[Dixielandjazz] Dressing up your presentations

[Ric Giorgi]

Larry another really good resource for song information is "The
Great Song Thesaurus" - Roger Lax & Frederick Smith. It claims
11,000 songs but I think has more background info on them.

Cheers,

Ric



Ric Giorgi
Rainbow Gardens Music

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Larry
Walton Entertainment - St. Louis
Sent: January 26, 2008 7:27 PM
To: Ric Giorgi
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Dressing up your presentations

For a long time after becoming interested in OKOM I was amazed at
the knowledge of some people about this music and there were band
leaders who could rattle off interesting things about the tunes.
This had to come from years of experience which by the way I didn't
have.  Oh yeah I knew about Louis Armstrong and W.C. Handy but that
was about it.

The internet is a wonderful place to gather information but that
takes awhile and a lot of time.  There is either too much
information or none and when you have a library of 500 tunes that
could take forever.

Several years ago I was using a singer that had a very interesting
book titled "Who Wrote That Song" by Dick and Harriett Jacobs.  I
went on line to see if I could get a copy and found that it was
hopelessly out of print and that no one had a copy.   So I cranked
up my copy machine and copied the whole thing.

"Who Wrote That Song" lists copyright dates, composers,  who were
the artists and bands that popularized it, who recorded it and the
year.  Also, if it was a #1 hit or in a show or film.  If you need
more depth then you need other sources but for my purposes this is
enough.

I did a little research on Amazon.com   

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-6271266-3350414?url=search-
alias%3Daps&field-keywords=who+wrote+that+song    

found about 16 copies and ordered a copy.  It wasn't available when
I tried several years ago. They start at $16.95 for used and $61.95
for hard cover.  I think the hardcover is a newer edition.  I think
the libraries are getting rid of their copies.  The listing goes up
to about 1985.

Not every tune is in this book but many are.  Out of 12 tunes that I
looked up last night two weren't in there.

Since I started DJ'ing my programs, telling the audience a little
about the tune and history, I have been doing better with my
presentation. This book gives me just what I needed.
Larry
St. Louis

Editorial Reviews

>From Library Journal
Music industry jack-of-all-trades Jacobs has compiled an index of
over 12,000 popular songs spanning everything from parlor songs of
the mid-1800s to top 40 hits of the 1980s. Arranged alphabetically
by song title, entries include composer, lyricist, publication date,
and relevant special information. Cross-indexing by composer is also
provided, as are appendixes noting award-winning songs/songwriters
and a trivia quiz. Interspersed throughout are Jacobs's numerous
anecdotes and stories. Libraries shopping for a one-volume ready
reference source will find this useful, but the undisputed champ of
the genre is still Nat Shapiro's Popular Music (Gale, 1964+). For
libraries with this standard reference set, Jacobs's book is an
unnecessary duplication. Barry Miller, Austin P.L, Tex.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to
an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



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