Caroline Beecroft Howard Rye (1 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. For many years, Francis Wilford-Smith led a parallel existence as an internationally respected cartoonist/ illustrator ('Smilby'), and also as one of the world's foremost collectors of blues records and an acknowledged expert on blues piano. While both sides of his life are celebrated in this memoir, it focuses mainly on the latter. First bitten by the bug in 1939, when his brother returned home from the USA with a clutch of boogie-woogie records, Francis pursued a lifelong interest in the blues and over time amassed an enviable collection of rare 78s. These would later form the backbone of his highly regarded BBC radio broadcasts between 1970 and 1995, in which he examined various aspects of blues and gospel music. Fully annotated scripts of all these programmes are included in this volume, along with dozens of label shots of the records played. Motivated by a desire to preserve as much as possible of the music that he loved, Francis also privately recorded several visiting blues pianists at his home, Trumpets Farm, in 1960 and 1961. Unfettered by commercial or time constraints, his guests had free reign to play whatever they wished and produced some truly unique and outstanding performances. The intriguing story behind these ground-breaking recordings is likewise to be found within these pages. Most of the content was written by Francis Wilford-Smith himself. The bulk of the book comprises scripts of the many radio programmes he presented on BBC Radio between 1979 and 1995. The last series he presented, broadcast in January and February 1995, was especially valuable, as it featured the field recordings of Harry Oster, quite a lot of which has never been issued in any form. Another was devoted to the output of Bluebird Records (1993), one of his particular interests, and whose undeserved reputation for blandness he was determined to correct (a three-part series I wrote for this magazine in the 1980s was based on Francis Wilford-Smith's statistical analysis of Bluebird's output). There's also a bibliography by Rob Ford of Francis's writings in printed form, which is surprisingly short, given how fluently and informatively he was able to write for broadcast, and it prompts the thought of how fortunate we are, then, that he did write all these scripts, and all the more so that the editors have now brought us that work in such a useful and attractive form, richly transformed, with all the added features, into a definitive tribute. Blues & Rhythm Feb 2016 This book is an excellent read on a number of levels getting to know the man through his witty observations and the wealth of information offered in the broadcast scripts. By all means get and enjoy this book. Russ Shor, Vjms Jazz & Blues Mart Spring 2016 Nominated for the 2016 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. The goal of the ARSC Awards program is to recognize and draw attention to the finest work now being published in the field of recorded sound research. The winners will be announced by September, and the awards will be presented during a banquet at ARSCs annual conference in May 2017.…