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Preserve - Promote - Perform. Keeping music in our schools.
The building that housed our unique archive has just been sold, and we need to vacate the premises by April 15th, 2023
We are asking for your help:
Visit the GOFUNDME page to contribute.
Do you know of a venue – be it a museum, university, library, or even a private office or room – that we could partner with? We must find a safe place to house our archives, ideally located in Central New England.
You may help us financially which we desperately need. We’ll be packing up the collections carefully, and will need to purchase boxes, bins, and other packing materials. We will need to hire a moving vehicle, and potentially the costs of rent or storage as well.
Your donations are tax-deductible to our 501(c)(3) organization, and every penny will go to help preserve these materials.
Visit the GOFUNDME page to contribute.
You may know Dan Gabel from the bandstand, leading one of his groups like Dan Gabel and The Abletones, or on tour with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, or perhaps you’ve heard recordings or arrangements. You may also know how passionate Dan is about this music.
The ABBPS is a non-profit with a mission near and dear to Dan's heart – preserving, promoting, and performing big band and the Great American Songbook, and keeping this music in our schools.
We’ve had many successes – just take a look at some of the original manuscript arrangements, autographed photos, programs, recordings, and more. You can see our youth big band ensemble online, bringing to life the music on these unique old manuscripts…
However, that mission is now in peril.
We need to find a new venue ASAP to continue the important preservation work of this unique musical art form. That’s where you come in.
Your help right now can ensure a secure future for this treasure trove of wonderful music.
Here is what we have:
thousands of original hand-written manuscript arrangements from the 1920s-1970s
hundreds of valuable photographs, autographs, big band ephemera
numerous artifacts donated by family members of musicians and bandleaders
Scope:
materials in the current facility include mostly boxes of arrangements of various sizes. There are vintage 1920s drums, band fronts (stands), and some other miscellaneous materials. Most are in bins, boxes, or the original vintage band boxes.
Essentially, one room's worth of materials; the room is approximately 12' x 14'+
Here is what we need:
a venue to house these materials ASAP
transportation (a rental van/truck)
help to move, loading, and unloading to the new location
New Venue:
MUST:
-be a safe, dry, appropriate storage for priceless materials
-be available ASAP
-be somewhere within driving distance of the current location (West Boylston, MA)
IDEALLY:
-is a permanent or semi-permanent location (avoid moving twice)
-offers semi-regular access to archives
-could have additional space for archival growth (as there are several other potential acquisitions from major names associated with the big band era)
Thank you for your time and consideration. See you on the bandstand.
News
the latest in Big Band land
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Big Band photo collection lives on
August, 2022
In February, we were honored to receive a truly spectacular donation: a collection of over 100 original photographs. The photos cover a wide range of famous to little-know Big Bands from the 1935-1945 period, and most of which include autographs of the band leader, and in some cases, from all of the band members. These items have been meticulously scanned, labeled, and archived by our team, ensuring their preservation and enjoyment for generations to come.
A full archival list will be available in June, 2023. As of February 2023, ALL photos have been carefully scanned using a high-resolution scanner, and images are available upon request. Stay tuned!
Youth Jazz Ensemble plays the authentic sound
March 27, 2023
The Worcester (MA) Youth Jazz Ensemble does it again - this time bringing to life twelve arrangements for their spring 2023 season. Conducted and coached by founder Dan Gabel, the ensemble has grown greatly since it started in 2015. Part of the Worcester Youth Orchestras program of central New England, these ensembles nurture and showcase talented young musicians, age 8 to 18.
"Our jazz ensemble has a real authentic big band sound" says Gabel, and adds "they swing hard on a Basie chart, stomp through a late 1920s number, and even glide with ease on an old dance-band polka and fox trot... it's a special group."
Almost all of the arrangements the ensemble plays are from the original manuscripts (copies/scans, of course) from the great and lesser-known arrangers and groups from the Big Band era. "It's so special for us to play these original charts" said one student. "This is my favorite music" said another.
Yes, the future of this music is bright! Stay tuned for more...
PRESERVE - PROMOTE - PERFORM
Our Mission
Mission: The American Big Band Preservation Society, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and performing the sounds and history of the Big Bands, with an emphasis on education and keeping music in schools.
Our Story: Several Boston-based musicians were approached by the granddaughter of a Big Band leader, active in the 1940s. The woman asked where she might donate this Big Band music collection. After some research, the musicians discovered that no such repository existed, and thus the idea for the ABBPS was born.
The organization was founded in 2007 by a group of passionate individuals. Since that time, the collection has grown to include some 8,000 musical arrangements, photographs, recordings, radio broadcasts, memorabilia, interviews, musical instruments and more. The archive includes libraries and arrangements from such iconic bandleaders as: Henry Busse, Boyd Rayburn, Ted Herbert, Vaughn Monroe, Harvey Cohen, and many others.
