Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Music in American Life) [Paperback]

Tim Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Series: Music in American Life | Publication Date: September 25, 2005

Available in paperback for the first time, this groundbreaking in-depth history of the involvement of African Americans in the early recording industry examines the first three decades of sound recording in the United States, charting the surprising roles black artists played in the period leading up to the Jazz Age and the remarkably wide range of black music and culture they preserved. Applying more than thirty years of scholarship, Tim Brooks identifies key black artists who recorded commercially and provides illuminating biographies for some forty of these audio pioneers. Brooks assesses the careers and recordings of George W. Johnson, Bert Williams, George Walker, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, W. C. Handy, James Reese Europe, Wilbur Sweatman, Harry T. Burleigh, Roland Hayes, Booker T. Washington, and boxing champion Jack Johnson, as well as a host of lesser-known voices. Many of these pioneers faced a difficult struggle to be heard in an era of rampant discrimination and "the color line," and their stories illuminate the forces - both black and white - that gradually allowed African Americans greater entree into the mainstream American entertainment industry. The book also discusses how many of these historic recordings are withheld from the public today because of stringent U.S. copyright laws. "Lost Sounds" includes Brooks's selected discography of CD reissues, and an appendix by Dick Spottswood describing early recordings by black artists in the Caribbean and South America. Tim Brooks is Executive Vice President of Research at Lifetime Television. He is coauthor of "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" and "The Columbia Master Book Discography", and the author of "Little Wonder Records: A History and Discography". He is past president of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections and the winner of its Lifetime Achievement Award. Dick Spottswood is a freelance author, broadcaster, and record producer. He is the author of the seven volume reference work, Ethnic Music on Records.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An act of cultural reclamation - the great lost heroes of black performance." New York Times "Brooks has uncovered a wealth of fascinating detail about the record business, its artists and the range of music they recorded 100 years ago. This engaging work of thorough scholarship is essential reading for anyone interested in the birth of commercial recording and African American music in the early part of the 20th century." Samuel Brylawski, Head, Recorded Sound Section, Library of Congress

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (September 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 025207307X
• ISBN-13: 978-0252073076
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No library shelf should be without it, April 3, 2005

By 

AfroAmericanHeritage (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Hardcover)

A few pages into this book, one realizes the title is a double entendre. The recorded sounds documented here - which include popular music, ragtime, jazz, cabaret, classical, spoken word, politics, poetry, and more - are not merely "lost" in the sense that their existence has been uncelebrated. They are also in danger of being lost to us forever if immediate steps are not taken to preserve the fragile materials upon which they live.

Additionally, U.S. copyright laws have made it nearly impossible for anyone to reissue them as CDs. According to the author, there were approximately 800 recordings made by African Americans prior to 1920, the majority of which are still intact but half of which are owned by successor corporations like Sony and BMG who will neither reissue them nor allow anyone else to do so. Which explains why the majority of this material ends up being released overseas.

The book documents more than 40 artists chronologically, assessing their work and skillfully placing their biographies within the context of a complex and tumultuous era. It covers the famous (Bert Williams, Eubie Blake, Fisk Jubilee Singers) and a host of lesser-knows. The Discography provides a listing of CD reissues (if available) for each chapter, plus web sites where you'll most likely find them.

While seemingly an exhaustive tome, the author himself reminds us it's intended to stimulate preservation and future research: the final chapter "Miscellaneous Recordings" examines unissued recordings, "custom" noncommercial recordings, rumored but unconfirmed recordings, records by artists sometimes misidentified as black and more, in the hopes that future research will turn up more information.

Though massive at 656 pages, the book is highly readable and entertaining, very well organized and indexed making it easy to zoom in on particular aspects of interest. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the era of early recording in general, or African American studies in particular, and feel no library shelf should be without it. It's a wonderful resource for interdisciplinary studies.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A colorful look at a forgotten era, January 19, 2005

By 

Guy MacMillin (Westmoreland, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Hardcover)

What a delight this thick book is, and what a challenge to describe adequately in a few sentences.

"Lost Sounds" is a detailed look at an aspect of the American music industry that is not just forgotten; it seems never to have been fully appreciated -- the early years of recorded music, with an emphasis on the essential contribution made by African American artists. The book has been praised as a unique reference work, and it is that; but it is also a rich history of late 19th- and early 20th-century American popular culture, as well as a collection of poignant personal stories of the entertainers who created it. Along the way, the book offers a primer on recording technology. And, although these accounts of once-popular performers and their now-unfamiliar careers and music are not in the least preachy, they do constitute a carefully documented examination of a key -- and painful -- era in American race relations.

Author Tim Brooks is himself an unobtrusive character in these adventures, the modest yet sympathetic researcher who has come along a century after the fact to ferret out the information, breathe new life into it, and in many instances save it from oblivion.

All of which makes "Lost Sounds" not only an extraordinary good read, but also an exceptional good deed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the holy grail of American music research, January 24, 2008

By 

imapony (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Music in American Life) (Paperback)

For anyone interested in the pre-1920 recording industry--and especially in the history of the earliest recording artists of color--Lost Sounds is the archaeological dig of your dreams. Immaculately researched, beautifully written, and illustrated with photos, advertisements, and lyrics, it's a big stately volume: the growth of the popular song, the emergence of the mass media and entertailment industries, the appalling state of period race relations, the existentially twisted story of the minstrel show, and the amazing evolution of recording technology are all on readable (and sometimes haunting) display. So are the riveting stories of legendary artists George Washington Johnson (the ex-slave whose "Laughing Song" was used briefly in a recent Xerox ad), Bert Williams (featured in PBS' Broadway documentary series), Charley Case (a vaudeville comic who was rumored to be "passing"), and dozens of others. You'll be moved to comb the local antique shops for cylinders, and to try building your own record-yourself-on-tinfoil kit.