This past September, reporter Jill Ryan at KJZZ, the NPR station in Phoenix, AZ, did a wonderful story on Soundies, with a focus on Black performers.
In her story Ryan paid special attention to the Moore brothers—Oscar Moore, guitarist in Nat King Cole’s trio, and Johnny Moore, leader of Johnny Moore’s 3 Blazers—who grew up in Phoenix.
Along with interviewing me, Ryan spoke with my colleagues on the Kino Lorber project, “Soundies: The Ultimate Collection”: artist and media archivist Ina Archer of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Soundies archivist and scholar Mark Cantor.
On Wednesday, Ryan’s story won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Sound.
Congratulations to Jill and to KJZZ. Listen to the story, read more about it, and watch a couple of the Soundies here.