360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story, The Oxford Companion to Jazz/Popular Music

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Oxford Companion to Popular Music 內稍有Jazz 相關題材

The Oxford Companion to Jazz

Edited by Bill Kirchner

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ISBN13: 9780195183597ISBN10: 0195183592 Paperback, 864 pages

May 2005,  In Stock

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Named one of the Top Ten Jazz History Books by Jazz Times Magazine

Selected by Jazziz as one of the top 20 jazz books published in the last 20 years

Named as Best Book on Jazz of 2001 by the Jazz Journalists Association

Description

Jazz and its colorful, expansive history resonate in this unique collection of 60 essays specially-commissioned from today's top jazz performers, writers, and scholars. Contributors include such jazz insiders as Bill Crow, Samuel A. Floyd Jr., Ted Gioia, Gene Lees, Dan Morgenstern, Gunther Schuller, Richard M. Sudhalter, and Patricia Willard. Both a reference book and an engaging read, the Companion surveys the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and Europe until the present. Along the way, each distinctive style and period is profiled by an expert in the field. Whether your preference is ragtime, the blues, bebop, or fusion, you will find the chief characteristics and memorable performances illuminated here with a thoroughness found in no other single-volume jazz reference.

The Oxford Companion to Jazz features individual biographies of the most memorable characters of this relatively young art form. Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and the divas of jazz song--Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan--come to life in thoughtful considerations of their influences, often turbulent personal lives, and signature styles. In addition, this book looks at the impact of jazz on American culture-in literature, film, television, and dance-and explores the essential instruments of jazz and their most memorable players.

The Oxford Companion to Jazz will provide a quick reference source as well as a dynamic and broad overview for all lovers of jazz, from novices to aficionados.

Reviews

"Despite the wide range, the focus is clear--the unique American sound of jazz and those giants most closely associated with its creation and production."--Jeff Waggoner, The New York Times Book Review
"This book contains a collection of some of the very best writing available concerning jazz."--Lee Bash, Jazz Educators Journal
"A milestone among publications dedicated to jazz."--Francesco Martinelli, Musica Jazz (Italy)
"More than a treatise on jazz, this book is a compilation of articles on all phases of the music, contributed by musicians and professional writers who speak for the art firsthand. Highly recommended for everyone interested in jazz."--the late Benny Carter

Product Details

864 pages; 62 halftones; 7 x 10; ISBN13: 978-0-19-518359-7ISBN10: 0-19-518359-2

About the Author(s)

Bill Kirchner is a composer-arranger, saxophonist, jazz historian, record and radio producer, educator, and leader of the Bill Kirchner Nonet. He has won both Grammy and NAIRD Indie awards, and he teaches jazz composition and jazz history at the New School University, the Manhattan School of Music, and New Jersey City University.

流行音樂史上最金光閃閃的寶藏

BEN SISARIO 報道 2013年02月16日

最近關於唱片業的頭條新聞基本不是什麼好消息：銷量下降，失業率上升。到底有多少人非法下載凱蒂·佩里(Katy Perry)的最新專輯就更別提了。
但是哥倫比亞唱片公司(Columbia Records)為慶祝公司成立125周年這個重要的日子，還是決定採取積極戰略，着重宣傳公司及旗下藝人鮑勃·迪倫(Bob Dylan)、芭芭拉·史翠珊(Barbra Streisand)、約翰尼·卡什(Johnny Cash)、萊昂納德·伯恩斯坦(Leonard Bernstein)、比莉·哈樂黛(Billie Holiday)以及艾爾·喬爾森(Al Jolson)等人的深遠影響——哥倫比亞公司還擁有眾多巨星，這些名字只不過是其中的幾個。

