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By: Pat Padua
The jazz world has lost one of its great pianists, Hank Jones, who died yesterday in New York. He was 91. During his long and storied career Jones appeared on countless sessions with legends from all walks of jazz: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Jazz writer Howard Mandel …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
Thanks to Senior Music Specialist Larry Appelbaum for this post. Chinese jazz singers Le Zhang and Coco Zhao recently visited the Music Division, where they were given an overview of the Library’s jazz collections by Senior Music Specialist Larry Appelbaum. They were especially taken by the scores of Charles Mingus and Gerry Mulligan, the …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
The music world mourns the loss of singer, dancer, activist Lena Horne, who passed away in New York yesterday at the age of 92. The Music Division has a variety of items related to Horne in its collections, from portraits in the William P. Gottlieb Collection to materials in the collections of swing band leader …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
Sunday, May 9, is Mother’s Day. My colleague on Inside Adams, the Science, Technology, and Business Blog, writes about the floral industry’s popularization of Mother’s Day here. What better way to remember mothers living and passed away than with songs from the Music Division. The Performing Arts Encyclopedia has over two hundred pieces of sheet …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Jennifer Gavin
Thursday, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington had an announcement sure to thrill hundreds of thousands of people who’ve loved the National Book Festival during its storied run, “a decade of words and wonder.” He announced that David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is donating $5 million …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Pat Padua
Above the desk where I sign in to work hangs a pin-up calendar whose pet of the month of May is a Shih Tzu in a shiny red wagon. Below the happy pup is the notation that May 2nd-8th, 2010 is Be Kind to Animals Week. According to the American Humane Association , this week …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
“It would be nice to hear someone say, ‘Look at that gas station in the moonlight. It’s pure John Adams.’ ” — John Adams, composer of Nixon in China. [1] New Yorker music critic Alex Ross recently blogged about two different composers named John Adams, distinguished by their middle names of Luther and Coolidge. This common …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
This post is adapted from notes by Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, Exhibition Curator, Music Division. The exhibition As the Old Sing, So the Young Twitter takes its inspiration from the musical and verbal relationship between birds and flutes. In the often archaic definition of words like “twitter,” “chatter,” “record,” and “warble” are links between birdsong and human music …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
Otto. Cutey. Stinkpot. Wucker. Dumplin’. Maestro. Big Red. Head Knocker. Puddin’. These are some of the many nicknames given the man born Edward Kennedy, whom we all know as “Duke” Ellington. Born April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C., Ellington was one of the great jazz bandleaders, pianists, and composers. The Music Division is home to …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Matt Raymond
(UPDATE: Here’s a December 2017 status report on our work with the Twitter archives.) (UPDATE: Here’s a January 2013 status report on our work with the Twitter archives.) Twitter’s gift (link is PDF) to the Library of Congress of its entire archive of public tweets, announced two weeks ago today, sure has stoked the public’s interest. …
Posted in: Timeless