African Americans At the Birth of the Recording Industry – November 5
The first thirty years of the commercial recording industry (1890–1919) was a period in which African American music and culture was evolving dramatically. From the sudden emergence of ragtime and its evolution into jazz, to the development of a vibrant black high culture scene, African American sensibilities were beginning to insinuate themselves into mainstream America, leading to an explosion of black music and art in the 1920s. However the period prior to 1920 has been little studied, especially the sound recordings made by African Americans during this formative era.
In his multi-award-winning book, Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890–1919, Tim Brooks was the first to document this subject, and the companion CD, Lost Sounds, won a Grammy award in 2007. In this presentation, Brooks, past president of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, will examine rarely heard recordings dating from the 1890s to 1919. Among the audio pioneers who committed their music and voices to cylinders and discs in these years were Broadway star Bert Williams, “St. Louis Blues” composer W.C. Handy, jazz pioneers James Reese Europe, Wilbur Sweatman, and Eubie Blake, boxer Jack Johnson, and many others. Despite towering racial barriers and rampant discrimination, these pioneers made black voices heard, laying the groundwork for a profound change in American culture in the years to come.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
College of William and Mary
Tucker Hall, 350 James Blair Dr, Williamsburg, VA 23185
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