[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [ARSCLIST] New National Recording Registry just announced
Is there a direct link to this text that might be more readable? I get
crosseyed about half way down with no line breaks or formatting...
<L>
Lou Judson • Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689
On Apr 11, 2006, at 10:58 AM, Stephen C Leggett wrote:
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS101 Independence Avenue SEWashington DC
20540Phone: (202) 707-2905Fax: (202) 707-9199Email: pao@xxxxxxx
April 11, 2006 Press contact: Sheryl Cannady (202) 707-6456
Librarian of Congress Names 50 Recordings to the 2005 National
Recording Registry Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has made
his annual selection of 50 sound recordings for the National Recording
Registry. Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act
of 2000, the Librarian is responsible for annually selecting
recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically
significant." Registry recordings must be at least 10 years old. In
announcing the registry, the Librarian said, "The National Recording
Registry represents a stunning array of the diversity, humanity and
creativity found in our sound heritage, nothing less than a flood of
noise and sound pulsating into the American bloodstream."The National
Recording Registry was created by the National Recording Preservation
Act of 2000, legislation that promotes and supports audio
preservation. The registry celebrates the richness and variety of the
nation's audio legacy and underscores the responsibility to assure the
long-term preservation of that legacy for future
generations.Nominations for the registry were gathered from members of
the public, who submitted suggestions online (www.loc.gov/nrpb/), and
from the National Recording Preservation Board, which comprises
leaders in the fields of music, recorded sound and preservation. The
board also assisted the Librarian with the review of nominations.The
new additions to the registry honor a wide variety of outstanding
spoken and musical recordings and span the years 1903-1988. Among the
selections is the first presidential inauguration to be broadcast,
featuring the "New England man-of-few-words" Calvin Coolidge; the
first official transatlantic telephone conversation that took place on
Jan. 7, 1927; Clem McCarthy's 1938 broadcast of the historic Joe
Louis-Max Schmeling fight won by Louis in round 1; Samuel Barber's
beautiful and haunting "Adagio for Strings," called by some the
"American anthem for sadness and grief"; and Gil Scott-Heron's "The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised," a song poem whose title has become
a well-known part of the American cultural lexicon. Additions also
include a number of performances by an American pantheon of
significant artists, including Bob Hope, Nat "King" Cole, Fred Allen,
Mahalia Jackson, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave
Brubeck, B.B. King, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Stevie
Wonder.Celebrity attendees at the news conference included Robert
Hendrix, cousin to music legend Jimi Hendrix; Martha Reeves, renowned
lead singer for the classic Motown group Martha and the Vandellas; and
members of the comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre, who performed a
five-minute comedy routine. All are connected with recordings added
to the registry today.At the press conference, the Library also
announced acquisition of 31 rare, mint-condition test pressings from
blues legend Robert Johnson and discovery of a jam session featuring
jazz great Lester Young. Speaking on the Young discovery, Loren
Schoenberg, executive director of the Jazz Museum in Harlem, said,
"Yes, this was Lester's absolute zenith and there is precious little
extant from this period. Imagine a new Shakespearean sonnet, Chopin
nocturne or Hemingway short story * that's what we have here * an
American master, a true iconoclast, at his very best."On behalf of
Congress and the National Recording Preservation Board, the Library of
Congress is conducting a study on the state of audio preservation and
will develop a comprehensive national recording preservation program,
the first of its kind. The study encompasses the current state of
sound-recording archiving, preservation, restoration activities and
access to those recordings by scholars and the public. Rob Bamberger,
director and writer for the National Recording Preservation Plan, was
introduced as the person who will prepare the study and plan.The
Library is identifying and preserving the best existing versions of
the recordings on the registry. These efforts have received support
from record companiesand archives. Sony BMG, in particular, is
assisting the national preservation program by locating the best
surviving elements of its recordings and duplicating them at no cost
to the Library, ensuring that the best existing versions are added to
the National Recording Registry Collection at the Library of
Congress.The Library is currently accepting nominations for the 2006
National Recording Registry at the National Recording Preservation
Board Web site, www.loc.gov/nrpb/.The Library of Congress is the
nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the world's largest
library with more than 132 million items, which includes nearly 2.8
million sound recordings. The Library's Recorded Sound Section holds
the largest number of radio broadcasts in the United States * more
than 500,000.A selection of audio excerpts and images will be
available to the press through April 18 at www.loc.gov/2005 National
Recording Registry # # #PR 06-834/11/06ISSN 0731-3527NATIONAL
RECORDING REGISTRY ANNOUNCED 2005 National
Recording Registry (in chronological order) 1. "Canzone del
Porter" from "Martha (von Flotow)," Edouard de Reszke (1903)2.
