Alan Lomax RIP

He was a good guy, RIP Alan Lomax... and thanks for the prison recordings...

http://www.counterpunch.com/marsh0721.html

The American Folklife Center presents a lecture in the 2010 Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series

Alan Lomax — The Man Who Recorded the World: A Bio-Ethnography
John Szwed, John M. Musser Professor of Anthropology, African American Studies, Music, and American Studies at Yale University
May 5, 2010, 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm, Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building, Library of Congress

It seems odd that no biography of Alan Lomax was written before now, especially given that many of the folk music performers whom Lomax discovered have had biographies of their own. True, Lomax was not a well known performer like Pete Seeger. He never held an academic post or a high government position, nor did he receive international or even national awards for his work until the very end of his life. But he was arguably one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century, a man who changed how everyone heard music and even how they viewed America. When he died, newspaper and TV news reporters pointed out that he had been a musicologist, archivist, singer, DJ, filmmaker, photographer, author of 19 books, producer of dozens of radio, TV, video, and concert programs and hundreds of recordings, in addition to being the world’s most famous folklorist. They might have added that he was also an anthropologist, political activist, lobbyist, and in his later years, something of a social theorist in the grand tradition of the nineteenth century.

John F. Szwed (Ph.D., Ohio State 1965) is the John M. Musser Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies, Emeritus at Yale University. His work includes studies of Newfoundland, the Georgia Sea Islands, and Trinidad. From 1969-74, he was the Director of the Center for Urban Ethnography at the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Yale faculty since 1982, Professor Szwed has been Director of Graduate Studies in Anthropology and Acting Chair of African and African-American Studies. His research interests include creolization in the arts, folk music, and film noir. Szwed is also a musician and record producer and is President of Brilliant Corners, a non-profit music production company based in New York City. His recent publications include Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America's Soul (2005); Crossovers: Essays in Race, Music, and American Culture (2005); Doctor Jazz (2005), a book included with Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings with Alan Lomax (2005), for which he was awarded a 2005 Grammy; So What: The Life of Miles Davis (2004); and Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (1998). He is currently Professor of Music and Jazz Studies at Columbia University.

His Sun Ra bio is ace

yeah, this Lomax book should be good -- Szwed is prob the perfect person to wrestle with all the different aspects of the story.

I did a quickie series of e-mail questions with Szwed last night that I am going to post in my local alt-weekly's blog next week. I will re-post here. I asked him about the Dave Marsh allegations.

"dave marsh allegations"?? do tell.

there's this article: http://www.counterpunch.org/marsh0721.html
Marsh has a point, but he makes it annoyingly ... as usual.

i couldn't get past the headline. marsh can suck a big one.

Hint--Szwed does not address every Marsh point in his response but he disagrees. Szwed's book does not come out until December I think.

have just seen the Song Hunter documentary. a beautiful, fascinating and moving film... of course representing only tip of the iceberg that was the man's work.

crazy how he tried to map all the musical styles in the world, according to dozens of criteria... and forming correlations between climate, geography, social codes, and the form of singing which arises out of different conditions.

in Spain he found high pitched nasal voices which was highly constrained, the sound of something that was dying to come out but couldn't... and in more Northern parts he found voices which were freely flowing. and he made connection between this and the fact that in Spain youths could not freely court, and up North it was normal for thme to walk hand in hand into the trees at dusk.

he talks of cultural equity being as important as any other cause such as freedom of speech, etc. and the great injustice of the few voices who could afford transmitters taking over communication routes, and millions of poor voices, which are just as if not more beautiful and amazing, being silenced.

the film touched on the disappearance of lifestyles and songs under the sweeping effects of commercial music industry... shot in many locations around the world, tracing the paths Lomax took back in the 40s and 50s, often with the singers who appeared on his recordings, now very old, remembering his visit and listening to their own voice from half a century ago...

Wow, I've never seen that 2004 film. Interesting premise--The film maker visits Lomax one year prior to his death. He cannot speak with him anymore, because Alan has been brought down by a brain haemorrhage. The filmmaker decides to search for people Lomax recorded
http://lomaxthesonghunter.com/

Wish I could go see Szwed's talk about his Lomax book tomorrow at the Library of Congress tomorrow but no-can-do.

I really should proofread.

Szwed responds via e-mail to Marsh in my q and a

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2010/05/04/tomorrow-john-szwed-discusses-folklorist-alan-lomax-the-man-who-recorded-the-world/

Nicely done, thanks.

Thanks. Here's an old NY Times article on the Gordon & Nemerov book on John Work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/arts/music/02warr.html?_r=1

Mr. Work, the most eminent of the black folklorists, was not merely an acolyte of Mr. Lomax but clearly had ideas of his own.

yeah, nice interview -- looking forward to the book!

