Twelve Compositions by Maceo Jefferson [with] Photograph of the Plantation Orchestra, Featuring Jefferson [with] A Signed Note by Jefferson, c. 1964

V.p., 1960. Photograph measuring 8 x 10 inches, compositions measuring 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches. Well preserved, nearly fine with some normal toning. Near Fine. Maceo Jefferson was a jazz banjoist and guitarist from South Carolina who began his career in the 1920s playing with Roscoe Lee, Lucille Hegamin and Ethel Waters and then playing in the Plantation Orchestra, which played in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds Review, touring in Europe and recording in England. Jefferson married a French woman while on tour in the 1930s, and spent stints in Europe and America playing alongside Louis Armstrong, W.C. Handy, Willie "The Lion" Smith and others before being imprisoned in France by the Vichy government. Following his repatriation to the United States, Jefferson lived in New York and later Connecticut, focusing mainly on composition.

Offered here are twelve compositions from Jefferson's American period in the 1940s-1960s. Titles include: You've Got Me Now; It Won't Be Long Now; Wake Up and Live; When you Put Your Arms Around Me; Here Goes; It Must Be Pretty Tough to Want the Girl You Love; Deep In My Heart; Often; Forever For Me; Broadway; and Ever More. Jefferson maintained connections in Europe, and some of his compositions were recorded by European musicians Chris Barber and David Bee, among others, and he is noted as the writer for Jimmy Hamilton's Old Uncle Bud. Included in the group is a note addressed to "Johnson," reading "Please Budd! Don't forget if you pick one or two let me know a week or so before recording date. So as to look up copyright. Thanks. Jeff." Overall an uncommon and well preserved group.