"Listen to the Lambs," Hampton Quartette; recorded by Natalie Curtis
Burlin (1917)3. "Over There," Nora Bayes (1917)4.
"Crazy Blues," Mamie Smith (1920)5. "My Man" and "Second Hand
Rose," Fanny Brice (1921)6. "Ory's Creole Trombone," Kid
Ory (June 1922)7. Inauguration of Calvin Coolidge (March 4,
1925)8. "Tanec pid werbamy/Dance Under the Willows," Pawlo
Huemiuk (1926)9. "Singin' the Blues," Frankie Trumbauer and
his Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke (1927) 10. First official
transatlantic telephone conversation (Jan. 7, 1927)11. "El
Manisero" ("The Peanut Vendor"), Rita Montaner, vocal with orchestra
(1927); "El Manisero," Don Azpiazu and his orchestra (1930) 12.
Light's Golden Jubilee Celebration (Oct. 21, 1929)13.
Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Op. 84, Modesto High School Band
(1930)14. "Show Boat," Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, James
Melton and others; Victor Young, conductor; Louis Alter, piano (1932)
15. "Wabash Cannonball," Roy Acuff (1936)16. "One
o'Clock Jump," Count Basie and his Orchestra (1937)17.
Archibald MacLeish's "Fall of the City," Orson Welles, narrator,
Burgess Meredith, Paul Stewart (April 11, 1937) 18. "The
Adventures of Robin Hood" radio broadcast of May 11, 193819. Joe
Louis-Max Schmeling fight, Clem McCarthy, announcer (June 22,1938)20.
"John the Revelator," Golden Gate Quartet (1938) 21.
"Adagio for Strings," Arturo Toscanini, conductor; NBC Symphony
(1938)22. "Command Performance" show No.21, Bob Hope,
master of ceremonies (July 7, 1942)23. "Straighten Up and
Fly Right," Nat "King" Cole (1943)24. Allen's Alley segment
from "The Fred Allen Show"(Radio broadcast of Oct. 7, 1945)25.
"Jole Blon," Harry Choates (1946)26. "Tubby the Tuba," Paul
Tripp (words) and George Kleinsinger (music) (1946)27.
"Move on up a Little Higher," Mahalia Jackson (1948)28.
"Anthology of American Folk Music," edited by Harry Smith (1952) 29.
"Schooner Bradley," performed by Pat Bonner (??1952-60)30.
"Damnation of Faust," Boston Symphony Orchestra with the
Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society (1954)31.
"Blueberry Hill," Fats Domino (1956)32. "Variations for
Orchestra," Louisville Orchestra (1956)33. "Whole Lotta Shakin'
Goin' On," Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)34. "That'll Be the Day,"
Buddy Holly (1957)35. "Poeme Electronique," Edgard Varese
(1958)-more-36. "Time Out," The Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959)37.
Studs Terkel interview with James Baldwin (Sept. 29, 1962)38.
William Faulkner address at West Point Military Academy (1962) 39.
"Dancing in the Street," Martha and the Vandellas (1964)40.
"Live at the Regal," B.B. King (1965)41. "Are You
Experienced?" Jimi Hendrix Exerience (1967)42. "We're Only in It
for the Money," Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1968)43.
"Switched-On Bach," Wendy Carlos (1968)44. "Oh Happy
Day," Edwin Hawkins Singers (1969)45. "Don't Crush That
Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers," Firesign Theatre (1970)46. "The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Gil Scott-Heron (1970)47.
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1972)48.
The old fog horn, Kewaunee, Wis., recorded by James A. Lipsky
(1972)49. "Songs in the Key of Life," Stevie Wonder (1976) 50.
"Daydream Nation," Sonic Youth (1988)
