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2019 Winners: ARSC Awards for Excellence

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on May 23, 2020, during ARSC’s annual conference in Montréal, Québec. Additional information about the ARSC Conference and the ARSC Awards for Excellence may be found on the association's website.

Begun in 1991, the ARSC Awards for Excellence are awarded to authors of books, articles, or recording liner notes to recognize those publishing the very best work today in recorded sound research. In giving these awards, ARSC recognizes the contributions of these individuals, aims to encourage others to emulate their high standards, and hopes to promote readership of their work. Two awards are presented annually in each category, for best history and best discography, and several others are acknowledged with Certificates of Merit. Awards are presented to both the authors and publishers of winning publications.

The 2019 Awards for Excellence honor books published in 2018.


Select titles below for links to:    

and other independent publishing sites.

   

 

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music ]

Best History (Tie)

Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946
Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946
by Gary Giddins
(Little, Brown, & Co.)

Best History (Tie)

American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in US Popular Music
American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in US Popular Music/Latinos y latinas en la musica popular estadounidense
by Marisol Berrios-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallán
(University of Washington Press)

Best Discography

The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa
The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa
by Charles Ulrich
(New Star Books)

Certificate of Merit

The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ’n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene
The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ’n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene
by Paul V. Allen
(McFarland)

Certificate of Merit

Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues 1965-1979
Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues 1965-1979
by Marc Cushman
(Jacobs Brown Press)

Certificate of Merit

Original Jethro Tull: The Glory Years 1968-1980
Original Jethro Tull: The Glory Years 1968-1980
by Gary Parker
(McFarland)

Certificat of Merit

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
by Gregory Thornbury
(Convergent)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz ]

Best History

Bill Russell and the New Orleans Jazz Revival
Bill Russell and the New Orleans Jazz Revival
by Ray Smith and Mike Pointon
(Equinox)

Best Discography

This is Hip: The Life of Mark Murphy
This is Hip: The Life of Mark Murphy
by Peter Jones
(Equinox)

Certificate of Merit

DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington D.C.
DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington D.C.
by Maurice Jackson and Blair A. Rolde, eds.
(Georgetown University Press)

Certificate of Merit

The Jazz Pilgrimage of Gerald Wilson
The Jazz Pilgrimage of Gerald Wilson
by Stephen Loza
(University Press of Mississippi)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Country and Folk Music]

Best History

The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized American Music
The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized American Music
by Robert E. Price
(Heyday)

Best Discography

The Blue Sky Boys
The Blue Sky Boys
by Dick Spottswood
(University Press of Mississippi)

Certificate of Merit

Folk Music in Overdrive: A Primer on Traditional Country and Bluegrass Artists
Folk Music in Overdrive: A Primer on Traditional Country and Bluegrass Artists
by Ivan Tribe
(University of Tennessee Press)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Roots and World Music ]

Best History

Don't Stop the Carnival: Black Music in Britain
Don't Stop the Carnival: Black Music in Britain
by Kevin LeGendre
(Peepal Tree Press)

Best Discography

Field Recordings of Black Singers and Musicians: An Annotated Discography of Artists from West Africa, the Caribbean and the Eastern and Southern United States, 1901–1943
Field Recordings of Black Singers and Musicians: An Annotated Discography of Artists from West Africa, the Caribbean and the Eastern and Southern United States, 1901–1943
by Craig Martin Gibbs
(McFarland)

Certificate of Merit

A&R Pioneers Architects of American Roots Music on Record
A&R Pioneers Architects of American Roots Music on Record
by Brian Ward and Patrick Huber
(Vanderbilt University Press)

[ Best Historical Research in Recorded Classical Music ]

Best History

2000 Jahre Musik auf der Schallplatte – Two Thousand Years of Music
2000 Jahre Musik auf der Schallplatte – Two Thousand Years of Music. Alte Musik anno 1930. Eine diskologische Dokumentation zur Interpretationsgeschichte
by Martin Elste and Carsten Schmidt, eds.
(Gesellschaft für Historische Tonträger)

Certificate of Merit

Chopin's Piano: In Search of the Instrument that Transformed Music
Chopin's Piano: In Search of the Instrument that Transformed Music
by Paul Kildea
(W.W. Norton)

Certificate of Merit

Marino Zuccheri & Friends: Milan RAI Studio di Fonologia Musicale, 1955-1983
Marino Zuccheri & Friends: Milan RAI Studio di Fonologia Musicale, 1955-1983
by Maria Maddalena Novati
(Die Schachtel)

[ Best Historical Research on Record Labels and General Recording Topics ]

Best History

American Record Companies & Producers, 1888-1950
American Record Companies & Producers, 1888-1950
by Allan Sutton
(Mainspring)

Best Discography

Speeds & Keys
Speeds & Keys, Vol. 1 (Gramophone Co., 1898-1921)
by Christian Zwarg
(Truesounds)

Certificate of Merit

Alpine Dreaming: The Helvetia Records Story, 1920-1924
Alpine Dreaming: The Helvetia Records Story, 1920-1924
by James P. Leary
(Archeophone)

 

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

Winners are chosen by a committee consisting of three elected judges representing specific fields of study, two judges-at-large, the review editor of the ARSC Journal and the President or past President of ARSC. The 2019 ARSC Awards Committee consists of the following:

Dan Morgenstern (Jazz Music Judge); Jon Samuels (Classical Music Judge); Matthew Barton (Popular Music Judge and ARSC President); Cary Ginell (Judge-at-Large); Richard Spottswood (Judge-at-Large); James Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal); Patrick Feaster (ARSC Past President); and Roberta Freund Schwartz (Awards Committee Chair).

 

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