Posted on

A Ritrovato Thumbs Up for “Soundies: The Ultimate Collection”

A renowned international film festival just had its 38th annual edition, and Soundies were there.

Organized by the Cineteca di Bologna, a  global film preservation powerhouse, Il Cinema Ritrovato presented some 500 films on six screens, including massive open-air programs in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore.

Ritrovato’s Blu-ray & DVD Awards celebrate old movies, restorations, and rediscoveries in home video formats. This year, close to 40 releases competed in categories like “Best Boxed Set,” “Best Single Film Release,” and “Best Rediscovery of a Forgotten Film.” Members of the jury also designated specific titles as their “Personal Choice.”

Soundies: The Ultimate Collection was the “Personal Choice” of Spanish critic and film historian Miguel María Franco, a former director of the Spanish Film Archive. His rationale was brief and to the point: “A wonderful collection of rarely seen films about American popular music.” 

Posted on

A Soundies Win for KJZZ

 

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.

Posted on

Soundies Book Is An Outstanding Academic Title of 2022

 

Trust a librarian to know good books! And the librarians of Choice, the American Library Association magazine, have named Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen: One Dime at a Time an Outstanding Academic Title of 2022.

Books on the list are chosen for their “excellence in scholarship and presentation, the significance of their contribution to the field, and their value as an important—often the first—treatment of their subject.” 

According to the ALA Choice website, “The list is quite selective: it contains approximately ten percent of some 5,000 works reviewed in Choice each year.” 

Librarians: If you’re adding the book to your collection,  I’d love to hear about it. And thank you.

Posted on

Soundies Book Shortlisted for Leading Award in African American History & Culture

 

I’m thrilled to report that Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen: One Dime at a Time has made the shortlist for the 2022 MAAH Stone Book Award.

Sponsored by the Museum of African American History Boston/Nantucket and the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation, the award “encourages scholarship and writing within the field of African American history and culture.” Now in its 5th year, it has quickly become the leading award in this subject area.

Chosen from 111 submissions, the shortlist includes 16 outstanding titles.  I’m honored that the Soundies book is among them.

The award winner and two finalists will be announced in October.

Soundies bookcover

Posted on

Shortlisted for Prestigious Award

Exciting news! Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen: One Dime at a Time has been shortlisted for the 2022 Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award.

A joint project of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Clive Davis Institute at NYU, and the Pop Conference—and underwritten by the Wenner Journalism Fund—the award commemorates a defining figure in the music and pop culture landscape. Ralph J. Gleason (1917-1975) covered jazz, pop, and rock with passion and great insight, and—among other things—co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and the Monterey Jazz Festival.

The Soundies book is one of 15 titles chosen from close to 70 submissions, by a jury of distinguished music writers and scholars including Laina Dawes, Nelson George, Alisha Lola Jones, Greil Marcus, and Amanda Petrusich.

They’ve put together a terrific shortlist, and I’m honored to be part of it.

The award announcement is scheduled for June.

.Soundies bookcover