2005 National Recording Registry (in chronological order) 1.
"Canzone del Porter" from "Martha (von Flotow)," Edouard de Reszke
(1903) Representative of the Columbia Grand Opera Series. Columbia
Records' 1903 "celebrity" series of discs featured seven Metropolitan
Opera stars who were considered some of the most significant singers
of the period. Perhaps of great historical significance within the
series are the three recordings made by bass Edouard de Reszke. They
are his only known published recordings, made when he was approaching
the end of his performing career. Other performers included in the
series are Giuseppe Campanari, baritone; Marcella Sembrich, soprano;
Suzanne Adams, soprano; Ernestine Schumann-Heink, contralto; Antonio
Scotti, baritone; and Charles Gilbert, baritone. 2. "Listen
to the Lambs," Hampton Quartette; recorded by Natalie Curtis Burlin
(1917) Natalie Burlin (1875-1921), a pioneer in the study of American
minority cultures, was one of the leading collectors and transcribers
of indigenous music of Africa and the United States. Beginning around
1903, she worked to document and preserve Native American culture and
in 1910, extended her work to carry out important studies of
African-American and African culture. Burlin published four volumes of
transcriptions taken from performances by students at Virginia's
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in 1918-1919. Recordings by
the Hampton Quartette made on wax cylinders during the 1880s,
including this recording of "Listen to the Lambs," were probably the
basis of some of her published transcriptions. 3. "Over
There," Nora Bayes (1917) Inextricably associated in popular
imagination with World War I, Nora Bayes' recording introduced George
M. Cohan's song and became an international hit. Cohan had
specifically requested that Bayes be the first singer to release his
composition. A former member of the "Ziegfeld Follies," an extremely
popular vaudevillian and a Broadway star, she recorded a number of
other songs to boost morale during the war and performed extensively
for the soldiers. 4. "Crazy Blues," Mamie Smith (1920) With
her recording of "Crazy Blues," Mamie Smith became the first black
vocalist to make a commercial vaudeville blues record. The recording
was a surprise hit, reputedly selling more than 250,000 copies. It
revealed to record companies a previously neglected market for
records, African-American buyers. Subsequently, thousands of
recordings were made of black jazz and blues artists, invigorating the
record business and enabling the documentation and preservation of one
of the richest eras of musical creativity in the United States. 5.
"My Man" and "Second Hand Rose," Fanny Brice (1921) Performed by
Fanny Brice in the "Ziegfeld Follies of 1921," "My Man" and "Second
Hand Rose" were recorded by Victor Records the same year and issued
together on a double-faced 78-rpm disc. Known for her comedic songs in
Yiddish and other dialects, Brice was in the midst of marital woes
when she recorded "My Man." Audiences, connecting strongly with her
passionate performance, concluded she was singing about herself.
"Second Hand Rose" was a follow-up to a previous hit song, "Rose of
Washington Square," and was a rare instance of the sequel excelling
its predecessor. 6. "Ory's Creole Trombone," Kid Ory (June
1922) This ensemble of trombonist Kid Ory, originally called "Spikes'
Seven Pods of Pepper," was the first recording ever issued of a black
jazz band. It was recorded by Andrae Nordskog for his Santa Monica,
Calif.-based Nordskog record label. Under confusing circumstances, the
record was issued on the Sunshine label belonging to Los Angeles music
promoters the Spikes Brothers. 7. Inauguration of Calvin
Coolidge (March 4, 1925) Calvin Coolidge's inauguration in 1925 was
the first presidential inauguration to be broadcast. Using the latest
technology, RCA and Bell Telephone aired the ceremonies over a
makeshift network of radio stations. The New York Times estimated that
more than 25 million Americans would be able to hear the president's
address, thus making it a national event in a manner not previously
possible. Twenty-one radio stations, linked in a circuit throughout
the country, broadcast the president's 47-minute inaugural address
from the steps of the U.S. Capitol. This recording was made as an
experiment, not for publication. It features announcers Graham McNamee
on AT&T's Red Network and Major J. Andrew White and Norman Brokenshire
for the RCA/Westinghouse stations. 8. "Tanec pid werbamy/Dance
Under the Willows," a Ukrainian violin solo with cymbaly, bass and
sleigh bells, Pawlo Huemiuk (1926) Pawlo Humeniuk was a renowned
violin player in Ukranian communities before beginning his recording
career with Columbia, for which he made this dance number. He learned
violin in western Ukraine at the age of 6 and enjoyed a busy career
playing concerts, dances and vaudeville theaters. The song is an
excellent example of the ethnic releases that record labels began to
produce in the 1920's for sale to immigrant communities in the United
States. 9. "Singin' the Blues," Frankie Trumbauer and his
Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke (1927) Saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer
and cornetist Bix Beiderbecke created some of the most significant
jazz recordings of the 1920s, works still noted for their beauty and
influence on fellow musicians. Traumbauer and Beiderbecke had worked
together in the orchestras of Jean Goldkette, Adrian Rollini and Paul
Whiteman. For a brief period in 1927, Trumbauer had his own recording
contract with Okeh Records. Together with guitarist Eddie Lang and
other members of the ensemble, Trumbauer and Beiderbecke recorded
"Singin' the blues," which contains one of Beiderbecke's greatest
solos. 10. First official transatlantic telephone
conversation (Jan. 7, 1927) Upon the opening of the transatlantic
telephone circuit for commercial service, W.S. Gifford, president of
the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., called Sir Evelyn P. Murray,
secretary of the General Post Office of Great Britain, offering
felicitations. 11. "El Manisero" ("The Peanut Vendor"), Rita
Montaner, vocal with orchestra (1927); "El Manisero," Don Azpiazu and
his orchestra (1930) Popular Cuban singer and radio artist Rita
Montaner recorded the first version of the traditional song "El
Manisero" in Havana in 1927. The Don Azpiazu Orchestra version of "El
Manisero," adapted from Montaner's recording, was made in New York
City three years later. It is the first American recording of an
authentic Latin dance style. This recording launched a decade of
"rumbamania," introducing U.S. listeners to Cuban percussion
instruments and Cuban rhythms. 12. Light's Golden Jubilee
Celebration (Oct. 21, 1929) Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
invention of incandescent light, inventor Thomas Edison was honored at
a dinner Oct. 21, 1929. Portions of the celebration were broadcast
over an NBC radio network. Hosted by announcer Graham McNamee, the
radio program included speeches by President Herbert Hoover, Marie
Curie, Henry Ford and, speaking over shortwave from Berlin, Albert
Einstein. Messages from the Prince of Wales, President Von Hindenberg
and Commander Richard Byrd from the South Pole were read to Edison
during the broadcast. 13. Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Op. 84,
Modesto High School Band (1930) This 1930 recording of the Modesto,
Calif., High School Band is the only known recording made by a high
school band participating in the National High School Band contests
held between 1926 and 1934. Under the direction of Frank Mancini,
Modesto High School placed third in the 1927 and 1928 contests, and
second in 1929. An important educator and conductor who directed band
programs in California area schools, Mancini was a former member of
the bands of John Philip Sousa and Patrick Conway. Limited edition
high school band recordings were once common, produced as fundraising
tools for school bands and treasured as souvenirs by band members.
However, few high school bands were recorded before the advent of tape
recording and long-playing discs inthe late 1940s. 14. "Show
Boat," Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, James Melton and others; Victor
Young, conductor; Louis Alter, piano (1932)
Original cast recordings of hit musicals were not made at the time of
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's landmark 1927 show, "Show Boat."
Brunswick Records recorded 10 sides of selections from the musical in
1932 and issued them as an album set. The most notable performances on
the set are those of Helen Morgan, the original "Julie" in the
musical, and Paul Robeson, who played "Joe" in the London cast. The
set also includes discs of the musical's overture and finale, making
it as close to an original cast album as one may encounter from this
period. 15. "Wabash Cannonball," Roy Acuff (1936) Fiddler and
vocalist Roy Acuff's "Wabash Cannonball" was first recorded in 1936,
featuring the vocals of Sam "Dynamite" Hatcher of Acuff's band, the
Crazy Tennesseans. Acuff later changed the band's name to the Smoky
Mountain Boys while continuing to make himself well known through
motion picture appearances, recordings and personal tours. He first
appeared in 1938 as a regular on the Grand Ole Opry and was its top
star by 1942. "Wabash Cannonball" was recorded again by Acuff, this
time with his own vocals, in 1947. Acuff was the first living artist
to be elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1962. 16.
"One o'Clock Jump," Count Basie and his Orchestra (1937) This landmark
of the big band Swing Era first came together as a "head arrangement."
Head arrangements, worked out in rehearsal and committed to memory
rather than written down, gave much freedom to soloists and allowed
the musicians to concentrate on the rhythmic drive for which Kansas
City jazz and the Basie orchestra is noted. The Basie orchestra, like
most Kansas City-style bands, was organized around its rhythm section.
The interplay of brass and reeds on the "One o'Clock Jump" serves as a
backdrop for the unfolding solos of the band's extraordinary players,
including Lester Young, Herschel Evans and Buck Clayton. 17.
