Roy Nathanson Papers
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Abstract
Roy Nathanson (1951- ) is a saxophonist, composer, actor, writer, and bandleader who has been a central figure on the New York downtown scene since the late 1970s. He was a member of the Hot Peaches, a drag theater troupe active in the 1970s, played in John Lurie's postmodern jazz ensemble, the Lounge Lizards, was co-founder (with Curtis Fowlkes) in 1987 of the Jazz Passengers, a quintessentially downtown ensemble that performs a postmodernist blend of jazz and vaudeville, and acted as an early instigator in downtown's Radical Jewish Culture scene. The collection documents not only Nathanson's career and creative process, but also the larger landscape of downtown's experimental music (jazz) and theater scene from the 1970s through the present.
Biographical Note
Roy Nathanson (b. 1951) is a saxophonist, composer, actor, writer, and bandleader who has been a central figure on the New York downtown scene since the late 1970s. His work merges music, theater, and spoken-word. He was a member of the Hot Peaches, a drag theater troupe active in the 1970s, played in John Lurie's postmodern jazz ensemble, the Lounge Lizards, and was co-founder (with Curtis Fowlkes) in 1987 of the Jazz Passengers, a quintessentially downtown ensemble that performs a postmodernist blend of jazz and vaudeville. He was an early instigator in downtown's Radical Jewish Culture scene, releasing three recordings with pianist Anthony Coleman that bridge experimental music and Yiddish theater. His composition and production credits include film scores and radio plays; he has appeared on about 100 commercially released recordings and is leader or co-leader on fifteen.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.
Scope and Contents
The Roy Nathanson Papers consist of materials that document Nathanson's international performing career and artistic process as a saxophonist, composer, actor, writer, and bandleader who has been a central figure to the New York downtown scene since the late 1970s. Materials include music scores, scripts, handwritten notes, photographs, correspondence, posters, flyers, concert programs, festival catalogues, and press clippings. Also included in the collection are video recordings of performances and interviews on VHS and Umatic, and sound recordings of concerts and other performances on audiocassettes, audio reels, CD-Rs, and commercials CDs that may be of interest to composers, improvisers, saxophonists, as well as researchers of jazz, downtown music, and experimental theater.
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Processing Information
The collection was reboxed upon its arrival at Cooper Square and moved to the quarantine room due to the presence of pests and mold.
In 2023, additional descriptive and administrative information was updated for the archived websites.
