May 14, 2009.
$100: Ibid.
$5 to $25: Gillett, Making Tracks.
“I get more than”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
turned down offers: Ibid.
“working hard”: AE, Letter to Selma Goksel, July 3, 1947, AE Archive.
“didn’t feel like”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
even to speak out against: http://en.wikipedia.org/Conscription_in_Turkey.
a very attractive young: Selma Goksel e-mail, June 29, 2009.
send Ahmet $30: Selma Goksel e-mail, June 23, 2009.
“Ahmet had some”: Selma Goksel e-mail, February 8, 2009.
“I have not found”: Undated letter to Selma Goksel, AE Archive.
want ads: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 23, 2003, AE Archive.
“a bunch of crooks”: Ibid.
“After that”: Ibid.
“he could memorize”: Selma Goksel e-mail, June 21, 2008.
“a cheap recording studio”: AE, Unidentified video interview, AE Archive.
“could sing the blues”: Ibid.
“knew what black life”: Atlantic: Hip to the Tip.
“around to thinking”: Gillett, Making Tracks.
“breezed in”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“I’d like one of”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 30, 2003, AE Archive.
“made a lot of money”: Ibid.
“Oh, I’ve got money”: Ibid.
“a rich friend”: Letter to Selma Goksel, August 22, 1947, AE Archive.
“who had an avant-garde”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“I’m not interested”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 30, 2003, AE Archive.
“in the Forest Hotel”: Ibid.
“a very tough lady”: Ibid.
“the star dressing room”: Ibid.
“with the big star”: Ibid.
“It quickly became”: Ibid.
“best friends for”: AE, Unidentified video interview, AE Archive.
“We didn’t have”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, January 30, 2003, AE Archive.
Born in Brooklyn: White, “Herb Abramson.”
published a small newspaper: Abramson.
E
rasmus Hall High School: Erasmus Hall High School records.
“the poor man’s Harvard”: www.barrypopik.com.
“he could find”: Abramson.
“he was a Jew”: Ibid.
“a lot of very”: Bienstock.
“tried desperately to”: Bienstock.
“I already lost”: Abramson.
“ran five miles”: Ibid.
“very late in”: Bienstock.
“did a lot of things”: Ibid.
Abramson’s two biggest hits: Kramer, “Atlantic and R&B Trend Developed Side by Side.”
“He didn’t like”: Abramson.
“a different kind of mind”: Bienstock.
“The reason”: Abramson.
“his heart was”: Ibid.
“Atlantic was formed”: Ibid.
“knew all”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“where to get pressings”: AE, Author Interview, 3/11/88.
“Ahmet was such a”: Sander, Trips.
“They all knew”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“We all went”: Goksel.
“thought he was”: Ibid.
“Over a two-and-a-half”: Abramson.
“Dr. Sabit hasn’t been”: AE, Letter to Selma Goksel, Selma Goksel e-mail, June 24, 2009.
a contract consisting: Document, AE Archive.
“The name Atlantic”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“active in promotional”: Ibid.
“We were grabbing at”: Ibid.
“We must have”: AE, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, May 1, 2003, AE Archive.
“the major companies”: Ibid.
“just thrown in the garbage”: Ibid.
$60 a week: Gillett, Making Tracks.
“The name sounds good”: Letter to AE from Nesuhi Ertegun, January 22, 1948, AE Archive.
“time to be properly”: Ibid.
“Received press release”: Ibid.
“By the way”: Ibid.
“Nobody believes”: Bienstock.
“Ahmet was still very”: Gottlieb.
“He didn’t have”: Ibid.
“Ahmet had”: Bienstock.
went to number twelve: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“selling most of the”: Selma Goksel e-mail, April 2, 2009.
“I only hope”: Letter from Selma Goksel, May 13, 1948, AE Archive.
“very sweet”: Bienstock.
“He could do”: Ibid.
“We were very”: AE, “What’d I Say.”
“It was a funky”: Wakschal.
“dozens of small”: Jackson, Big Beat Heat.
“the Street of Hope”: Ibid.
“Dearest sweetest darling”: Letter from AE to Selma Goksel, January 28, 1949, AE Archive.