Archibald MacLeish's "Fall of the City," Orson Welles, narrator,
Burgess Meredith, Paul Stewart (April 11, 1937) As broadcast on "The
Columbia Workshop," Earle McGill's production of Archibald MacLeish's
chilling vision of a not-so-future war featured Orson Welles as the
narrator. This program brought experimental radio as pioneered by "The
Columbia Workshop" to maturity and profoundly influenced a generation
of creative radio producers and directors. 18. "The Adventures
of Robin Hood" radio broadcast of May 11, 1938 Prior to the release of
its 1938 film, "The Adventures of Robin Hood," Warner Bros. studio
arranged to promote the motion picture by broadcasting portions of its
musical score over its Los Angeles radio station, KFWB. The radio
broadcast included composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold's symphonic
scoring of 10 sequences from the film, with narration by actor Basil
Rathbone. "Robin Hood" is one of Korngold's most respected dramatic
scores, an outstanding example of what he termed "operas without
words." Because commercial recordings of motion picture scores did not
exist in 1938, this unusual film score recording was not published
until 1975. 19. Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight, Clem McCarthy,
announcer (June 22,1938) It is believed that more than 70 million
people, the largest audience to date for a single radio broadcast,
listened to NBC's broadcast of the boxing rematch between American Joe
Louis and German Max Schmeling. From its inception, the fight was
viewed as more than a sports event. The symbolism of an African
American defeating a citizen of the political state that proclaimed
the superiority of the white race was lost on no one. Veteran
announcer Clem McCarthy delivered a blow-by-blow account of the
124-second match to radio audiences from a packed Madison Square
Garden. 20. "John the Revelator," Golden Gate Quartet (1938)
This pioneer Virginia gospel quartet of the 1930s and 1940s had a
profound influence on gospel music, furthering the development of
gospel vocal quartets from the Jubilee-style of the 19th century to
one influenced by 20th century jazz and popular music. Their smooth
Mills Brothers-influenced harmonies, humor and vocal improvisations
brought the quartet large audiences that extended far beyond the
church. 21. "Adagio for Strings," Arturo Toscanini, conductor;
NBC Symphony (1938) "Adagio for Strings," adapted for orchestra by
Samuel Barber from a movement of his 1936 String Quartet No. 1, Op.
11, was created for maestro Arturo Toscanini. It was premiered to a
widely enthusiastic audience on a Nov. 5, 1938, radio broadcast of the
NBC Symphony. Its tense melodic line and taut harmonies have made this
moving composition one of the most popular of all 20th century
classical works. The work is often performed and can be heard in the
scores of many motion pictures and television programs, most notably
"Platoon" and an episode of "Seinfeld." 22. "Command
Performance" show No. 21, Bob Hope, master of ceremonies (July 7,
1942) Although Bob Hope is known for his tireless touring for United
Service Organizations (USO) shows, he also lent his services to other
entertainment projects for the troopsduring World War II, including
"Command Performance." Of the programs broadcast by the Armed Forces
Radio Service * a wartime broadcasting service for the troops *
"Command Performance" consistently attracted the biggest stars of the
day. Hope appeared on the program as master of ceremonies a number of
times, and service personnel reported greatly enjoying his
performances. 23. "Straighten up and Fly Right," Nat "King" Cole
(1943) The King Cole Trio, featuring Nat "King" Cole on piano and
vocals, is one of most respected small-group ensembles in jazz
history. Cole's astonishing technical command of the piano, featuring
a deceptively light touch, influenced many of the greatest piano
virtuosos who followed him, including Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson
and Bill Evans. His vocal solo on this recording introduced audiences
to his beautifully smooth singing, immaculate diction and liquid
style, launching his career as a one of the most popular singers of
the mid-20th century. 24. Allen's Alley segment from "The Fred
Allen Show"(Radio broadcast of Oct. 7, 1945) Starting on Dec.13,
1942, "The Fred Allen Show" featured a segment known as "Allen's
Alley" in which Allen would stroll along a fictitious alley and meet a
colorful cast of characters, including Senator Bloat, Minerva Pious,
Mrs. Pansy Nussbaum and Falstaff Openshaw. One measure of the
continuing influence of the show was Warner Bros.' modeling the
cartoon rooster Foghorn Leghorn on Senator Claghorn, the blustery
Southern politician who was a regular character on "Allen's Alley."
The Oct. 7, 1945, broadcast marked the debut of the Senator Claghorn
character. 25. "Jole Blon," Harry Choates (1946) "Jole Blon," by
fiddler Harry Choates, is credited with introducing Cajun music to a
national audience and making that genre a significant component of
country music. Choates is known to many as the "Godfather of Cajun
Music" and "Fiddle King of Cajun Swing." "Jole Blon," recorded for the
Gold Star label, quickly became a country charts hit, the first Cajun
song to make the top 10. 26. "Tubby the Tuba," Paul Tripp
(words) and George Kleinsinger (music) (1946) The charming musical
story of Tubby introduces children to the sounds and roles of
orchestra instruments and is one of the most enduring children's
recordings ever made. The work was first recorded in 1946, featuring
the narration of character actor Victor Jory. "Tubby" has since been
recorded in many different forms. 27. "Move on up a Little
Higher," Mahalia Jackson (1948) This recording was gospel singer
Mahalia Jackson's breakthrough disc, a best-seller that appealed
equally to black and white audiences and reputedly became the
best-selling gospel release to date. Jackson blends the vocal styles
of blues singers, such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, with the
heartfelt emotion and commitment common to traditional gospel singing.
