Martin Bookspan interviews musician, composer, and educator Michael Colagrass. Colagrass speaks about his studies at the University of Illinois; about his musical career in Chicago where his first professional experiences were as a jazz drummer; about his eleven years career as a free-lance percussionist in New York City; and about switching him career of jazz musician to career of classical music composer. He talks about both of his backgrounds, jazz and classical music, that influenced his works. The composer discusses in detail each of the following works, excerpts of which are then played during the interview: Light spirit (for flute, viola, guitar, and percussion, 2 players) (1963), Rhapsodic fantasy (for percussion soloist and orchestra) (1965), The earth's a baked apple (written for a teen-age chorus, words by the composer) (1968), New people (seven songs for mezzo soprano, viola and piano, words by the composer) (1969).
Content types:
Sounds
Extent:
1 recording
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
A formerVice President of JWT, the majority of the collection focuses on JWT through short company histories and the establishment and growth of departments such as Broadcast and Radio. Also of interest is the Oral Interview Series.
Repository/Collector:
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History
The collection consists of materials related to radio stations and television stations in the United States and Mexico, 1930-2005. Materials include program guides, radio playlists, station newsletters, promotional materials, newspaper and magazine articles, station-produced publications, correspondence, press releases, and about 56 press release photographs from KBBQ in Burbank, Calif. Some KBBQ photographs depict country music recording artists, including Lynn Anderson, Eddy Arnold, Glen Campbell, Jimmy Dean, Merle Haggard, Lee Hazlewood, Ferlin Husky, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Lindsey, Roger Miller, Buck Owens, Ray Price, Jeannie C. Riley, Tex Ritter, Nancy Sinatra, Hank Thompson, Sheb Wooley, and Tammy Wynette; Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohn; and actor Andy Griffith. Station publications include about 150 issues of Stand By! from WLS in Chicago, Ill., from the 1930s and 1940s. There is also material relating to the Southern Baptists Radio-Television Commission.
Content types:
Sounds and Other
Formats:
Cylinder, Disc (Commercial, Homemade, Transcription), Reel-to-reel, 8-Track, Audiocassette, Film, Videotape, and Digital tape (DAT, DCC)
Extent:
There are 1900 items in the Radio and Television collection, but not all are recordings. There are also recordings housed outside the radio and television collection.
The 3608 Toscanini recordings include test pressings of Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in concerts, as well as NBC broadcasts of operas, festival performances, sacred music and more, including rehearsals; for many of these, the location and date of the recording is given and in some cases additional information such as names of performers. Broadcasts took place in the 1930s and 40s.
Content types:
Sounds and Other
Formats:
Disc (Commercial, Homemade, Transcription) and Reel-to-reel
Extent:
3608 recordings (747 tapes, unknown number of lacquer discs)
These tapes of WAER broadcasts primarily hold topical broadcasts and live concert recordings. Few of the tapes are dated, but those that are cover a span from 1965 to 1979. Announcers or presenters are rarely identified. The news items include a mix of national and local productions, but there are relatively few in the collection compared to the concert recordings. Many concerts were given by popular artists such as Pink Floyd, Bonnie Raitt, Canned Heat, Niels Lofgren, and Commander Cody, taken from national broadcasts, mostly originating from New York City or Boston. The collection contains recordings of only a handful of concerts broadcast by Syracuse University student ensembles. 25 tapes are identified as having been recorded on-campus at the Jabberwocky Café; surviving performances from this intimate venue include those given by John Fahey, Taj Mahal, and David Bromberg.
Consisting of recordings dubbed from WSYR radio broadcasts between 1939 and 1957, the collection largely consists of news broadcasts and speeches. Many important events and public figures of the era are recorded on these broadcasts.
Content types:
Sounds
Formats:
Disc (Commercial, Homemade, Transcription) and Reel-to-reel
Extent:
10 linear feet of material, primarily 78 and 33 RPM instantaneous disc recordings, along with 176 reel to reel tapes.