Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song / Edition 1

by David A. Jasen

Overview

For nearly a century, New York's famous "Tin Pan Alley" was the center of popular music publishing in this country. It was where songwriting became a profession, and songs were made-to-order for the biggest stars. Selling popular music to a mass audience from coast-to-coast involved the greatest entertainment media of the day, from minstrelsy to Broadway, to vaudeville, dance palaces, radio, and motion pictures. Successful songwriting became an art, with a host of men and women becoming famous by writing famous songs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415938778
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/25/2003
Pages:	492
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

David A. Jasen

Table of Contents

Introduction, A – Z, Bibliography, General Index, Index of Songs

Editorial Reviews

In this fine complement to Thomas Hischak's The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia, Jasen (communication arts, C.W. Post Campus, Long Island Univ.) offers 431 entries highlighting the people, publishers, and concepts associated with a music phenomenon that spanned an impressive 70 years-from roughly the 1880s to the 1950s. The scope recalls Jack Burton's The Blue Book of Tin Pan Alley: A Human Interest Encyclopedia of American Popular Music, which combines brief biographical information with partially annotated song lists. Here, the biographies are generally fuller, and the song lists are more complete and provide for only major songwriters (e.g., Irving Berlin, who is allotted eight-and-a-half pages). Since Tin Pan Alley was essentially a publishing movement, Jasen gives due coverage with publisher entries, often indicating dates and addresses. He also includes articles on various aspects of Tin Pan Alley, including "Film Music," "Coon Songs," "Song Folios," "Demonstrator," "Composing a Pop Song," "Publishing a Popular Song," and "Jazz in the Tin Pan Alley Era." In "Hit Songs," Jasen includes annotated entries for the era's blockbusters. Complete with a short history of Tin Pan Alley, this fine compendium on American popular song and the business of selling music is recommended for public and academic libraries.-Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"[A] fine compendium... Recommended for public and academic libraries." — Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&E University, Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher