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Mark Gardner
Record company and label. The company was established in 1957 by Doug Dobell (b London, 1918; d Nice, France, 10 July 1987), the owner of a record store in London. The first discs to be released were 10-inch EPs, which were put out in limited quantities. Later the catalogue was expanded to include 12-inch LPs; by the mid-1970s the company had issued more than 50 albums, mostly of traditional and mainstream jazz. The catalogue included recordings made by such English musicians as Tubby Hayes, Bruce Turner, Dick Morrissey, Keith Smith, Kenny Baker, and Tony Coe and items by visiting Americans, among them Bud Freeman, Eddie Miller, Buck Clayton, Albert Nicholas, and George Lewis (i). In 1962 the company sponsored and issued the results of Jack McVea’s first session as a leader in 15 years. Much of the repertory was produced by Dobell, who, as a pianist himself, was responsible for recording albums by Dick Wellstood, Dill Jones, Brian Lemon, Don Ewell, Dick Katz, Joe Turner (i), and Ralph Sutton. In addition 77 issued some albums first put out by Delmark and other small American labels....
Article
(r.p.m. disc)
Generally a shellac disc of 10- or 12-inch diameter, recorded and played back at 78 r.p.m., and having a playing time of three to four minutes per side; see Recording §I 1., (i). The last commercially issued 78 r.p.m. discs from the mid-1950s onwards were often pressed on vinyl rather than shellac....
Article
Jeffrey Melnick
Almost immediately after four hijacked planes crashed on 11 September 2001 conversations started about how the tragedy should be understood in the context of popular culture. Discussions about violence and popular culture also arose, seemingly fed not only by the basic truth that 11 September was a day of terrible carnage but also by the notion that the mode of attack was inextricablae from visual codes developed by Hollywood. During the first weeks after 9/11, numerous commentators insisted that Americans would be shaken out of their consumer habits and refuse to pay to see violent movies: it quickly became clear that music would play a special role as a cultural first responder on this new landscape.
Along with widely-circulated photographs and the New York Times series of impressionistic biographical life stories (“Portraits of Grief”) popular song became the most widely-accepted “authentic” vehicle for commemorating American loss and expressing the grief and confusion that ensued after the attacks. For months and years after 9/11 popular musicians in the United States attempted to provide efficient articulations of American attitudes in the wake of the attacks. Two key television programs in the months following 9/11 capture the general outlines of the cultural industries’ responses to the tragedy. On ...
Article
David Fallows
(It.).
A preposition found particularly in 16th- and 17th-century editions of polyphonic music where works are described as being a due (a 2), a tre (a 3), a dieci (a 10), etc., meaning in two, three or ten voices respectively. Many prints had it with an accent (à 2, etc.), but in modern Italian à is a variant form of ha (‘he has’) so is perhaps better avoided in this context wherever possible. It is the current French form, however, and is found particularly in French orchestral scores, à 2 (à deux) meaning the same as the Italian A due. As one of the commonest words in the Italian language, a occurs in many compound tempo and expression marks and has different meanings that may be found in any Italian dictionary. It appears before a vowel as ad and contracts with the definite article as ...
Article
Gary W. Kennedy
Record company and label. It was established in 1975 by Trevor Watts and John Stevens and released only three recordings, two by the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and one by the group Amalgam.
Article
Robert C. Provine
Obsolete Korean barrel drum considered to be of Chinese origin. As described in the treatise Akhak kwebŏm (1493), the a was a brightly decorated bulging barrel drum with small heads. It was 146.8 cm long with a circumference in the middle of 64.4 cm and a head diameter of 18.1 cm. The player lifted the instrument with both hands by means of two cloth loops tied to metal rings in the middle of the body and then pounded it against the ground.
The a was used only as part of the mumu (‘military dance’) ensemble and only in ritual music (aak). With the sang (drum) and the ŭng and tok (both idiophones) it was played after the regular sounding of the large drum chin′go, that is after every four-note phrase in the very slow melody.
