Spreadin' Rhythm Around
Black Popular Songwriters, 1880-1930
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- $82.99
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- $82.99
Publisher Description
Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters,1880-1930 is a classic work on a little-studied subject in American music history: the contribution of African-American songwriters to the world of popular song. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "thoroughly researched and entertainingly written," this work documents the careers of songwriters like James A. Bland ("Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny"), Bert Williams ("Nobody"), W. C. Handy ("St. Louis Blues"), Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake ("I'm Just Wild About Harry"), and many more. Richly illustrated with rare photographs from sheet music, newspapers, and other unique sources, the book documents an entire era of performance when black singers, dancers, and actors were active on the New York stage.
In sheer depth of research, new information, and full coverage, Spreadin' Rhythm Around offers a comprehensive picture of the contributions of black musicians to American popular song. For anyone interested in the history of jazz, pop song, or Broadway, this book will be a revelation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The great, unsung African American songwriters who struggled and thrived between Reconstruction and the Depression take a bow in this lively survey. The writers (Jasen is author of Recorded Ragtime, 1897-1958; Jones is an actor and sheet music collector) show that although early stars like James A. Bland, Gussie L. Davis and Irving Jones worked in existing 19th-century genres (minstrel songs, tearjerkers and so-called coon songs), innovators of the teens and 1920s--among them Chris Smith, Shelton Brooks, W.C. Handy, Eubie Blake and Fats Waller--transformed American popular music with their creative approaches to rag, blues and jazz. Jason and Jones also demonstrate that in a field dominated by whites, black songwriters of the time depended on their own versatility in order to survive; most were performers as well as songwriters, and many were skilled entrepreneurs, impresarios and promoters (for example, record executive J. Mayo Williams, music publishers Shep Edmonds and Cecil Mack, and band and orchestra organizer James Reese Europe). Thoroughly researched and entertainingly written, the book is an impressive tribute to dozens of remarkable careers. Photos. Editor, Richard Carlin.
