Ryan André Brasseaux
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343069
- eISBN:
- 9780199866977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343069.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Records and radio built an industry around imagination. Media technologies created an auditory world where sound, language, and music expanded listeners’ mental worlds. The Cajun imaginary represents ...
More
Records and radio built an industry around imagination. Media technologies created an auditory world where sound, language, and music expanded listeners’ mental worlds. The Cajun imaginary represents in this study the varied ways in which individuals understood their connection to a larger imagined community—America—through the soundscape generated by mass communication. This chapter examines those communication networks directing the flow of cultural exchange between Cajuns and mainstream mass media between 1946 and 1955. As this auditory sphere enveloped Cajun life, an emergent Cajun musical subgenre sprouted: Cajun honky tonk—small but amplified string bands featuring an accordion. The Opera, O.T., Khoury, and Folk Star labels are also discussed here in relation to the most famous and influential Cajun artists to emerge during the post-World War II era—fiddler Harry Choates and accordionist Iry LeJeune. The premise of this study is derived from conclusions of the landmark treatise The Psychology of Radio compiled in 1935 by Hadley Catril and Gordon Allport, who suggest that an individual’s engagement with mass culture within this universal network of sound could stimulate a “new mental world” for the listener.Less
Records and radio built an industry around imagination. Media technologies created an auditory world where sound, language, and music expanded listeners’ mental worlds. The Cajun imaginary represents in this study the varied ways in which individuals understood their connection to a larger imagined community—America—through the soundscape generated by mass communication. This chapter examines those communication networks directing the flow of cultural exchange between Cajuns and mainstream mass media between 1946 and 1955. As this auditory sphere enveloped Cajun life, an emergent Cajun musical subgenre sprouted: Cajun honky tonk—small but amplified string bands featuring an accordion. The Opera, O.T., Khoury, and Folk Star labels are also discussed here in relation to the most famous and influential Cajun artists to emerge during the post-World War II era—fiddler Harry Choates and accordionist Iry LeJeune. The premise of this study is derived from conclusions of the landmark treatise The Psychology of Radio compiled in 1935 by Hadley Catril and Gordon Allport, who suggest that an individual’s engagement with mass culture within this universal network of sound could stimulate a “new mental world” for the listener.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs—and not others—get ...
More
There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs—and not others—get re-recorded by many musicians? This book answers this question and more, exploring the underappreciated yet crucial roles played by initial production and markets—in particular, organizations and geography—in the development of early twentieth-century jazz. The book considers why places like New York played more important roles as engines of diffusion than as the sources of standards. It demonstrates why and when certain geographical references in tune and group titles were considered more desirable. It also explains why a place like Berlin, which produced jazz abundantly from the 1920s to early 1930s, is now on jazz's historical sidelines. The book shows the key influences of firms in the recording industry, including how record labels and their executives affected what music was recorded, and why major companies would re-release recordings under artistic pseudonyms. It indicates how a recording's appeal was related to the narrative around its creation, and how the identities of its firm and musicians influenced the tune's long-run popularity. Applying fascinating ideas about market emergence to a music's commercialization, the book offers a unique look at the origins of a groundbreaking art form.Less
There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs—and not others—get re-recorded by many musicians? This book answers this question and more, exploring the underappreciated yet crucial roles played by initial production and markets—in particular, organizations and geography—in the development of early twentieth-century jazz. The book considers why places like New York played more important roles as engines of diffusion than as the sources of standards. It demonstrates why and when certain geographical references in tune and group titles were considered more desirable. It also explains why a place like Berlin, which produced jazz abundantly from the 1920s to early 1930s, is now on jazz's historical sidelines. The book shows the key influences of firms in the recording industry, including how record labels and their executives affected what music was recorded, and why major companies would re-release recordings under artistic pseudonyms. It indicates how a recording's appeal was related to the narrative around its creation, and how the identities of its firm and musicians influenced the tune's long-run popularity. Applying fascinating ideas about market emergence to a music's commercialization, the book offers a unique look at the origins of a groundbreaking art form.
Daniel B. Cornfield
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691160733
- eISBN:
- 9781400873890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691160733.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter looks at how a new generation of Nashville arts trade unionists is reinventing arts trade unionism for the contemporary generation of enterprising artists. With the advent of recorded ...
