In the middle of a long, hot summer, what we all could use is something cool. What is cooler than Miles Davis, the man who gave birth to the concept of cool? Now appearing in the ARC Window on 54 White Street… read more >>
author archive
Fabian… is In Our Window
Who doesn’t love a stuffed tiger? Fifties teen idol Fabian sure does! Dig this groovy cover of his album Hold That Tiger! Was Fabian obsessed with tigers? Perhaps. He cut the Dixieland standard “Tiger Rag” (from which the phrase “hold that tiger”… read more >>
TeenBeat Mayhem
Modern scientific thought states that the universe was created after a tremendous explosion: “The Big Bang Theory.” According to Mike Markesich, rock’n’roll had it’s own “Big Bang” in America. That “Bang” was The Beatles’ performance on the Ed Sullivan show on February… read more >>
Warren Covington… is In Our Window
The Music Window is a new blog concept developed in the laboratory of the ARChive of Contemporary Music. It consists of displaying an album cover in the ARC window (conveniently located at 54 White Street, Tribeca/lower Manhattan) every couple of weeks (or… read more >>
The History of Jazz
The history of jazz is a long, often-told story for which there are quite possibly over a hundred books. Here at the ARC, we have cataloged more than one thousand books that make reference to jazz in one way or another. In… read more >>
Do “The Ostrich” one last time…
With the passing of an artist that one admires, one always returns to favorite works by that artist in order to commemorate him or her; in this case, Lou Reed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgAqWsv7xMs Around 1963 or so, after graduating from college in Syracuse, where… read more >>
Are We Not Mad Men?
Mad Men, one of the highest regarded dramatic serials on television today, has received a number of awards including prestigious Peabodys and Emmys, and TV critics as well as fans seem to adore the show. Indeed, Mad Men has been especially lauded… read more >>
The Jazz Messengers
The great drummer Art Blakey led The Jazz Messengers from around the mid-fifties up until his death in 1990. The concept for the group originated with a big band called The Seventeen Messengers that was formed in 1947. It is often described… read more >>
Sonny Rollins live at Carnegie Hall, Tuesday September 18, 2007
On November 29, 1957, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins played at Carnegie Hall for the first time leading his own group–a trio consisting of ex-Duke Ellington bassist Wendall Marshall and drummer Kenny Dennis. Although he was only 27 at the time, Rollins had… read more >>
Cool T-shirt of the day
Today, this T-shirt was spotted on a fellow talking on his cell phone across the street from the ARChive. This is one way of saying “corporate rock sucks.”
Another great donation.
Today the ARChive received an incredibly generous donation from a fellow whose marriage was in jeopardy—his wife told him to get rid of his records, or to get rid of her. With that ultimatum, he packed up more than 30 or… read more >>
Spotlight on Singles
The other day I was down in the dungeon (ARC’s basement where we keep the 45s) searching for Sly & the Family Stone singles for a Vanity Fair project. While there, I found these four groovy records: The first was “The… read more >>
Thank you Ms. Ariel!
Yesterday, Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity donated nearly 1200 CDs to the ARChive!! For the rest of the day, Bryan, Diana and I went through them to determine what we needed and what we could sell (The ARChive sells the third copy… read more >>
ARCHIVE SPOTLIGHT
Leonard James and His Orchestra—Boppin’ and A-Strolllin’ (Decca) By Phast Phreddie Patterson Leonard James was a high school friend of Mac Rebbenack—AKA Dr. John the Night Tripper. They went to different high schools together. James was also a saxophonist and bandleader… read more >>
Cuba Music Week is ARC's focused look at the music and culture of Cuba. This very long live and on-line week will present concert, lectures, databases, discographies - anything and everything pertaining to Cuban music from sources around the world.
Go here to see ways that you can contribute!
In the past we have looked at the greater Muslim world, Brazil and India. We’re pretty proud of the websites created, among the largest and most complete online pages of information and metadata on the music available.
We will be co-ordinating this project to correspond with Cubadiscos, the annual music meeting and performance showcase in Havana every spring. So stay tuned as this page will offer blogposts and info on Cuba Music Week prior to the posting of the primary website in May, 2016.