SPREADIN' RHYTHM AROUND; BLACK POPULAR SONGWRITERS, 1880-1930. [Spreading Rhythm Around.]

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.

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.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Jasen, an accomplished ragtime pianist and historian (Rags and Ragtime, 1978) and Jones, an actor and amateur jazz historian, offer an entertaining and thoughtful history of great but neglected African-American tunesmiths from the vaudeville and early jazz eras. In this highly intelligent and stylishly written volume, Jasen and Jones virtually recount the history of the pivotal era in American popular entertainmentfrom the minstrel show to the talkies and radiothrough the lives and works of 27 black composers, producers, performers, and music publishers. Some of the namesFats Waller, W.C. Handy, Bert Williams, Eubie Blakewill be familiar to a general readership, and a few others may ring a bell for buffs, but most have been lost in the murk to which too many black artists have been consigned by the racism of their era, ill luck, and the vagaries of passing time. Readers will be surprised to learn of James A. Bland, often called ``the black Stephen Foster,'' whose most famous composition is ``Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,'' or the wildly prolific Perry Bradford, whose discovery of Mamie Smith triggered the '20s blues craze. More significantly, Jasen and Jones document the ways in which racism in the budding entertainment industry deprived many of these men (for they were all males) of the opportunity to join the ranks of the Gershwins, Kerns, and Porters in the pantheon of American song and, in some cases, cost them the most basic credit for their work. By focusing on these key but mostly forgotten figures, the authors have added an absolutely necessary chapter to the history of show business. Although it occasionally drifts into ``and then he wrote . . .'' cataloguing, this is for the most part an excellent study of neglected creators. (b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

It doesn't take much effort to gauge the influence of African Americans on modern popular music. One look at this week's top ten will reveal that at least half of the tunes are by black artists, and the work of blues and jazz musicians of the 1930s and 1940s, which ultimately contributed to the birth of rock'n'roll, is well documented. But some readers will be surprised to learn of well-loved songs written by blacks from 1880 to 1930. From James A. Bland, a minstrel-era star known as the black Stephen Foster; to W.C. Handy, the first person to put the blues on paper; to Fats Waller, who conquered Broadway with songs like "Ain't Misbehavin'"?these individuals excelled in every genre of popular music. This book also explores performers, music publishers, and entrepreneurs. Jasen, head of the C.W. Post College Popular Music Archive, and Jones, who has written monographs on Tom Turpin and The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, provide substantial biographies of more than 40 figures, well known and obscure, that personalize and deepen this look at an important contribution to American culture. Recommended for popular music collections.?Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"The contributions of African-Americans to American popular music are vast and incalculable," say Jasen and Jones. They present 50 years of those contributions richly and even gloriously. To investigate African American influences on American pop culture historically, one must come to terms with the overt racism of previous times. Jasen and Jones don't shrink from it as they examine the minstrel-show and coon-song roots of black popular music. "The minstrel songs strut; coon songs swagger," they assert, revealing "an urban, in-your-face toughness that borders on belligerence" --shades of gangsta rap! Chapters on black composers on Broadway and the business side of pop music as well as generous treatment of figures who are obscure today but don't deserve to be are all nicely done, and vintage portraits, sheet music covers, and advertising art bring the subject to life. Biographical vignettes, in particular, about true originals like Irving Jones--entrepreneur, songwriter, and "brash young hustler" --resonate with the spirit of a bygone era that was cruder, perhaps, but vital. Mike Tribby