More
This chapter looks at how a new generation of Nashville arts trade unionists is reinventing arts trade unionism for the contemporary generation of enterprising artists. With the advent of recorded music, corporate major labels, and mass distribution through radio airplay by the early 1950s, the chapter shows how Nashville AFM Local 257 had been transformed into a union representing both live and recording musicians and artists by a generation of arts trade union leaders who act as “corporate-era arts union activists.” Throughout the corporate era, Local 257 has developed and enforced master contracts with corporate signatories that apply especially to the major-label recording industry. The new generation of arts trade union leaders—the “entrepreneurial-era union activists”—are endeavoring to revitalize arts trade unionism as the Nashville music scene transitions from the corporate era of major labels into an era of indie entrepreneurial music production and distribution.Less
This chapter looks at how a new generation of Nashville arts trade unionists is reinventing arts trade unionism for the contemporary generation of enterprising artists. With the advent of recorded music, corporate major labels, and mass distribution through radio airplay by the early 1950s, the chapter shows how Nashville AFM Local 257 had been transformed into a union representing both live and recording musicians and artists by a generation of arts trade union leaders who act as “corporate-era arts union activists.” Throughout the corporate era, Local 257 has developed and enforced master contracts with corporate signatories that apply especially to the major-label recording industry. The new generation of arts trade union leaders—the “entrepreneurial-era union activists”—are endeavoring to revitalize arts trade unionism as the Nashville music scene transitions from the corporate era of major labels into an era of indie entrepreneurial music production and distribution.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This introductory chapter explains that the book examines the early years of the market for jazz in order to understand why some tunes had long-term appeal while others did not, and how the market ...
More
This introductory chapter explains that the book examines the early years of the market for jazz in order to understand why some tunes had long-term appeal while others did not, and how the market boundaries of jazz evolved as a part of this process. Using empirical puzzles and focusing mostly on the period 1917–1933, the book investigates why some songs are re-recorded by many musicians over time while others receive no such following. The book draws on sociological congruence as a mechanism to explain how the context of production affects the appeal of jazz recordings. It shows that jazz has been influenced by the social structure of the geography and producing organizations. A market for jazz could not have formed, flourished, and maintained legitimacy without a smaller set of tunes to serve as a common point of reference by musicians, record labels and companies, consumers, and critics.Less
This introductory chapter explains that the book examines the early years of the market for jazz in order to understand why some tunes had long-term appeal while others did not, and how the market boundaries of jazz evolved as a part of this process. Using empirical puzzles and focusing mostly on the period 1917–1933, the book investigates why some songs are re-recorded by many musicians over time while others receive no such following. The book draws on sociological congruence as a mechanism to explain how the context of production affects the appeal of jazz recordings. It shows that jazz has been influenced by the social structure of the geography and producing organizations. A market for jazz could not have formed, flourished, and maintained legitimacy without a smaller set of tunes to serve as a common point of reference by musicians, record labels and companies, consumers, and critics.
William Howland Kenney
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195171778
- eISBN:
- 9780199849789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171778.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Commercial recordings of music made by African Americans, discs designed by record companies to sell to African Americans, finally emerged in the 1920s as a further extension of earlier ethnic music ...
More
Commercial recordings of music made by African Americans, discs designed by record companies to sell to African Americans, finally emerged in the 1920s as a further extension of earlier ethnic music recording programs. The phonograph's mediation of the musical experience for both performers and listeners emerges clearly enough in ethnic records, but all the more so in those marketed to African Americans. Just as the recording industry had created its spinning encapsulations of ethnicity, so too it now turned to making engravings of the sounds of race. From 1920 to 1945, the race record era, many different companies made recordings of African American music, but four major record labels—Okeh, Paramount, Brunswick/Vocalion, and Columbia—took control of the field. Race records, however, present a dilemma: several Black musicians and singers claimed that despite the rich eclectic variety of Black popular music, they were allowed to record only blues.Less
Commercial recordings of music made by African Americans, discs designed by record companies to sell to African Americans, finally emerged in the 1920s as a further extension of earlier ethnic music recording programs. The phonograph's mediation of the musical experience for both performers and listeners emerges clearly enough in ethnic records, but all the more so in those marketed to African Americans. Just as the recording industry had created its spinning encapsulations of ethnicity, so too it now turned to making engravings of the sounds of race. From 1920 to 1945, the race record era, many different companies made recordings of African American music, but four major record labels—Okeh, Paramount, Brunswick/Vocalion, and Columbia—took control of the field. Race records, however, present a dilemma: several Black musicians and singers claimed that despite the rich eclectic variety of Black popular music, they were allowed to record only blues.