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Jim Marshall Photography

詹妮斯·喬普林在1969年。

公司拋出的王牌是由普林斯頓大學歷史學家西恩·韋倫茲(Sean Wilentz)所著的《全方位聲音：哥倫比亞唱片公司的故事》(360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story)，本周（11月初——譯註）將由編年史圖書出版社(Chronicle Books)發行。相關展覽於11月7日在洛杉磯格萊美博物館(Grammy Museum)舉行。
韋倫茲先生著有《美國民主的崛起：從傑斐遜到林肯》(The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln)和《鮑勃·迪倫在美國》(Bob Dylan in America)等書。兩年前，先是迪倫的經紀人傑夫·羅森(Jeff Rosen)和他接觸，後來他又同哥倫比亞公司的高管們見了面，他們希望由一位行業外的人士為公司撰寫一本嚴肅認真的評定，字數在相對適中的3萬字左右。
“他們希望由一位歷史學家把哥倫比亞公司的故事放在美國社會與文化史的綜合背景下講述，”韋倫茲先生最近說。而他提出的條件是自己對編輯工作有絕對的掌控權，據他自己說，這個條件得到了哥倫比亞的批准。
哥倫比亞公司主席羅伯·斯汀格(Rob Stringer)說，和韋倫茲先生會面後，他就對這本書心中有數了。“他對我們的廠牌滿懷敬意，”斯汀格先生說。
一個3萬字，又是一個3萬字被寫下來了。到最後，《全方位聲音》長達300頁，大約有9萬字，這個篇幅剛好可以生動地寫到哥倫比亞公司歷史上幾乎每 一個重要人物，同時還留出足夠的空間，可以收錄幾百幅有趣的資料照片。韋倫茲先生說這本書是 “最博學的休閑讀物”——也許他真應該再強調一點：書里有至少15張迪倫的照片和13張布魯斯·斯普林斯汀(Bruce Springsteen)的照片。
這本書的豪華版還附贈《傳奇與遺產》(Legends and Legacy)——由評論家戴夫·馬什撰寫的一本書，同時配有閃存，裡面收錄了他精選的263首哥倫比亞公司及其附屬廠牌出品的歌曲，從1895年約翰· 菲利普·索薩(John Philip Sousa)的《華盛頓郵報進行曲》(Washington Post March)直到2011年阿黛爾(Adele)的《內心翻滾》(Rolling in the Deep)。
《全方位聲音》這個書名來自於哥倫比亞公司20世紀60年代的一句商業口號，在書中，韋倫茲先生如數家珍地講述了哥倫比亞公司旗下招牌藝術家們的故 事，還寫了那些慧眼識珠的幕後人員的故事。其中最著名的就是約翰·哈蒙德(John Hammond)，長達半個世紀以來，他一直擔任星探角色，為公司帶來了哈樂黛、貝西·史密斯(Bessie Smith)、本尼·古德曼(Benny Goodman)、迪倫、阿瑞莎·富蘭克林(Aretha Franklin)、斯普林斯汀，還有20世紀80年代的布魯斯吉他手史蒂夫·瑞·沃恩(Stevie Ray Vaughan)。