She helped to make gospel music popular with racially diverse
audiences of all religions. 28. "Anthology of American Folk
Music," edited by Harry Smith (1952) The "Harry Smith Anthology,"
compiled for Folkways Records from obscure, commercially released
78-rpm discs originally recorded between 1926 and 1934, brought a
variety of neglected and virtually forgotten genres of American music
to the public's attention. The anthology was drawn from the personal
record collection of the independent filmmaker and record collector
Harry Smith, who also annotated and illustrated the set. It includes
country blues, hillbilly tunes, Cajun social music, Appalachian murder
ballads and other genres of American music rarely heard on record in
the early 1950s. The LP set was widely influential and played a
seminal role in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. 29.
"Schooner Bradley," performed by Pat Bonner (1952-60).
Representative of the Ivan Walton Collection, Bentley Library,
University of Michigan. In the 1930s, Great Lakes folklorist Ivan
Walton collected songs and music in the northern part of Michigan's
Lower Peninsula in an effort to save the music of Great Lakes sailors.
This recording by fiddler Pat Bonner reflects and preserves [AS1] a
fading tradition tied to maritime life at the end of the schooner era.
30. "Damnation of Faust," Boston Symphony Orchestra with the
Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society (1954) Recorded in
Boston's Symphony Hall on Feb. 21 and 22, 1954, this "live"
performance of Berlioz's "dramatic legend" was recorded through a
single condenser microphone suspended 17 feet above the conductor's
podium, with one auxiliary microphone enlisted occasionally to
strengthen the chorus. Conductor Charles Munch, considered one of the
great interpreters of Berlioz, leads the Boston orchestra with
assistance from G. Wallace Woodworth directing the Harvard Glee Club
and Radcliffe Choral Society. Soloists include Suzanne Danco, David
Poleri, Martial Singher and Donald Gramm. 31. "Blueberry Hill,"
Fats Domino (1956) Domino's relaxed-tempo, R&B version of "Blueberry
Hill" was inspired by Louis Armstrong's rendition of the 1940
composition. The singer's New Orleans roots are evident in the Creole
inflected cadences that add richness and depth to the performance.
Recorded in Los Angeles for Imperial records, Domino insisted on
performing the song despite the reservations of the producer of the
session. The wisdom of this choice is borne out by the enduring
association of the song with Domino, despite a number other
popularrenditions. 32. "Variations for Orchestra,"
representative of the Louisville Orchestra First Edition Recordings
series, Louisville Orchestra (1956) "Variations for Orchestra"
by Elliot Carter is one of many works commissioned by the Louisville
Orchestra under its Rockefeller Foundation-funded program to
commission, premiere and record 20th century classical music.
Premiering on April 21, 1956, with Robert S. Whitney conducting,
"Variations for Orchestra" was recorded the next month. From 1954
through 1959, the Louisville Orchestra commissioned and performed 116
works from 101 composers, issuing 125 long-playing discs on its First
Edition Recordings label, the first recording label owned by an
American orchestra. 33. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," Jerry
Lee Lewis (1957) Jerry Lee Lewis' second release for Sun Records
included this lively number that jettisoned the performer to
international popularity. A reworking of an R&B single penned by Roy
Hall (aka Sunny David) and Dave Williams, Lewis radically altered the
original, adding a propulsive boogie piano that was perfectly
complemented by the drive of J.M. Van Eaton's energetic drumming. The
listeners to the recording, like Lewis himself, had a hard time
remaining seated during the performance. 34. "That'll Be the
Day," Buddy Holly (1957) Buddy Holly had actually recorded an earlier
version of this song with a more country-and-western feel than the hit
version that Brunswick records released. In an era when performers
were not necessarily songwriters, Buddy Holly and the Crickets wrote
most of their own material, including this number. 35. "Poeme
Electronique," Edgard Varese (1958) Described by composer Joel
Chadabe as "the ultimate statement of tape music as mastic concrete,"
this work premiered in the Philips pavilion designed by famed
architect Le Corbusier for the 1958 Brussels Exposition. The work
incorporated innumerable recorded sounds * voices, sirens, bells, tone
generators * that were all heard by visitors to the pavilion from 425
loudspeakers positioned throughout the hall. The speakers allowed the
sound to be moved through the space in interesting patterns that
clashed with or complemented an array of projected images. The
Columbia release (ML 5148) used the actual tapes that Edgard Varese
employed in the original performance. 36. "Time Out," The Dave
Brubeck Quartet (1959) Spawned by the "Cool Jazz" movement, "Time Out"
is an album both accessible and musically and rhythmically
sophisticated. "Take Five,"composed by the Quartet's saxophonist Paul
Desmond, has an unforgettable melody but is written in 5/4 time.