William Robin
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190068653
- eISBN:
- 9780190068684
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190068653.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
In the 1990s, Bang on a Can jumped from releasing albums on the academic label Composers Recordings, Inc. to signing a contract with the major label Sony Classical. Their path emblematized an unusual ...
More
In the 1990s, Bang on a Can jumped from releasing albums on the academic label Composers Recordings, Inc. to signing a contract with the major label Sony Classical. Their path emblematized an unusual moment in recording contemporary music: after Nonesuch’s 1992 recording of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 became extraordinarily popular, major labels looked to contemporary music as a means to reach new listeners. Whereas new music had previously been the provenance of noncommercial labels like CRI, major labels began investing in new composers and new institutions like Bang on a Can in the hopes of turning new profits. From Sony, Bang on a Can jumped to Philips’s Point Music and released their rendition of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, an album designed to reach new rock audience; and from there, amidst the industry tumult of the late 1990s, they struck out on their own with the independent label Cantaloupe Music.Less
In the 1990s, Bang on a Can jumped from releasing albums on the academic label Composers Recordings, Inc. to signing a contract with the major label Sony Classical. Their path emblematized an unusual moment in recording contemporary music: after Nonesuch’s 1992 recording of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 became extraordinarily popular, major labels looked to contemporary music as a means to reach new listeners. Whereas new music had previously been the provenance of noncommercial labels like CRI, major labels began investing in new composers and new institutions like Bang on a Can in the hopes of turning new profits. From Sony, Bang on a Can jumped to Philips’s Point Music and released their rendition of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, an album designed to reach new rock audience; and from there, amidst the industry tumult of the late 1990s, they struck out on their own with the independent label Cantaloupe Music.
Nagla Rizk
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195342109
- eISBN:
- 9780199866823
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342109.003.0015
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter examines the Arab music industry in the light of the region's socio-cultural, economic, political, legal, and institutional realities. It sheds light on the current practices and value ...
More
This chapter examines the Arab music industry in the light of the region's socio-cultural, economic, political, legal, and institutional realities. It sheds light on the current practices and value chains, with the objective of examining the role that copyright plays—or does not play—in this context. The focus is on two major groups: the pop stars and the underground musicians. The main hypothesis is that there actually prevails an informal, and sometimes illegal, commons in a system where significant monetary appropriation comes mostly from live performances, mainly weddings and public parties. Within the framework of economic, cultural, and institutional realities in the region, copyrighted items end up being used as reputation promoters. Based on the analysis presented, the chapter argues for acknowledging and formalizing the Arab commons. It also recommends finding new, alternative, and suitable business models as well as flexible intellectual property regimes that would promote access and contribution to Arabic musical content.Less
This chapter examines the Arab music industry in the light of the region's socio-cultural, economic, political, legal, and institutional realities. It sheds light on the current practices and value chains, with the objective of examining the role that copyright plays—or does not play—in this context. The focus is on two major groups: the pop stars and the underground musicians. The main hypothesis is that there actually prevails an informal, and sometimes illegal, commons in a system where significant monetary appropriation comes mostly from live performances, mainly weddings and public parties. Within the framework of economic, cultural, and institutional realities in the region, copyrighted items end up being used as reputation promoters. Based on the analysis presented, the chapter argues for acknowledging and formalizing the Arab commons. It also recommends finding new, alternative, and suitable business models as well as flexible intellectual property regimes that would promote access and contribution to Arabic musical content.
S. Alexander Reed
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199832583
- eISBN:
- 9780190268305
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199832583.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Noisy, confrontational, and controversial, industrial music first emerged in the mid-1970s around bands and performance groups who combined avant-garde electronic music with the provocative attitude ...
