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Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
Jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum retired from the Library of Congress on March 31, 2020. Larry reflects on his career at the Library of Congress and provides links to interviews, panels, and blog posts he created and facilitated at the Library of Congress.
Posted in: Curators, Exhibitions, Interviews, Jazz, Special Collections, Staff, Webcasts
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
In 2007, the Library presented back-to-back concerts with two quintessential New Orleans pianists Henry Butler and Allen Toussaint. Mr. Toussaint was in the news recently because his legacy studio recordings, long thought lost in the flood from Hurricane Katrina, turned up at a swap meet in Torrance, California. Toussaint wrote, arranged and produced many hits …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Concerts and Events, Interviews, Jazz, Webcasts
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from saxophonist Chris Potter, who participated in the Music Division’s Finding Strayhorn discussion panel on June 12, 2019. My visit to the Library of Congress fortunately coincided with the announcement that the Billy Strayhorn Music Manuscripts and Estate Papers are now available for the public to study. I was …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Jazz, New Acquisitions, Special Collections, Webcasts
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
Sunday February 3 gives us the opportunity to remember one of the first important songwriters in jazz, Lillian Hardin Armstrong. She was born on that day in 1898 in Memphis and may be best known as Louis Armstrong’s second wife and writer of some of his enduring classics, such as “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,” which …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Jazz, Special Collections, Webcasts
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
Today marks the 95th birthday of jazz drummer, bandleader and educator Max Roach (1924-2007). His papers are among the most heavily researched jazz archival collections in the Music Division revealing much about jazz and the intersection of modernism and the development of Black political consciousness in 20th-century music. And though the collection includes a draft …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections, Webcasts
Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer
Friday, July 27 was a special day for me as a new employee at the Library of Congress. I had the wonderful opportunity to represent the Music Division in an outreach initiative, Story Time for Young Readers. Story Time is a program at the Young Readers Center every Friday at 10:30am. Once a month, March …
Posted by: Cait Miller
Nearly one year ago, the Music Division happily welcomed Tony Award-winning composer and orchestrator Jason Robert Brown to the Library of Congress. He came to perform and talk about his own music with special guest Shoshana Bean on December 9, 2016 as a part of the Library’s concert series, but we were also fortunate to …
Posted in: Composers, Concerts and Events, Interviews, Musical Theater, Musicians, Webcasts
Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres
This is a guest post by Meg Metcalf, women’s, gender and LGBTQ+ studies librarian in the Main Reading Room. It was originally posted on the Library of Congress Blog. The collections of the Library of Congress tell the rich and diverse story of LGBTQ+ life in America and around the world. To share this story, …
Posted in: Composers, Curators, Dance, Digital Collections, Exhibitions, Guest bloggers, LGBTQ+, Musical Theater, Musicians, New Acquisitions, Sheet Music, Special Collections, Theater, Webcasts
Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres
(The following is a guest post by Director of Communications Gayle Osterberg. It was originally published on the Library of Congress Blog.) This Friday (Feb. 10) PBS stations nationwide (9 pm Eastern – check your local listings) will share with America the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song tribute concert honoring Motown legend …
Posted in: Composers, Concerts and Events, Exhibitions, Interviews, Musicians, New Acquisitions, Special Collections, Webcasts