The vocal arrangements of Ed Smalle and Frank J. Black: seven performance editions of songs for male quartet made popular by The Revelers
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Craig Alan Phillips (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Carla LeFevre
Abstract: Organized in 1925, The Revelers were an influential American popular musical act. Among the most successful artists performing on radio and recording during the late 1920s and 1930s, The Revelers—a quintet comprising four singers and a pianist—were integral both to the mainstreaming of jazz and to the promotion of American songwriters Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, and George Gershwin, among others. Their pioneering style influenced a generation of vocal groups, serving as a template for subsequent jazz-inflected acts including the Ink Spots, Comedian Harmonists, and The Boswell Sisters. The Revelers sold millions of records, conducted acclaimed international tours, and, due to their long-standing tenure on the NBC radio network, garnered a reputation as the world’s premier vocal ensemble. The purpose of this document is the preservation of select arrangements composed for The Revelers by Ed Smalle (1887–1968) and Frank J. Black (1898–1969) through the creation of modern performance editions. Seven editions of songs made popular by The Revelers were constructed using handwritten charts drawn from a recently discovered collection of scores that was once the property of the original group. The songs selected provide a cross-section of styles and suitably represent the creative output of Smalle and Black. The score collection is unique, containing the only extant copies of hundreds of historic, unpublished arrangements composed by Smalle and Black for The Revelers. The seven editions presented here are intended for performance and future publication.
The vocal arrangements of Ed Smalle and Frank J. Black: seven performance editions of songs for male quartet made popular by The Revelers
PDF (Portable Document Format)
17852 KB
Created on 8/1/2017
Views: 1735
Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2017
- Keywords
- Electrical recording, Great American Songbook, NBC radio, Popular music, Victor Records, Vocal music
- Subjects
- Revelers Quartet (Vocal group)
- Black, Frank, $d 1894-1968
- Smalle, Ed
- Popular music $z United States $y 1921-1930 $v Scores
- Popular music $z United States $y 1931-1940 $v Scores
- Arrangement (Music)