More
Noisy, confrontational, and controversial, industrial music first emerged in the mid-1970s around bands and performance groups who combined avant-garde electronic music with the provocative attitude and style of punk rock. In its early days, bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire produced a genuinely radical form of music bent on recontextualizing the signs and methods of cultural authority in an attempt to liberate listeners from the trappings of modernity. But, as industrial music took on more and more elements of popular music over the course of the 1980s it slowly abandoned its mission. By the mid-1990s, it was seen as simply another style of pop music, and had ironically fallen into the trappings it sought by its very existence to destroy. This book provides a critical history of this fascinating and enigmatic genre tracing industrial music’s trajectory from Throbbing Gristle’s founding of the record label Industrial Music in 1976, to its peak in popularity on the back of the band Nine Inch Nails in the mid-1990s, and through its decline to the present day. Through a series of revealing explorations of works spanning the entirety of industrial music’s past, and drawing on extensive interviews with musicians, record label owners, DJs, and concert promoters, the book paints a thorough historical picture that includes not only the bands, but the structures that supported them, and the scenes they created. In so doing, it reveals an engaging story of an ideological disintegration and its aftermath.Less
Noisy, confrontational, and controversial, industrial music first emerged in the mid-1970s around bands and performance groups who combined avant-garde electronic music with the provocative attitude and style of punk rock. In its early days, bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire produced a genuinely radical form of music bent on recontextualizing the signs and methods of cultural authority in an attempt to liberate listeners from the trappings of modernity. But, as industrial music took on more and more elements of popular music over the course of the 1980s it slowly abandoned its mission. By the mid-1990s, it was seen as simply another style of pop music, and had ironically fallen into the trappings it sought by its very existence to destroy. This book provides a critical history of this fascinating and enigmatic genre tracing industrial music’s trajectory from Throbbing Gristle’s founding of the record label Industrial Music in 1976, to its peak in popularity on the back of the band Nine Inch Nails in the mid-1990s, and through its decline to the present day. Through a series of revealing explorations of works spanning the entirety of industrial music’s past, and drawing on extensive interviews with musicians, record label owners, DJs, and concert promoters, the book paints a thorough historical picture that includes not only the bands, but the structures that supported them, and the scenes they created. In so doing, it reveals an engaging story of an ideological disintegration and its aftermath.
Nancy K. Baym
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479896165
- eISBN:
- 9781479815357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479896165.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter begins by laying out the confusing artists face as they try to make sense of the new media landscape. It begins with a history of music as a profession, focusing on how it moved from ...
More
This chapter begins by laying out the confusing artists face as they try to make sense of the new media landscape. It begins with a history of music as a profession, focusing on how it moved from being seen as a participatory practice to a commodified one, separating musicians from audiences as it did, and changing how they related to their audiences. It discusses the rise and fall of major record labels and the shift to the digital. It argues that as the music industry has become decentralized, musicians have had to do more of the work for themselves. It closes with an analysis of the kinds of entrepreneurial and relational skills musicians need in this new environment.Less
This chapter begins by laying out the confusing artists face as they try to make sense of the new media landscape. It begins with a history of music as a profession, focusing on how it moved from being seen as a participatory practice to a commodified one, separating musicians from audiences as it did, and changing how they related to their audiences. It discusses the rise and fall of major record labels and the shift to the digital. It argues that as the music industry has become decentralized, musicians have had to do more of the work for themselves. It closes with an analysis of the kinds of entrepreneurial and relational skills musicians need in this new environment.
RON PEN
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813125978
- eISBN:
- 9780813135564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813125978.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
When Niles was 65, his concerts slowed down and his younger audience were curious about his high voice and dramatic articulation. He began to consolidate his life works in recordings. Niles chose to ...
More
When Niles was 65, his concerts slowed down and his younger audience were curious about his high voice and dramatic articulation. He began to consolidate his life works in recordings. Niles chose to record with Moses Asch, on a new label that seemed more supportive of his role as a folk artist. All three of Niles's albums for Disc were recorded in 1946 and released in 1947. Asch was more visionary than pragmatic, and the disc label folded one year later in 1948. Niles was distressed at the prospect of starting up another label with Asch, so John Jacob and Rena decided to control the recording business themselves.Less
When Niles was 65, his concerts slowed down and his younger audience were curious about his high voice and dramatic articulation. He began to consolidate his life works in recordings. Niles chose to record with Moses Asch, on a new label that seemed more supportive of his role as a folk artist. All three of Niles's albums for Disc were recorded in 1946 and released in 1947. Asch was more visionary than pragmatic, and the disc label folded one year later in 1948. Niles was distressed at the prospect of starting up another label with Asch, so John Jacob and Rena decided to control the recording business themselves.