Because I did it on short notice, and via e-mail and not phone, I only asked a few questions because I wanted to get responses back from him quickly. If I had more time, I would have asked more questions.

I forwarded my blog post to the Rock and Rap Confidential e-mail address (Dave Marsh's thing) and to Bruce Nemerov who co-wrote the book on John Work. I am guessing those folks may have interesting things to say about the book when it comes out!

it's in one of the Muddy Waters books, I can't remember which, but Muddy talks about how hearing himself on those Lomax recordings is what gave him the confidence to really pursue music ... amazing to think he might've just stayed on the farm otherwise, and we wouldn't have all that great music. for that reason alone, Lomax deserves better than what Marsh gives him.

That's a good point. Although, I need to read the Gordon and Nemerov book on John Work as they supposedly offer some criticism of Lomax but without the vitriol that Marsh employed.

You might be thinking of Robert Gordon's Can't Be Satisfied. The opening chapter describes the recordings he did with Lomax and Work and makes it sound as if Lomax treated Work as his assistant rather than as a collaborator or (perhaps more accurately) the lead researcher on that project.

But the point stands that it was Lomax who showed up with the gear and gave Muddy the chance to hear himself.

yeah, i mean, I don't care that much WHO did it, I'm just glad someone did.

Hello. As received via promo mail:

--

The Association for Cultural Equity has launched an Alan Lomax Archive channel on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlanLomaxArchive

Featuring clips selected from the 400 hours of raw footage shot for
Lomax's "PBS American Patchwork" series, the channel provides an introduction to the diverse cast of musicians, singers, dancers, story-tellers, and one-of-a-kind characters filmed by Alan and crew between 1978 and 1985, as well as an entree into the Video Catalog portion of ACE's Research Center:

http://research.culturalequity.org/

The first uploads include performances by Hill Country bluesman R.L.
Burnside,old-time fiddler Tommy Jarrell, ballads by Sheila Kay Adams and Cas Wallin, former Mississippi Sheik Sam Chatmon, union activist and singer Nimrod Workman, hot jazz bassist Chester Zardis, and the White Eagles Mardi Gras Indians.

So the Swed book is out now. Seems like it might be pretty good.

Yes, though (per above), one will have to make up one's own mind re Szwed versus Marsh, Gordon and Nemerov on certain issues.

seriously i cannot wait for this
http://thewire.co.uk/articles/8392/

In two months Alan Lomax's field recording archive will be available to stream in its entirety for free. Currently all 15,000 recordings can be heard as 45 second snippets here, but from March will be available in full. Files also include session and recording notes, full lists of performers, locations, and dates.

The project is run by the Global Jukebox label, part of the Association for Cultural Equity, who deal with the digitisation of Lomax's archive. Global Jukebox also curate compilations for release digitally and in physical format (including on LP through Mississippi Records).

The Association for Cultural Equity also looks after the photography and film footage from Lomax's expeditions. All Lomax's photography is already archived, and film footage is in the process of being digitised.

Wow, thats completely amazing!

i could spend hours and hours just listening to clips of these songs, but to be able to listen to entire songs is v v v v exciting. preparing to get lost in all of these exciting places and times. the notes will be fun to read too.

(I have the Sounds of the South box and a few other random recordings but nothing comes close to having them available to stream without cluttering up my home or computer)

NYTimes has article about this as well http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/arts/music/the-alan-lomax-collection-from-the-american-folklife-center.html?src=me&ref=general

Still need to read that bio.

THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING.

Go nuts:

http://www.cmj.com/news/listen-to-alan-lomax-s-audio-field-recordings-online/

brilliant, thanks for the heads up!

Oh, I had it on my calendar to check but there it is :)
Excited to dig in during midterms week!!

oh, i just came to post about this, guess i was a little late on the scene. sorting by location is a fun way to browse it. the people of fort-de-france, martinique sure know their way around a dance tune.

1) That archive totally rules super wow style, everyone should spend at least an hour looking around and listening to it as a citizen of the world

2) At the record store yesterday I saw a 7-LP vinyl version of the Sounds of the South box set (which I bought on CD a zillion years ago). I wouldn't buy it again, but if anyone is buying it for the first time, GET THAT. (Not sure if this is a new release or oop or what -- it was just on the wall and I made the clerk take it down so I could ogle/look at it)

Also there was nothing on the outside packaging indicating Shirley Collins' involvement, which I found disappointing. I can't believe she hasn't gotten more credit for participating in the recording of this totally essential American folk document!