"BlueRondo a la Turk," which Brubeck claimed to be inspired by Turkish
music he heard while on tour, is in the challenging 9/8 meter, but a
generation of listeners would instantly recognize it. 37. Studs
Terkel interview with James Baldwin, representative of the Studs
Turkel Collection at the Chicago Historical Society, (Sept. 29, 1962)
From 1952 to 1997, Studs Terkel hosted a radio program featuring
interviews with a broad variety of performing artists, writers, poets,
playwrights, historians, political commentators, activists and people
who in other circumstances might be termed average Americans. He has
long been recognized as an outstanding interviewer and practitioner of
oral history. His skills extend beyond getting others to talk candidly
about themselves to producing revealing interchanges that illuminate
and inform about creativity, commitment and life in the United States.
38. William Faulkner address at West Point Military Academy
(1962) Three months before his death, in one of his last public
appearances, William Faulkner spent two days as a guest lecturer at
West Point, where he read from his novel "The Reivers" and
participated in a question-and-answer session with the press and
public. Recorded and transcribed by two English professors at the
Academy, Joseph L. Fant III and Robert Ashley, Faulkner is extremely
candid, lucid and generous. Among the subjects he discusses are
Hemingway, Dreiser, race relations and the future of the South and the
purpose of literature. 39. "Dancing in the Street," Martha and
the Vandellas (1964) This rousing dance hit has been cited as one of
the first examples of what would come to be known as the Motown sound.
Written by Marvin Gay, William Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter, the song
was turned down by another Motown act before Martha and the Vandellas
performed it in the Motown studios. The group, which consisted of
Martha Reeves, Rosalyn Ashford and Annette Beard, had alternated
between singing backup for other Motown acts and working on their own
material, but, after the success of this song, their career as a
backup group was definitively ended. The African-American community
would come to infuse the tune with political sentiments. 40.
"Live at the Regal," B.B. King (1965) Bluesman B.B. King recorded this
album at the Regal Theater in Chicago in 1964. The recording showcases
King's inventive and emotional guitar style, which blends Delta blues
with a rhythm and blues beat, spiking the combination with his
"sliding note" style. The album, one of the first of an in-concert
blues performance, documents King's intimate relationship with his
audience. King, who has been called "The King of the Blues" and the
"best blues artist of his generation," has been a primary influence on
a number of artists, including Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Mike
Bloomfield. 41. "Are You Experienced?" Jimi Hendrix Exerience
(1967) This 1967 release remains not only one of the quintessential
statements of psychedelic rock but also has proved to be one of the
most groundbreaking guitar albums of the rock era. Hendrix's playing,
while strongly rooted in the blues, also incorporated a variety of
jazz influences and a uniquely personal vocabulary of emotive guitar
feedback and extended solos. Including such classics as "Purple Haze,"
"Hey Joe" and "The Wind Cries Mary," the album featured the able
rhythm section of Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. It
is difficult to overstate the enormous influence that Hendrix's
recordings have had on subsequent guitarists. 42. "We're Only
in It for the Money," Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1968)
Frank Zappa's inventive and iconoclastic album presents a unique
political stance, both anti-conservative and anti-counterculture, and
features a scathing satire on hippiedom and America's reactions to it.
The album art is a brilliant parody of the Beatles' sleeve design for
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Zappa's radical audio editing
and production techniques produced an eclectic blend of electronic,
avant-garde and rock music that was influenced by composers such as
Varese and Stravinsky, with pop melodies, virtuoso instrumental
performances, verbal asides and sound effects that segue into a
cohesive work. The result is an electronic sound collage that may be
Zappa's definitive musical statement on America in the 1960s. 43.