Sŏng Hyŏn, ed.: Akhak kwebŏm [Guide to the study of music] (Seoul, 1493/...Article
Martha Furman Schleifer
(b Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 1843; d Philadelphia, PA, 1918). American pianist, singer, educator, and composer. He studied music with his father Thomas à Becket Sr. (b 17 March 1808; d 6 Jan 1890) and in Philadelphia public schools. The father, a music teacher, actor and composer, wrote Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. In 1855 Thomas à Becket Jr. performed at the Walnut Street Theatre in a work written by his father. He developed into one of the finest, most sought after accompanists in the city, joining with leading artists and singing groups. Member and president of the Mendelssohn Club, he sang in a series of 35 light operas produced at the Amateur Drawing Room (1868–72) and accompanied the Orpheus Club (1877–98). An important educator, from 1873 until he died à Becket taught and played the organ at Girard College, a residential school for orphaned boys. À Becket became a member of a group of professional musicians who evaluated music teaching methods in the Philadelphia Public Schools. À Becket family archives at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts include diaries (...
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‘A Musician’ (Johann Münstermann): portrait by Hermann tom Ring, 1547 (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster)
Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster
Article
David Buckley
American record company. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1962 by the former US army trumpeter Herb Alpert and the promoter-producer Jerry Moss. For its first few years, A&M depended largely on revenues from Alpert’s own recordings. His easy-listening instrumental music recorded with the Tijuana brass had sold over 20 million copies by 1968, when the company’s turnover was $50 million. In 1966 A&M also scored success with Sergio Mendes and the Sandpipers’ single, “Guantanamera.” Moss, however, was keen to broaden the appeal of A&M, and began recording such West Coast artists as Captain Beefheart and Dr John. In 1969 the label opened its first British office and by the early 1970s A&M also signed American recording deals with such artists as Procol Harum, The Move, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Cliff, and Cat Stevens.
By the 1970s A&M were established as the most successful independent record label in the United States. In March 1977 it signed the British punk group the Sex Pistols, but dropped it after six days after complaints from other A&M artists. A&M showed more commitment to the new wave by signing the radio-friendly act The Police. In ...
Article
John R. Gardner
( b London, 1817; d London, Dec 11, 1863). English composer . She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Glossop, a friend of George IV; she married Gilbert Abbott A’Beckett, a magistrate and humorous writer. Apart from a dozen songs and two waltzes for piano, A’Beckett composed three operas: The Young Pretender...
Article
J. Richard Haefer
Suspension rattle of Iñupiat peoples of Alaska and Canada. Several dozen fin-shaped, 2-cm pieces of walrus tusk are sewn on a dancer’s arm wrapping made from a strip of sealskin about 25 to 30 cm long. Around the top of the wrapping is stitched a circle of polar bear fur. Some believe that the sound of the rattle represents the north wind....
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(a) ‘The Mail Arriving at Temple Bar’: engraving, 1834; (b) coach horn (with case) by Köhler & Son, London, c1870 (Spencer Collection, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery)
The Post Office, London
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(a) An hautboist: portrait by an anonymous artist, ?c1750, with (b) detail of reed from the same picture (Stiftelsen Musikkulturens Främjande, Stockholm)
Stiftelsen Musikkulturens Främjande, Stockholm
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(a) Angel with citole: miniature from the Psalter of Robert de Lisle, English, c1310–before 1339 (GB-Lbl Ar.83, f.134v); (b) man playing ?citole: miniature from the Stuttgart Psalter, French, c820 (D-Sl Bibl. fol.23, f.125r)
Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Germany/ Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
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(a) Clay fipple flute, c500 ce (Museo de Tabasco, Villahermosa); (b) clay flute with goitre chamber, c500 ce (Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City); (c) the same in cross-section; (d) clay trumpet in two sections, c500 CE (Museo de Tabasco, Villahermosa)
Photo Irmgard Groth Kimball/from Marti, Pre-Columbian Music. 2nd edition Mexico 1978: Ediciones Euroamericanas...
