[Dixielandjazz] New Rust

[steven holzer]

I too have received my copy of the new Rust. I was also mildly disturbed
by the lack of a title index which had been the big advance in the 4th
edition. I also second the notion that a header on each page would have
been a big improvement. You can go for dozens of  pages and not know if
you're still in the artist listing you started in or somewhere else
entirely.

One big change from  previous editions is the deletion of a lot of 
white space. Past editions have been very generous with spacing and
margins, which made the books easy to read and allowed for copious
marginal notations if you were so inclined. This undoubtedly added to
the overall cost of the package, however. I'm sure it's an economy
measure to  help keep the books within range of most of us. An added
side effect is that the books are more portable than the previous
editions and probably more durable. (Minor note: the gold leaf 
decoration tends to shed a little. If you're a stickler for that kind of
thing, don't plan on carrying the books around with you. You will
probably find the decoration much deteriorated after a while. For those
of you who are bothered by this but still want a portable discography,
pick up a copy of Charles Delauney's one-volume New Hot Discography,
which is still quite serviceable in spite of being decades old and not
as complete as Rust.)

I remain unconvinced that the books have been updated and corrected as
much as they ought to be. No doubt there are many new sessions,
especially in the ragtime vein.  However,  when I checked the index
entries for my particular research interest, Bobby Hackett, I found one
glaring error still contained in the heading for Horace Heidt. Rust
still indicates, as he did in the 4th edition, that Hackett stayed with
the Horace Heidt orchestra until joining Glenn Miller in 1941. This
error has previously been corrected in the biographical listing for
Hackett in Chilton's Who's Who of Jazz and by me in articles published
in Record Research and the IAJRC Journal. These are all sources which I
reasonably sure Mr. Rust is familiar with. When I get a chance, I will
have to see whether any of the voluminous corrections to the Rust books
submitted by Record Research readers have been incorporated.

I don't want to come across as too negative here. The Rust books are a
massive undertaking. Perfection is not to be expected. Rust remains one
of the great discographers of all time and deserves a great deal of
credit, certainly far more than some who came before and who have come
since. I make most of my comments to combat the tendency that too many
of us have, of assigning "Gospel truth" status to anything once it has
appeared in print. Rust's books will only be the valuable reference they
should be if they are used with full awareness of the nature of the
beast and the problems with which Rust may (or may not) have
successfully contended in putting them together.

I was glad to get Rust's intro to the book in which he explained some of
his sources. The lack of source information is a weakness that virtually
all discographies share. It is rarely possible to know just how much
they can be trusted. Rust reveals that if he has assigned an exact date
to any session, it is derived directly from recording company files.
This is good to know. I wish   he had expanded upon where the dates came
from if they are not exact. I would also like to know the derivation of
his personnel identifications, as these can be far more problematic than
dates. It seems probable that if he gives an exact date, then the
personnel is also from the company records, or, if there are no
personnel listed, then the instrumentation is from the records. (Please
note, however: there is a deal of assuming happening here. It is mine
and perhaps not to be trusted. If the records are silent, Rust may rely
on other sources, including someone's aural i.d. of musicians. You get
the picture.)

Steve Holzer

Anton Crouch wrote:
> 
> Hello all
> 
> My new Brian Rust "Jazz and ragtime records" (6th edition, Mainspring
> Press) arrived a few days ago and I have some first impressions.
>