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Posted by: Pat Padua
Many virtual servings of cake and ice cream are on hand this week in the Music Division, as we celebrate the birth dates of a veritable constellation of stars in the musical firmament. These October children grew to be the august personages who populate the Performing Arts Encyclopedia with dulcet tones – or, in some …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Digital Collections, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The thirteenth of October may fill the superstitious with dread, but today we celebrate the birthdays of three great musicians whose work fills the Music Division’s precious vaults. Celebrate gospel singer Shirley Caeasar (born October 13, 1938) with a medley including “You’re Next in Line,” an excerpt from Gospel: A Joyful Sound, a concert Caesar and her …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Concerts and Events, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
It’s that time again – today another 100 photographs have been uploaded to the Gottlieb Jazz Photos Set on Flickr! The set is comprised of uncropped images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection, all of which depict the Jazz scene in New York City and Washington, DC between 1938 and 1948. We keep adding more …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Digital Collections, Jazz, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Reference Specialist Caitlin Miller, who will soon be joining me as a regular blogger for In the Muse. About every six months or so, the Music Division welcomes a new exhibit into the Performing Arts Reading Room foyer. We are currently thrilled to host an exhibit dedicated to …
Posted in: Digital Collections, Musical Instruments, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
“We consider Music by Muzak a definite part of the modern office. It goes naturally with good lighting, soft colors and intelligent layout. After the installation of Muzak, our best estimates show that efficiency increased 5%.” –R.R. Harley, Assistant Treasurer, National Gypsum Co., Buffalo NY, in a 1965 Muzak brochure. On September 20, 1853, Elisha …
Posted in: Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Every other Friday, a new batch of photos from the William P. Gottlieb collection is uploaded to Flickr. This week’s selection includes iconic photos of Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie, and portraits of jazz greats such as Errol Garner, Benny Goodman, and Lionel Hampton. But in addition to the well-known names are intriguing portraits of lesser- …
Posted in: Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
September always brings back memories of my school days, when I walked to class barefoot four miles in chin-high snow (winter coming dreadfully early in those times), dodging packs of rabid wolves and feral children. But the modern age provides you, the reader, with sundry opportunities to learn from the comfort of your own coffee …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today, as will happen every other Friday for the next several months, additional batches of photographs from the William P. Gottlieb Collection have been uploaded to Flickr . This week’s set is particularly varied, with classic portraits of Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Tommy Dorsey, Doris Day, Nat “King” Cole, and Perry Como. In addition to these portraits are …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following blog post was written by Daniel Walshaw, Music Division. Wild, passionate, perspiring, and, above all, human – words not typically associated with a man clad in a tuxedo performing great works of the classical repertoire. However, it is nearly impossible to describe the extroverted music-making of Leonard Bernstein without using at least one of …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Special Collections