Oral Histories
Interview of William Woodman
Jazz tenor saxophone and clarinet player.
- Subtitle:
- Central Avenue Sounds: William Woodman
- Series:
- Central Avenue Sounds Oral History Project
- Topic:
- African American HistoryMusic
- Biographical Note:
- Jazz tenor saxophone and clarinet player.
- Interviewee:
- Woodman, William
- Persons Present:
- Woodman and Isoardi.
- Place Conducted:
- Woodman's home in Los Angeles, California
- Supporting Documents:
- Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
- Interviewer Background and Preparation:
- The interview was conducted by Steven L. Isoardi, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., Government, University of San Francisco; M.A., Government, University of San Francisco; M.A., Political Science, UCLA; Ph.D., Political Science, UCLA.Isoardi prepared for the interview by consulting jazz histories, autobiographies, oral histories, relevant jazz periodicals, documentary films, and back issues of the California Eagle and the Los Angeles Sentinel.
- Processing of Interview:
- Alex Cline, editor, edited the interview. He checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Whenever possible, the proper names of nightclubs were checked against articles and advertisements in back issues of the California Eagle. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed.Woodman reviewed the transcript. He verified proper names and made minor corrections and additions.Cline also prepared the biographical summary and interview history. Steven J. Novak, editor, prepared the table of contents and the index.
- Length:
- 2.5 hrs.
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
- Series Statement:
- Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
- Abstract:
- Childhood in Watts; the Woodman Brothers Biggest Little Band in the World; Charles Mingus; starting the Woodman Brothers Studio; Central Avenue in the 1930s; drafted into the United States Army but discharged because of narcolepsy; tours the Deep South with Joe Liggins; joins the American Federation of Musicians Local 767; impact of World War II on Central Avenue; the Maxwell Davis band; desegregating jazz groups; fired for fighting segregation in clubs; Cecil "Big Jay" McNeely; the decline of Central Avenue.