"Switched-On Bach," Wendy Carlos (1968) This meticulously recorded
album introduced the Moog synthesizer to a much wider audience than it
had previously reached. Many of the separate synthesizer voices on the
album were recorded to tape individually and carefully mixed to create
the final product. After the recording, Bob Moog's musical circuitry
enjoyed an enormous boom. Within a decade the synthesizer was well
established in the idioms of rock music, dance music and Western art
music. Wendy Carlos went on to record several more well-crafted Bach
recordings. 44. "Oh Happy Day," Edwin Hawkins Singers (1969)
Regarded as the springboard for the development of contemporary gospel
music, "Oh Happy Day" was based on a 19th century white hymn. Its
popular music and jazz-influenced harmonies, infectious rhythms and
use of instruments not often found on earlier gospel recordings have
made the recording enduringly popular and influential. Originally
recorded on a long-playing album, "Let Us Go into the House of the
Lord," as a fund-raising effort for the Northern California State
Youth Choir by director Edwin Hawkins, its compelling, exhilarating
sound found its way onto radio playlists in San Francisco. Re-recorded
under the name "Edwin Hawkins Singers," the song became an
international crossover hit. 45. "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand
Me the Pliers," Firesign Theatre (1970) Firesign Theatre, the Los
Angeles-based comedy group, started on radio station KPFK in 1966 and
began producing comedy records in 1968. "Don't crush that dwarf" was
recorded in 1970, utilizing many sophisticated production techniques
for the first time on a comedy album, including 16-track recording and
Dolby noise reduction. The technology, enlisted in service of the
ensemble's creativity, enabled the use of surreal sound effects and
layered storytelling to create an album of far more than individual
comedy sketches. "Dwarf "is a one-act play that satirizes radio and
television programs to comment on political, social and literary
topics of its day, remaining funny decades later. 46. "The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Gil Scott-Heron (1970) This poem,
first released on Gil Scott-Heron's first album, "Small Talk at 125th
and Lenox," served as a rallying cry to black America and proved a
foreshadowing of the more politically active strains of rap music.
Having published a novel before he switched to a career as a recording
artist, Scott-Heron's street poetry proved uncompromising in its
vision. Flutist Hubert Laws accompanied Scott-Heron's spoken and sung
pieces. 47. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Nitty Gritty Dirt
Band (1972) For "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," the Nitty Gritty Dirt
Band, previously known for their country-rock and jug band music,
brought together a stellar group of musical giants of country music
for an unprecedented collaboration. The recordings, made in Nashville,
showcased traditional songs and country music classics with guest
performances by Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, Jimmy Martin, Maybelle Carter,
Merle Travis and Earl Scruggs. The resulting three-LP set introduced
acoustic country music to a new generation of audiences and revived
the careers of several of the guest performers. 48. The old fog
horn, Kewaunee, Wis., recorded by James A. Lipsky (1972) In the late
19th century, Kewaunee, Wis., one of the great maritime ports of the
northern Great Lakes, sought to challenge Chicago as Lake Michigan's
supreme port city. Its car ferry and rail loading tracks were
constructed in 1891 within a vast program of harbor improvements
toward this goal. The port's original fog signal was removed in 1981
when an automated signal was installed. Improved rail connections to
other cities led to the ultimate decline of the port; Kewaunee's
aspirations were short lived. This recording preserves lost sounds of
the once bustling northern lake port. 49. "Songs in the Key of
Life," Stevie Wonder (1976) In addition to Stevie Wonder's impeccable
musicianship, this album features contributions from Nathan Watts
(bass), Raymond Pounds (drums), Greg Phillinganes (keyboards), Ben
Bridges and Mike Sembello (guitar) and a guest appearance by jazz
pianist Herbie Hancock. To produce the album, Wonder and the group
worked in the studio relentlessly for two years, occasionally logging
sessions of 48 hours straight. These efforts paid off with a number of
excellent jazz, blues and gospel-influenced songs, including "I Wish"
and "Pastime Paradise." The album also includes the Duke Ellington
tribute "Sir Duke," in which Wonder acknowledges his debt to the
African-American musical tradition. 50. "Daydream Nation,"
Sonic Youth (1988) Pioneer members of New York City's clangorous early
1980s New Wave scene, Sonic Youth are renowned for a glorious form of
noise-based chaos. Guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo had
previously performed with Glen Branca's large guitar ensembles, and
their alternative guitar tunings and ringing harmonies attest to this
apprenticeship. On "Daydream Nation," their third album, the group's
forays into outright noise always return to melodic songs that employ
hypnotic arpeggios, driving punk rock rhythmic figures and furious
gales of guitar-based noise. Bassist Kim Gordon's haunting vocals and
edgy lyrics add additional depth to the numbers she sings.
Steve Leggett, Program Coordinator
National Film Preservation Board
National Recording Preservation Board
Library of Congress (4690)
MBRS Division
Washington, D.C. 20540
p: 202/707-5912
f: 202/707-2371
email: sleg@xxxxxxx
WWW: http://www.loc.gov/film/
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/Also visit the Web site of our
charitable
affiliate, the National Film Preservation
Foundation at
http://www.filmpreservation.org"It is amazing what can be accomplished
when no
one cares who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman