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2015 Winners: ARSC Awards for Excellence

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. Begun in 1991, the awards are presented to authors and publishers of books, articles, liner notes, and monographs, to recognize outstanding published research in the field of recorded sound. In giving these awards, ARSC recognizes outstanding contributions, encourages high standards, and promotes awareness of superior works. Two awards may be presented annually in each category—one for best history and one for best discography. Certificates of Merit are presented to runners-up of exceptionally high quality. The 2015 Awards for Excellence honor works published in 2014.

All of the honorees have now been notified, and certificates and one year memberships to ARSC are being produced and distributed. The winners will also be acknowledged at the awards ceremony at the ARSC national conference in Bloomington, Indiana, May 2016.


Select titles below for links to   
   

 

[ Best Historical Research in Blues, Gospel, Rhythm & Blues ]

Best History

Southern Soul-Blues
100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own
by Edward Komara and Greg Johnson
(Rowman & Littlefield)

Certificate of Merit

Blues All Day Long: the Jimmy Rogers Story
Blues All Day Long: the Jimmy Rogers Story
by Wayne E. Goins
(University of Illinois Press)

Certificate of Merit

I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the March up Freedom's Highway
I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the March up Freedom's Highway
by Greg Kot
(Simon & Schuster)

Certificate of Merit

Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion
Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion
by Lerone A. Martin
(NYU Press)






[ Best Historical Research in Classical Music ]

Best History

Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia
Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia
by Galina Kopytova
(Indiana University Press)

 

Best Discography

Sounding Authentic: The Rural Miniature and Musical Modernism
Sounding Authentic: The Rural Miniature and Musical Modernism
by Joshua S. Walden
(Oxford University Press)

Certificate of Merit

Constant Lambert: Beyond the Rio Grande
Constant Lambert: Beyond the Rio Grande
by Stephen Lloyd
(Boydell & Brewer)

Certificate of Merit

Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music
Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music
by Scott Mccarey and Lesley A. Wright
(Ashgate)

Certificate of Merit

Sir George Dyson: his life and music
Sir George Dyson: His Life and Music
by Paul Spicer
(Boydell Press)

Certificate of Merit

Nikolay Myakovsky: The Conscience of Russian Music
Nikolay Myakovsky: The Conscience of Russian Music
by Gregor Tassie
(Rowman & Littlefield)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Country, Folk, or World Music]

Best History

Bluegrass Hall of Fame Inductee Biographies, 1991-2014
Bluegrass Hall of Fame Inductee Biographies, 1991-2014
by Fred Bartenstein, Neil V. Rosenberg, Gary Reid, Steve Spence, et al.
(International Bluegrass Music Museum)

Best Discopgraphy

Creole Music of the West Indies:  A Discography, 1900-1959
Creole music of the French West Indies:  a discography, 1900-1959
by Alan Boulanger, John Cowley, and Marc Monneraye
(Bear Family Records)

Certificate of Merit

Vibe Merchants: The Sound Creators of Jamaican Popular Music
Vibe Merchants: The Sound Creators of Jamaican Popular Music
by Ray Hitchens
(Ashgate)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music ]

Best History

Southbound: An Illustrated History of Southern Rock
Southbound: An Illustrated History of Southern Rock
by Scott B. Bomar
(Backbeat)

Certificate of Merit

Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? A Memoir
Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? A Memoir
by George Clinton and Ben Greenman (Atria)

Certificate of Merit

Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings
Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (2 vols.)
by Steve Sullivan
(Scarecrow)

[ Best Research in Recorded Jazz Music ]

Best History

Softly, With Feeling: Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music
Softly, With Feeling: Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music
by Edward Berger
(Temple University Press)

Certificate of Merit

Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
by Thomas Brothers
(W. W. Norton)

Certificate of Merit

An Unholy Row: Jazz In Britain and its Audience, 1945-1960
An Unholy Row: Jazz in Britain and its Audience, 1945-1960
by Dave Gelly
(Equinox)

Certificate of Merit

Once Was Jazz. The Cry of the Jazz band in Interwar Poland
Once Was Jazz: The Cry of the Jazz aBnd in Interwar Poland
by Krzysztof Karpinski
(Wydawnictwo Literackie)

 

 

[ Best Historical Research in Record Labels ]

Best History/Discography

Eli Oberstein's United States Record Corporation: A History and Discography
Eli Oberstein's United States Record Corporation: A History and Discography, 1939–1940
by Allan Sutton and Record Research Associates
(Mainspring)

Certificate of Merit

The Victor Discography: Special Labels, 1928-1940
The Victor Discography: Special Labels, 1928-1940
by John Bolig
(Mainspring)

Certificate of Merit

Ajax Records: A History and Discography
Ajax Records: A History and Discography
by William R. Bryant and Record Research Associates
(Mainspring)

 

For more information, please contact Roberta Freund Schwartz (University of Kansas).

Winners are chosen by the ARSC Awards Committee: five elected judges representing specific fields of study, plus the ARSC President, and the Book Review Editor of the ARSC Journal. The members of the 2015 ARSC Awards Committee are: Roberta Freund Schwartz (Committee Co-Chair), David Lewis (Committee Co-Chair), Patrick Feaster (ARSC President), James Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal), Jon Samuels (Classical Music Judge), Dan Morgenstern (Jazz Music Judge), Matthew Barton (Popular Music Judge), Cary Ginnell (Judge-At-Large), and Richard Spottswood (Judge-at-Large).

 

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