Eric Weisbard
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226896168
- eISBN:
- 9780226194370
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226194370.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
American popular music history takes a new shape when the force behind the hits – radio airplay – claims center stage. The 1950s Top 40 hits approach structured rival formats, too, by the 1970s: ...
More
American popular music history takes a new shape when the force behind the hits – radio airplay – claims center stage. The 1950s Top 40 hits approach structured rival formats, too, by the 1970s: rhythm & blues, country, adult contemporary, and rock. This resulted in multiple mainstreams, overlapping centers that explain why pop multiplicity, not rock monoculture, won out by the 1990s. An introduction explores how formats, which pragmatically unite sets of listeners with sets of sounds, are different than genres, which turn on musical ideals. Five case studies then examine particular formats through artists, record labels, and radio stations. The Isley Brothers illustrate how, from early soul to hip-hop, R&B and Top 40 created corporate, mediated rituals of black expression. Dolly Parton’s leap from country to adult contemporary success illustrates Nashville centrism filtering the modern for white southerners. A&M Records’ unlikely hitmakers (Herb Alpert, Carpenters, Peter Frampton, the Police, Amy Grant), demonstrate the calculated diversity, but also precarity, of adult-oriented middle of the road. Elton John’s thirty-year run of Top 40 success reveals a format of outsiders opting in where rockers opted out, coded gay identity, and a British Invasion becoming globalization. Hard rock Cleveland station WMMS, “the Buzzard,” thundered blue-collar rock ideals of cross-class masculinity, tested by the arrival of the yuppie. A final chapter, on formats in the 2000s, notes Latin programming and a surprise: technological upheaval brought Top 40 back to its most potent position in years.Less
American popular music history takes a new shape when the force behind the hits – radio airplay – claims center stage. The 1950s Top 40 hits approach structured rival formats, too, by the 1970s: rhythm & blues, country, adult contemporary, and rock. This resulted in multiple mainstreams, overlapping centers that explain why pop multiplicity, not rock monoculture, won out by the 1990s. An introduction explores how formats, which pragmatically unite sets of listeners with sets of sounds, are different than genres, which turn on musical ideals. Five case studies then examine particular formats through artists, record labels, and radio stations. The Isley Brothers illustrate how, from early soul to hip-hop, R&B and Top 40 created corporate, mediated rituals of black expression. Dolly Parton’s leap from country to adult contemporary success illustrates Nashville centrism filtering the modern for white southerners. A&M Records’ unlikely hitmakers (Herb Alpert, Carpenters, Peter Frampton, the Police, Amy Grant), demonstrate the calculated diversity, but also precarity, of adult-oriented middle of the road. Elton John’s thirty-year run of Top 40 success reveals a format of outsiders opting in where rockers opted out, coded gay identity, and a British Invasion becoming globalization. Hard rock Cleveland station WMMS, “the Buzzard,” thundered blue-collar rock ideals of cross-class masculinity, tested by the arrival of the yuppie. A final chapter, on formats in the 2000s, notes Latin programming and a surprise: technological upheaval brought Top 40 back to its most potent position in years.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226350370
- eISBN:
- 9780226350400
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226350400.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter investigates the tensions and contradictions in local discourses on jazz in Chicago. Jeff Parker is the main subject of this chapter because his activities cross many boundaries and ...