'Get In Union : Bessie Jones with the Georgia Sea Island Singers and Others' - 2CD set out on Tompkins Square, October 28th

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000091105193-yminis-t500x500.jpg?e76cf77

Bessie Jones was one of the most popular performers on the 1960s and '70s folk circuit, appearing-usually at the helm of the Georgia Sea Island Singers-at colleges, festivals, the Poor People's March on Washington, and Jimmy Carter's inauguration. "Get In Union" is a collection of her classic recordings with the Singers, combined with many previously unavailable solo and small-group performances captured by Alan Lomax between 1959 and 1966.

Alan Lomax first visited the Georgia Sea Island of St. Simons in June of 1935 with folklorist Mary Elizabeth Barnicle and author Zora Neale Hurston. There they met the remarkable Spiritual Singers Society of Coastal Georgia, as the group was then called, and recorded several hours of their songs and dances for the Library of Congress. Returning 25 years later, Lomax found that the Singers were still active, and had been enriched by the addition of Bessie Jones, a South Georgia native with a massive collection of songs going back to the slavery era. Over the next several years, Lomax and Jones worked together to present, promote, and teach Southern black folk song across the country, from nightclubs to elementary schools. "Get In Union" features freshly remastered audio from 24-bit digital transfers of Lomax's original tapes and notes by the Alan Lomax Archive's Nathan Salsburg and Anna Lomax Wood, who accompanied her father on his 1960 recordings of Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/get-in-union

ah wonderful!

(and thankfully they're putting it out on CD, not like those elitist mississippi records lomax vinyl reissues that went out of print almost instantly)

^^

Yes

stuff i've heard from this is pretty amazing.

yup she's a revelation

Tompkins square does a good job, I hope they keep going forever.

http://research.culturalequity.org/home-audio.jsp

^^ Pretty much all of Lomax's recorded audio, I think?

Oh i see upthread that this is old news. Whoops!

So I just moved next door to the dude that wrote this:

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/55qpr7zm9780252036880.html

He basically told me that I can borrow his records at any point. Super excited to dig into his stuff

haha, i would take advantage of his offer!

More good stuff:

http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/01/nearly-300000-lomax-documents-now-accessible-online/

wow

Kinda big news from the archive just now:

https://archive.culturalequity.org/

The Association for Cultural Equity (ACE) is pleased to announce the launch of the Lomax Digital Archive. The site provides free access to audio/visual collections compiled across seven decades by folklorist Alan Lomax (1915–2002) and his father John A. Lomax (1867–1948), and was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanties’ NEH Cares program.

For nearly ten years, ACE has hosted online the entirety of Alan Lomax’s photographs and tape recordings—made throughout the US and the world between 1946 and 1991—as well as transcriptions of his 1940s radio programs, and a selection of clips from his film and video-work of the 1970s and 1980s. The LDA offers all of this material through a totally redesigned user interface, with more intuitive search and browse functions, as well as easy embeddability and instant social-media sharing on the item (recording/photo/video) level.

The LDA also expands the old site exponentially through the inclusion of collections compiled by the Lomaxes under the auspices of the Library of Congress’ Archive of Folk Song between 1933 and 1942. First and foremost, these include the entire 70 hours of their Kentucky recordings and the 39 hours of Mississippi recordings. This latter material includes the first recordings of Muddy Waters, Honeyboy Edwards, and Sid Hemphill. Although this material has been issued in assorted iterations over the years, the LDA makes it possible to listen to them in their entirety in their original recording contexts. As funds become available to digitize and catalog other collections from this period, they will become available here. (These collections include recordings made by several of Alan's collaborators, among them John W. Work III and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle, and are presented here in partnership with ACE’s colleagues at the LC’s American Folklife Center.)

The catalogs are searchable and browsable by a range of taxonomies (performers, instrument, location, genre, etc.) and every recording and image is described by extensive item-level metadata. Nothing is left out — every microphone check and struck tuning fork is included.

Lastly, a crucial aspect of the LDA is its capacity for exhibits, which will allow for thoughtful, context-rich explorations into specific aspects of the collections: be they instruments, locations, traditions, performers, or themes. The inaugural presentation is Trouble Won’t Last Always, which compiles the several dozen performances that comprised ACE’s daily song series of the same name, launched in the early days of the pandemic. Trouble consists of recordings from across the Lomax collections that speak to themes of loneliness, isolation, optimism, endurance, transcendence, selected and annotated by LDA curator Nathan Salsburg, and with an introduction by Dom Flemons, the American Songster.

Thanks. Want to dig in and or at least listen to Muddy Waters

amazing! been hoping they would do something like this with that material for a while

whoa!!