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More Important Than the Music
Bruce D. Epperson
€ 67.85
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Description for More Important Than the Music
Hardback. Today, jazz is considered high art, America's national music, and the catalog of its recordings - its discography - is often taken for granted. This book examines recorded jazz from its careless handling as a novelty in the 1920s, through the deluge of 12-inch vinyl in the twentieth century, to the use of computers by today's discographers. Num Pages: 304 pages, 11 halftones. BIC Classification: 1KBB; AVGJ; AVX. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 164 x 236 x 25. Weight in Grams: 550.
Today, jazz is considered high art, America's national music, and the catalog of its recordings-its discography-is often taken for granted. But behind jazz discography is a fraught and highly colorful history of research, fanaticism, and the simple desire to know who played what, where, and when. This history gets its first full-length treatment in Bruce D. Epperson's More Important Than the Music. Following the dedicated few who sought to keep jazz's legacy organized, Epperson tells a fascinating story of archival pursuit in the face of negligence and deception, a tale that saw curses and threats regularly employed, with fisticuffs and lawsuits only slightly rarer. Epperson examines recorded jazz from its careless handling as a novelty in the 1920s and '30s, through the deluge of 12-inch vinyl in the middle of the twentieth century, to the use of computers by today's discographers. Though he focuses much of his attention on comprehensive discographies, he also examines the development of a variety of related listings, such as buyer's guides and library catalogs, and he closes with a look toward discography's future. From the little black book to the full-featured online database, More Important Than the Music offers a history not just of jazz discography but of the profoundly human desire to preserve history itself.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2013
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press United States
Number of pages
304
Condition
New
Number of Pages
304
Place of Publication
, United States
ISBN
9780226067537
SKU
V9780226067537
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Bruce D. Epperson
Bruce D. Epperson is an attorney and independent scholar and member of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. He is the author of Peddling Bicycles to America: The Rise of an Industry. He lives in Miami.
Reviews for More Important Than the Music
"On the surface, More Important Than the Music is an esoteric book, but Bruce D. Epperson has successfully managed to breathe life into the subject, weaving a story that opens up the field to a broader base of interest. He deals in fine detail with the origins and development of jazz discography, providing fascinating personal background on the major figures as well as addressing foundational issues such as plagiarism. A major contribution to jazz studies." (Eric Charry, Wesleyan University)"