[Dixielandjazz] Fats Waller, Nirvana Added to Preservation Registry

[Mike C.]

By Bill Holland

WASHINGTON (Billboard) - The Library of Congress is going to give a new 
set of 50 U.S. sound recordings long-term preservation to make them 
available to future generations.

The National Recording Registry houses sound recordings considered to be 
culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The third annual 
selection of 50 recordings was announced April 5.

The recordings are chosen because they have become evergreens or helped 
forge a seminal style, but nonmusical selections like astronaut Neil 
Armstrong's broadcast from the moon also made the list.

The earliest pick is "Gypsy Love Song" by Eugene Cowles, from 1898. 
Among the other selections are Fats Waller singing and playing his own 
"Ain't Misbehavin' "(1929); Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" (1939); Hank 
Williams' "Lovesick Blues" (1949); the Penguins' doo-wop classic "Earth 
Angel" (1955); John Coltrane's groundbreaking "Giant Steps" (1959); "The 
Girl From Ipanema," with Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim) 
and Astrud Gilberto (1963); and James Brown's "Live at the Apollo" (1965).

More recent recordings include the Allman Brothers Band's "At Fillmore 
East," from 1971; the "Star Wars" soundtrack by John Williams, from 
1977; and Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet," from 1989.

The registry tagged only one recording from the '90s: Nirvana's 
"Nevermind" (1991).

Recordings must be 10 years old to qualify. The public and registry 
panelists make the initial nominations.

During the press conference announcing the recordings, an audio 
preservationist at the Library of Congress revealed that he has 
uncovered a major document in jazz history: an album's worth of 
Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane playing together at a Carnegie Hall 
concert in 1957.

The two are considered one of the great pairings in modern jazz, but 
their work together was captured on only a few studio cuts. The 
long-lost concert was recorded by the Voice of America for its legendary 
Cold War-era overseas jazz programs hosted by Willis Conover.

Senior engineer and jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum says: "I was just 
rifling through the box of tapes, and on the spine of one were the words 
'Jazz Concert 11/29/57.' I opened it up and saw the name T. Monk on the 
back. Then I saw the date. Then my heart started pounding."

The tapes will be preserved in transfers to high-resolution digital 
files stored and backed up on the Library of Congress' IT servers.

The Library of Congress will be custodian of the master. Ownership 
questions need to be resolved before the recordings can be released.
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"There will never come a time when you won't have to practice anymore."
- J.J Johnson (1924-2001)