“寫這本書的時候我聽了很多音樂，” 韋倫茲先生在上西區吃午餐時接受了採訪。他點了一份三明治，結果將近一個鐘頭的時間裡都把它忘在一邊。“我寫安德魯·傑克遜(Andrew Jackson)的時候可不會聽那麼多音樂，”接着他又補充說，“啊，書名可能叫《新奧爾良戰役》。”
哥倫比亞公司的歷史同更廣泛的音樂工業史密不可分，這本書對音樂工業早期發展史的追溯是全書最引人入勝的部分之一。對細節一絲不苟的人認為，哥倫比 亞留聲機公司(Columbia Phonograph Company)是於1889年創立的，但它的前身可以追溯到兩年前成立的美國格拉福風留聲機公司(American Graphophone Company)。哥倫比亞公司現在隸屬於索尼音樂娛樂公司(Sony Music Entertainment)。
書中提到的一些20世紀初的藝術家並不為人熟知——伯特·威廉姆( Bert Williams)和喬治·華盛頓·約翰遜(George Washington Johnson)是什麼人？而當年音樂工業興起之初所面臨的技術和法律困境與如今的情況驚人地相似：專利紛爭，無休止的訴訟、廠牌與廣播網絡之間的爭鬥， 乃至新時代新技術的啟動。
當時，哥倫比亞公司在幾項重要技術發展中起到了核心作用，比如1948年發明的可長時間播放的33 1/3轉唱片。公司推出完整長度唱片(LP)的傳統至少吸引了這位重要藝人——芭芭拉·史翠珊。她長期以來的經紀人馬蒂·恩里克曼(Marty Erlichman)告訴韋倫茲先生說，1962年，國會唱片公司(Capitol Records)曾向史翠珊提供條件更為優渥的合同，但她還是去了哥倫比亞公司，部分原因就是因為他們堅持採用這種形式的唱片。
“他們並不固守推出一首金曲作為單曲的成規，”書中引用了恩里克曼先生的話，“他們是發行專輯的公司。”
也許不是故意的，但《全方位聲音》也記錄了音樂工業內一些不那麼光榮的特質。比如說，書中選入了“飛鳥”(Byrds)樂隊在20世紀60年代中期 走過美洲大道那張著名的照片，編輯用了修改過的版本，樂隊成員們手中的香煙被去掉了。哥倫比亞125周年慶典的一位發言人說，經過了這麼多年，照片被修改 可能是出於各種原因，選照片的編輯是無心的，不是出於新聞審查的目的。
韋倫茲先生說，自己沒有參與挑選照片的工作。對於他來說，更大的問題是，音樂工業內如今充滿着喧囂混亂，一位歷史學家該怎樣處理這樣一個題材？“我承認自己疑惑過：我究竟是在寫一本書還是在寫一篇訃文？”他說。
哥倫比亞公司如今處在業界的制高點，市場佔有率達到8.6%，位居全球第一。這在很大程度上要歸功於阿黛爾的專輯《21》所取得的成功，哥倫比亞公 司和阿黛爾所屬的廠牌“英國獨立XL”(British independent XL)達成協議，取得了專輯在美國的發行權。
在這125年的歷史中，哥倫比亞公司有好多次瀕臨倒閉，與技術的鬥爭也一直貫穿在唱片業的歷史中。韋倫茲很清楚。他說，自己很不願意把哥倫比亞公司寫死。
“唱片業本來早就應該死過無數次了，”他說，“它有可能因為收音機的出現而死，它有可能因為自動點唱機的出現而死，可是它始終不死。因為他們一直在技術和商業層面上不斷做出改變。我不願意在書中宣告他們徹底沒希望了。”
不過，如果不是因為哥倫比亞公司最近在音樂排行榜有上佳表現，他可能也不會面臨這個選擇。
“我們覺得公司的業績足夠好，所以這本書也不會慘淡收場的，”斯汀格先生說。
“如果排行榜上沒有我們的唱片，”他補充說，“我可不確定我們還會請人來寫這本書。”