More
This chapter investigates the tensions and contradictions in local discourses on jazz in Chicago. Jeff Parker is the main subject of this chapter because his activities cross many boundaries and because he is an excellent focal point for understanding the structure of the jazz scene. Some of his many collaborators, including Josh Abrams, Ted Sirota, and Tortoise, and their connections with local record labels and clubs are also considered. Ideology shapes the boundaries of jazz discourse in Chicago, though some gatekeepers pretend to be neutral. Chicago's cultural life is defined in relation to larger cities, especially New York and Los Angeles. Down Beat and Jazz Times dominate the genre discourse and sustain a hierarchy between different jazz cultures. Wire has become a leading voice in experimental music cultures with a hip cosmopolitan identity. Its editorial attitude became more self-conscious, and a canon began to take shape.Less
This chapter investigates the tensions and contradictions in local discourses on jazz in Chicago. Jeff Parker is the main subject of this chapter because his activities cross many boundaries and because he is an excellent focal point for understanding the structure of the jazz scene. Some of his many collaborators, including Josh Abrams, Ted Sirota, and Tortoise, and their connections with local record labels and clubs are also considered. Ideology shapes the boundaries of jazz discourse in Chicago, though some gatekeepers pretend to be neutral. Chicago's cultural life is defined in relation to larger cities, especially New York and Los Angeles. Down Beat and Jazz Times dominate the genre discourse and sustain a hierarchy between different jazz cultures. Wire has become a leading voice in experimental music cultures with a hip cosmopolitan identity. Its editorial attitude became more self-conscious, and a canon began to take shape.
David W. Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617036460
- eISBN:
- 9781617036477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617036460.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter describes the Stanley Brothers’ struggles in the early 1950s with no record label or steady radio show to promote them. In May 1952 they moved to station WOAY in Oak Hill, West Virginia, ...
More
This chapter describes the Stanley Brothers’ struggles in the early 1950s with no record label or steady radio show to promote them. In May 1952 they moved to station WOAY in Oak Hill, West Virginia, repeating the pattern of doing radio shows to promote in-person performances, and, in mid-1952, without a contract, recorded four songs for Rich-R-Tone. But in the spring of 1953 the brothers signed with Mercury Records. During the Mercury years, Ralph also began writing songs as well as tunes, and was credited with contributing three songs to the band’s fifth Mercury session on November 28, 1954.Less
This chapter describes the Stanley Brothers’ struggles in the early 1950s with no record label or steady radio show to promote them. In May 1952 they moved to station WOAY in Oak Hill, West Virginia, repeating the pattern of doing radio shows to promote in-person performances, and, in mid-1952, without a contract, recorded four songs for Rich-R-Tone. But in the spring of 1953 the brothers signed with Mercury Records. During the Mercury years, Ralph also began writing songs as well as tunes, and was credited with contributing three songs to the band’s fifth Mercury session on November 28, 1954.
Mark Burford
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190634902
- eISBN:
- 9780190634933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190634902.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
Gospel music was integral to the culture of many black churches, but gospel singing offered pleasures to its practitioners and fans that extended beyond musical worship. In the late 1940s, Jackson’s ...
More
Gospel music was integral to the culture of many black churches, but gospel singing offered pleasures to its practitioners and fans that extended beyond musical worship. In the late 1940s, Jackson’s career was interwoven with two phenomena that nudged black gospel singing toward the realm of popular culture: the “song battle” and the high-profile programs of religious music presented at Harlem’s Golden Gate Auditorium by promoter Johnny Myers. Pitting Jackson against such rivals as Roberta Martin and Ernestine Washington, the battle of song offered gospel singers alternate forms of prestige and extended to gospel audiences opportunities for active and engaged participation. Myers made instrumental use of the song battle format, deploying a roster of local talent and national stars and connections with New York–based independent record labels. It was through this Myers “syndicate” that Jackson was introduced to Apollo Records, launching her career as a recording artist.Less
Gospel music was integral to the culture of many black churches, but gospel singing offered pleasures to its practitioners and fans that extended beyond musical worship. In the late 1940s, Jackson’s career was interwoven with two phenomena that nudged black gospel singing toward the realm of popular culture: the “song battle” and the high-profile programs of religious music presented at Harlem’s Golden Gate Auditorium by promoter Johnny Myers. Pitting Jackson against such rivals as Roberta Martin and Ernestine Washington, the battle of song offered gospel singers alternate forms of prestige and extended to gospel audiences opportunities for active and engaged participation. Myers made instrumental use of the song battle format, deploying a roster of local talent and national stars and connections with New York–based independent record labels. It was through this Myers “syndicate” that Jackson was introduced to Apollo Records, launching her career as a recording artist.
John Ridley
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781934110416
- eISBN:
- 9781604733037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781934110416.003.0023
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter focuses on the little-known record label Murco, which documented the Shreveport soul scene. Murco’s roots were in the Bayou Records store, a retail outlet purchased by local businessman ...
More
This chapter focuses on the little-known record label Murco, which documented the Shreveport soul scene. Murco’s roots were in the Bayou Records store, a retail outlet purchased by local businessman Dee Marais in 1960. In addition to selling records, Marais occasionally recorded local musicians in the back of his store, and, from his base in Shreveport, Louisiana, issued most types of music from gospel through country to rock-and-roll. But between 1967 and 1973 he concentrated largely on soul.Less
This chapter focuses on the little-known record label Murco, which documented the Shreveport soul scene. Murco’s roots were in the Bayou Records store, a retail outlet purchased by local businessman Dee Marais in 1960. In addition to selling records, Marais occasionally recorded local musicians in the back of his store, and, from his base in Shreveport, Louisiana, issued most types of music from gospel through country to rock-and-roll. But between 1967 and 1973 he concentrated largely on soul.
S. Alexander Reed
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199832583
- eISBN:
- 9780190268305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199832583.003.0018
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter considers changes in the industrial music scene during the 1990s. The period was marred by a number of high-profile deaths including the death of Chicago scenester poet Lorri Jackson in ...
More
This chapter considers changes in the industrial music scene during the 1990s. The period was marred by a number of high-profile deaths including the death of Chicago scenester poet Lorri Jackson in October 1990 from a heroin overdose; Jeff Ward, the drummer for Ministry side project Lard committed suicide during that decade; AIDS claimed both singer Dean Russell of Moev and Hans Schiller of the San Francisco-based EBM act Kode IV also in the 1990s; in 1995, Lee Newman of former WaxTrax! band Greater Than One died of cancer. The chapter also describes the near convergence of gothic and industrial audiences, the rebirth of underground industrial music, and how independent labels fostered an alternative to the poisonous ambitions of rock stardom.Less
This chapter considers changes in the industrial music scene during the 1990s. The period was marred by a number of high-profile deaths including the death of Chicago scenester poet Lorri Jackson in October 1990 from a heroin overdose; Jeff Ward, the drummer for Ministry side project Lard committed suicide during that decade; AIDS claimed both singer Dean Russell of Moev and Hans Schiller of the San Francisco-based EBM act Kode IV also in the 1990s; in 1995, Lee Newman of former WaxTrax! band Greater Than One died of cancer. The chapter also describes the near convergence of gothic and industrial audiences, the rebirth of underground industrial music, and how independent labels fostered an alternative to the poisonous ambitions of rock stardom.
Morgan James Luker
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226385402
- eISBN:
- 9780226385686
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226385686.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter contrasts the valorization of heritage-making efforts with the equally powerful discourses of cultural diversity, which are now broadly institutionalized within governmental engagements ...
More
This chapter contrasts the valorization of heritage-making efforts with the equally powerful discourses of cultural diversity, which are now broadly institutionalized within governmental engagements with culture and the arts. Diversity, in this context, does not refer to any kind of ethnic and/or racial difference but to variety in media content and point of origin. As a key concept in contemporary cultural policymaking efforts, diversity discourses play a crucial role in shaping the form, content, meaning, and circulation of musical sounds and practices, including tango. This chapter focuses on how these discourses have been put into practice, concentrating on the activities of the discográficas (record label) program of the city government of Buenos Aires’s Sub-Secretariat of Cultural Industries. Dedicated to developing the local music industry as both an economic and cultural resource, the discográficas program mobilizes musical diversity as a means of reconfiguring the economic, social, and cultural domains of the city. These policies both extend the reach of state authority into new domains and attempt to account for at least some of the demands of previously silenced groups.Less
This chapter contrasts the valorization of heritage-making efforts with the equally powerful discourses of cultural diversity, which are now broadly institutionalized within governmental engagements with culture and the arts. Diversity, in this context, does not refer to any kind of ethnic and/or racial difference but to variety in media content and point of origin. As a key concept in contemporary cultural policymaking efforts, diversity discourses play a crucial role in shaping the form, content, meaning, and circulation of musical sounds and practices, including tango. This chapter focuses on how these discourses have been put into practice, concentrating on the activities of the discográficas (record label) program of the city government of Buenos Aires’s Sub-Secretariat of Cultural Industries. Dedicated to developing the local music industry as both an economic and cultural resource, the discográficas program mobilizes musical diversity as a means of reconfiguring the economic, social, and cultural domains of the city. These policies both extend the reach of state authority into new domains and attempt to account for at least some of the demands of previously silenced groups.
