Paging Harold Kaye

I followed Harold S. Kaye's footprints for the longest time. I finally find them in the funniest of ways.

Kaye was a federal government scientist by day and a jazz historian at night. His remarkably detailed account(s) of drummer Dave Tough in particular and of Artie's Navy band more broadly provided an essential starting point for 'Nightmare in the Pacific.' From the very start of my research, I sought him out. His highly detailed articles suggested access to Navy personnel records and other official documents and the lenghy verbatim quotes suggested transcribed interviews. Kaye's research rigor, and his scientific discipline, also led me to believe he would keep his files in order and, upon his passing, ensure they were housed in a proper archives. So, where might they be?

I looked high and low for what research folks call his Papers; starting, of course, with a standard Google search and then drilling down in targeted library and archival special collections. Nada. From his obituary I found the names of his two daughters and tracked down one of them, Miranda Rehm. Miranda said she didn't know what became of her father's files.

I kept looking. Months passed. My search urgency faded, but as I approached a manuscript deadline,I tried Miranda again in Februay of 2024. This time, she said she had a vague recollection and suggested I try her stepbrother, Danny Levin, who had a daughter in Austin Texas.

Here's where the story turns funny, in an 'ain't life strange?' kind of way.

Various social media traces suggested a Danny Levin worked in the Austin, Texas music industry. As it turns out, a lifelong friend, the older brother of my very best friend from childhood, is a musician in Austin. Almost on a whim, I sent the older brother, Cornell Hurd, a Facebook message asking if he knew a Danny Levin. Five minutes later, Cornell messaged me back and told me to call him. Yes, he knew Danny, quite well. I filled Cornell in on what I was up to, he called Danny, got Danny's go-ahead and passsed Danny's phone number on to me.

Bingo. Yes, Danny told me, he was the custodian of what remained of Harold Kayes' papers. Now, as it turned out, these surviving documents were not nearly everything I was hoping for, but they were very helpful -- as was Danny -- in meeting the Caro research mandate to turn every page.