The Don Ellis Memorial Library

The most-valuable source of information on Don Ellis is The Don Ellis Memorial Library. When I researched my dissertation, this collection contained over 300 pieces of Ellis’s music, including complete scores, parts, lead sheets, and drafts in ink, in pencil, and on manuscript paper. The collection also includes books, articles, letters, various papers, photographs, and slides. Video cassettes of films, TV commercials, concerts, and TV shows as well as copies of commercial recordings and singles are also stored there. Other items include Ellis’s Grammy Award for his arrangement of the “Theme from The French Connection” (Best Instrumental Arrangement, 15th Annual Grammy Awards, 1973), various instruments (including his Holton quarter-tone trumpet), letters, records, concert programs, plus numerous achievement and special recognition awards.

History

In spring 1981, these archives were delivered by the Ellis family to Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas.

While researching my dissertation, in January 1998, I traveled to Mesquite, met with the archivist at the time – Curt Bradshaw – and spent a full day gathering information from the archives by photocopying, photographing, and by taking notes into a handheld voice recorder.

In May 2000, the Don Ellis Memorial Library was entrusted to the Ethnomusicology Department at UCLA for storage at the Southern Regional Library Facility, where it was kept under temperature and humidity control. The description above reflects the collection as I documented it then.

How to ask about the collection today

The collection is held by the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The archive is open by appointment only. To ask about the Ellis collection or request an appointment, email archive@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu. The archive lists its phone number as (310) 825-1695.

Not everything is playable online. Some Ellis concert recordings from the collection can be heard through California Light and Sound on the Internet Archive (see UCLA’s announcement).

Contact details checked against the archive’s own page on October 19, 2026. I have no association with the archive; please contact it directly.