Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

MS 55
Floyd Bean (1904-1974)
Papers, 1918-1974


Descriptive summary

creator:

Bean, Floyd (1904-1974)
title:

Papers
dates:

1918-1974
extent:

3.36 linear feet (8 document boxes and 1 oversized box)
collection number:

MS 55
repository:

Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access:

Open for research
publication rights:

Consult Head, Special Collections Department
preferred citation:

Floyd Bean Papers, MS 55, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Biographical note

Floyd Bean was born in Ladora, Iowa in 1904. He started playing drums for the Grinnell High School band, but fell in love with the piano. He took his first job at the Linwood Inn on the Mississippi River in 1919, and played with musician Bix Beiderbecke (1923). Floyd played in several local bands and worked for WOC Radio in Davenport before landing his first big job with the Bob Crosby Band (1939). Bean cut four sides with Timmy McPartland's band that fall. He also cut several albums (1939-1950), including "I Never Thought I'd Sing the Blues" and "Back Room Blues," later changed to "Lazy Piano Man" (performed with Muggsy Spanier). He spent the last thirteen years of his life playing at various jazz festivals and local spots in Cedar Rapids, before passing away in 1974.

 

Collection description

This collection contains arrangements and musical compositions by Bean, correspondence, photographs, radio scripts, recordings, reviews, advertisements, commercial music and a scrapbook. The published materials about other jazz musicians are mainly articles about musicians associated with Bean (George Brunis played trumpet and trombone with Bean; Jess Stacy led a band Bean played for in the 1950s; Bix Beiderbecke sat in with Bean in 1923; "Truck" Parham played bass with Bean, 1950-1952; Joe Sullivan took over Bean's position in Bob Crosby's orchestra). Most of the photographs of other jazz musicians found in the collection are also of musicians associated with Bean. The advertisements include those for the Piccadilly Tavern, Holiday Inn, Party, and Al Olson and His Dance Band.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Biographical information and newspaper clippings

1940-1963

1

2

Photographs of Bean

undated

1

3

Autobiography: The Jazz Record

1945

1

4

Scrapbook

1918-1929

1

5

Radio scripts: Bean with Eddie Stone, Floyd Bean at the Everett

1932 circa, 1944

1

6

Correspondence

1950-1974

1

7

Band reviews: Muggsy Spanier Band (1950-1952), Eddie Stone Orchestra (1944), Jess Stacy (1945), Esquire's 1945 Musicians Point Tabulation

1944-1952

1

8

Band reviews: West Des Moines Jazz Festival (1968), Muggsy Spanier (1950), Bob Scobey and his Frisco Band

1950-1968

1

9

Recordings, including letter and notes

1970 circa

1

10

Advertisements

1926, 1960-1970

1

11

Musical compositions by Bean:
Bean's Dream, undated
The Beast Walks (1948)
The Black Angus Stretch (1964)
Blues for Flo (My girl), undated
Floyd's Bean (1945)
I Never Thought I'd Sing the Blues (1945)
If I Smile Again I'll Cry Again (1967)
I'm not the Same (1929)
Jump Steady Blues, undated
Jumpin' Bean Boogie, undated
Just a Crazy Tune, undated
Lazy Piano Man (1950)
Lonely Piano Man (1950)
Melancholy Moods (1945)
New Era at the Riviera (1948)
Riverboat Boogie, undated
Stumblin' Around in Flat B (1948)
The Tee-dl'-Dee-dl'-Song (1963)
Trills (1933)

1933-1967

2

1

Personal notes on playing the piano

undated

2

2

Radio theme music arranged by Bean

undated

2

3-10

Musical arrangements by Bean

undated

3

1-3

Musical arrangements by Bean

undated

3

4

Published materials about other jazz musicians:
George Brunis, Bix Beiderbecke, Jess Stacy, Joe Sullivan, James Johnson, "Truck" Parham, Ben Pollack, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman

1923-1952

3

5

Photographs: Jimmy McPartland, Sidney Catlett, Bob Crosby, Earl Hines Band, John Ellington, Joe "Tricky Sam" Norton, Johnny Hodges, Johnnie "Scat" Davis, Cleo Brown, Joe Bauer Band

undated

3

6

Previews of other jazz bands

undated

4

 

Recordings by Bean - 45's (also see box 6): Muggsy Spanier (3), Jimmy McPartland (1), Messy Bessy (1); Albums: Floyd Bean Trio (2), Lazy Piano Man (1), Muggsy Spanier (4), Floyd Bean Quartette (2), Chicago Jazz (4); Audio recordings (tapes) of radio shows

1974, undated

5

 

Recordings of other jazz musicians:
George Shearing Quintet
Dizzy Gillespie
Jimmy Lunceford
Mamie Smith
Sharkey and his Sharks of Rhythm
Earl Hines
Tommy Dorsey
Art Tatum
The Goofus Five
Original Indiana Five
Eugene Kusmiak
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Albery Ammons and his Rhythm Kinds

undated

6

 

Charcoal drawing of Bean and recordings (Muggsy Spanier, Bob Scobey, Floyd Bean Trio (1942), Eddie Stone Band (1945), Downbeat (1940, 1948))

1942-1959

7

1-2

Commercial music

undated

8

1-4

Commercial music

undated

9

1-8

Commercial music

undated