The SULAIR's Humanities Resource Group is pleased to announce a new subscription to a remarkable online music collection called African American Song, which is published by Alexander Street Press. It is available to the Stanford community at
http://stanford4.classical.com/
The collection contains recordings by many of the most important musicians in the history of African American music. Artists such as Ma Rainey, Leadbelly, Mahalia Jackson, Alberta Hunter, Tampa Red, and William "Bunk" Johnson are showcased in the database, which includes many rare and never-before-published tracks, as well as the entire catalog of Document Records -- one of the worldâs largest collections of vintage blues, jazz, gospel, spiritual, boogie-woogie, and country.
From the earliest recordings of African-American music made in the late 19th century (including the Fisk Jubilee Singers, recorded at the turn of the century for Victor Records) to performances of the mid-1970s, in most instances the full recorded works of each artist are presented. More than 2,300 performers are represented, spanning more than a hundred years: Duke Ellington, Sophie Tucker, Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Sarah Vaughn, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Big Joe Williams, Memphis Jug Band, Roosevelt Sykes, Dizzy Gillespie, Chicago River Kings, Muddy Waters, Skip James, Blind Willie McTell, Lonnie Johnson, Alberta Jones, Johnny Shines, and Memphis Minnie, to name a few.
The current release of this growing collection offers approximately 16,000 tracks, but these are expected to increase to about 50,000 tracks in the near future with the planned incorporation of music previously issued by Rounder Records, including many field recording series from the the Alan Lomax collections.
Innovative searching and browsing possibilities will quickly bring you tracks that feature instruments from the kazoo to the tuba, ensembles from the Memphis Jug Band to a classroom of Mississippi schoolchildren, and genres from hollers to hymns. In addition to the sound files themselves, liner notes are available for most previously issued tracks. The collection is freely available to members of the Stanford community without registration; free registration will allow you to personalize your listening experience with playlists and sharable course folders.
The African American Song collection will be listed in Socrates (the online catalog of the Stanford University Libraries), as well as throughout the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) Web site.