本文最初發表於2012年10月31日。
翻譯：董楠

From One Mine, the Gold of Pop History

By BEN SISARIO February 16, 2013 

 

In the recorded-music business, most of the recent headline numbers haven’t been good. Sales are down, layoffs are up. Don’t even ask how many people downloaded the latest Katy Perry album illegally.
But for a project by Columbia Records in celebration of its own big number — 125 years in business — the label decided to take the high road by focusing on the broad historical influence of the company and its artists, including Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Leonard Bernstein, Billie Holiday and Al Jolson, to name just a few of its giants.

The centerpiece is “360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story,” a book by the Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, which will be published this week by Chronicle Books. A related exhibition at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles opens on Nov. 7.
Mr. Wilentz, whose books include “The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln” and “Bob Dylan in America,” met with Columbia executives two years ago, after first being approached by Mr. Dylan’s manager, Jeff Rosen. They wanted a serious assessment by someone outside the industry, at a relatively modest length of 30,000 words.
“They wanted a historian to tell the story of Columbia in the context of American social and cultural history,” Mr. Wilentz said recently. His condition was complete editorial control, which he said was honored.
Rob Stringer, the label’s chairman, said that after meeting with Mr. Wilentz, he was not worried what kind of book would result. “He was reverential to the label,” Mr. Stringer said.
Thirty thousand words came and went. Published at more than 300 pages — and around 90,000 words — “360 Sound” is just long enough to pass breezily through nearly every important chapter of Columbia’s history, while leaving plenty of room for hundreds of delicious archival photos; Mr. Wilentz describes it as “the most erudite coffee table book.” (Perhaps he could have written even a little more: there are no fewer than 15 pictures of Mr. Dylan and 13 of Bruce Springsteen.)
The deluxe version of the book also includes “Legends and Legacy,” a flash drive and accompanying book by the critic Dave Marsh with his selection of 263 tracks from Columbia and its affiliated labels, from John Philip Sousa’s “Washington Post March” (1895) to Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” (2011).
In “360 Sound” — the title was taken from a Columbia slogan in the 1960s — Mr. Wilentz relishes telling the stories of some of Columbia’s signature artists and the visionary executives behind them. The best known of these is John Hammond, whose run as a talent scout lasted half a century and helped bring the label Holiday, Bessie Smith, Benny Goodman, Mr. Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Mr. Springsteen and, in the 1980s, the blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“I listened to a lot of music doing this,” Mr. Wilentz said in a lunch interview on the Upper West Side, after ordering a sandwich that he neglected over most of an hour. “I don’t get to listen to a lot of music when I write about Andrew Jackson,” he added, and appended a footnote, “Well, ‘The Battle of New Orleans,’ maybe.”
Columbia’s history is entangled with that of the larger music industry, and some of the most engaging parts of the book trace the early development of the business. (For sticklers, the Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1889 but dates itself from a predecessor, the American Graphophone Company, which started two years earlier. Columbia is now part of Sony Music Entertainment.)
While some of the artists from the early 20th century are unfamiliar — Bert Williams? George Washington Johnson? — the emerging industry’s technological and legal crises are strikingly similar to the situation in our own time, with patent wars, endless litigation and a struggle between labels and radio networks, the tech start-ups of the era.
Columbia was at the center of several important technological developments, like the long-playing 33 1/3 record, which it introduced in 1948. The LP heritage helped lure at least one marquee act. Marty Erlichman, Ms. Streisand’s longtime manager, told Mr. Wilentz that in 1962 she got a better offer from Capitol Records but went with Columbia, partly because of its attachment to the format.
“They weren’t as dogmatic about having a hit single,” Mr. Erlichman is quoted as saying. “They were an album company.”
Perhaps inadvertently, “360 Sound” also documents some of the less fortunate peculiarities of the music industry. In reprinting a famous photograph of the Byrds walking down Avenue of the Americas in the mid-1960s, for example, the book’s editors used a doctored version that removed the band members’ cigarettes. A spokeswoman for Columbia’s 125th-anniversary project said the shot could have been retouched for any reason over the years and that it was chosen unwittingly, with no intention of censorship.
For Mr. Wilentz — who said he was not involved in photo selection — a bigger issue was how a historian should handle an industry that these days seems to be in constant tumult. “I have to admit that I wondered, am I writing a book or am I writing an obituary?” he said.
Columbia is currently at a business high point, with a market share of 8.6 percent, more than any other label. It owes much of that success to Adele’s album “21,” which Columbia releases in the United States through a deal with Adele’s label, the British independent XL.
Keeping in mind Columbia’s many near-death experiences over its 125 years, and the industry’s history of struggles over technology, Mr. Wilentz said he was reluctant to write Columbia into the grave.
“The recording industry was supposed to have died any number of times,” he said. “It was supposed to die with radio, it was supposed to die with the jukebox, and it never dies. They reason is that they manage to adapt, in technology and in business. I was not willing to write them off completely.”
If Columbia had not been having a good run on the charts lately, though, he might never have had to make the choice.
“We thought that we had enough positive coming out that it would not be a grisly ending,” Mr. Stringer said.
“If we had no record in the charts,” he added, “I’m not sure we would have commissioned it.”