David W. Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617036460
- eISBN:
- 9781617036477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617036460.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter describes the Stanley Brothers’ recordings for the Rich-R-Tone label, run by Hobart Stanton. For their recording sessions, Stanton brought the brothers into the studio of rival Bristol ...
More
This chapter describes the Stanley Brothers’ recordings for the Rich-R-Tone label, run by Hobart Stanton. For their recording sessions, Stanton brought the brothers into the studio of rival Bristol radio station WOPI, which was located a few blocks from WCYB. The Rich-R-Tone recordings hold special significance because they identified the roots of the Stanley Brothers’ music.Less
This chapter describes the Stanley Brothers’ recordings for the Rich-R-Tone label, run by Hobart Stanton. For their recording sessions, Stanton brought the brothers into the studio of rival Bristol radio station WOPI, which was located a few blocks from WCYB. The Rich-R-Tone recordings hold special significance because they identified the roots of the Stanley Brothers’ music.
Joshua Tucker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226923956
- eISBN:
- 9780226923970
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226923970.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter explores the popular genres of the Andean music scene, which includes chicha, pan-Andean music, indigenista folklore, and huayno. It begins with an overview of huayno, followed by the ...
More
This chapter explores the popular genres of the Andean music scene, which includes chicha, pan-Andean music, indigenista folklore, and huayno. It begins with an overview of huayno, followed by the development of the indigenista music and rise of the pan-Andean music. The role of recordists and record labels in huayno’s musical development is also discussed. The chapter ends by describing the aesthetic parameters of chicha music and huayno norteño.Less
This chapter explores the popular genres of the Andean music scene, which includes chicha, pan-Andean music, indigenista folklore, and huayno. It begins with an overview of huayno, followed by the development of the indigenista music and rise of the pan-Andean music. The role of recordists and record labels in huayno’s musical development is also discussed. The chapter ends by describing the aesthetic parameters of chicha music and huayno norteño.
Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190635930
- eISBN:
- 9780190635961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190635930.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Popular
The final chapter examines Eubie’s revived career on stage and record in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, the chapter discusses key figures who played a role in promoting his career, including ...
More
The final chapter examines Eubie’s revived career on stage and record in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, the chapter discusses key figures who played a role in promoting his career, including historian Robert Kimball; composer/pianist William Bolcom and his wife, singer Joan Morris; recording engineer Carl Seltzer, who partnered with Eubie in forming Eubie Blake Music (Eubie’s record label and publishing company); and lawyer Elliot Hoffman, who championed and protected Blake’s work. The chapter also explores the impact of the mental decline and deaths of Noble Sissle and Andy Razaf on Eubie; Julianne Boyd’s production of a new musical review, Eubie!, which brought his return to Broadway; the show’s development and casting, including bringing Maurice and Gregory Hines to Broadway and their subsequent success; and difficulties dealing with the show’s producer, Ashton Springer. Finally, the chapter relates Eubie’s complex feelings about racism; his work with two biographers, African American journalist Lawrence Carter and jazz writer Al Rose; Rose’s fights with Elliot Hoffman over the writing and publication of his biography; late accolades; and Eubie’s final performances and death.Less
The final chapter examines Eubie’s revived career on stage and record in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, the chapter discusses key figures who played a role in promoting his career, including historian Robert Kimball; composer/pianist William Bolcom and his wife, singer Joan Morris; recording engineer Carl Seltzer, who partnered with Eubie in forming Eubie Blake Music (Eubie’s record label and publishing company); and lawyer Elliot Hoffman, who championed and protected Blake’s work. The chapter also explores the impact of the mental decline and deaths of Noble Sissle and Andy Razaf on Eubie; Julianne Boyd’s production of a new musical review, Eubie!, which brought his return to Broadway; the show’s development and casting, including bringing Maurice and Gregory Hines to Broadway and their subsequent success; and difficulties dealing with the show’s producer, Ashton Springer. Finally, the chapter relates Eubie’s complex feelings about racism; his work with two biographers, African American journalist Lawrence Carter and jazz writer Al Rose; Rose’s fights with Elliot Hoffman over the writing and publication of his biography; late accolades; and Eubie’s final performances and death.
