Did you know that Ethel Waters was the first African American to be nominated for an Emmy Award? In 1962, the legendary jazz and blues singer received the nomination for her performance in a “Route 66” episode, “Good Night, Sweet Blues.”
Ethel Waters in “Route 66”, episode “Good Night, Sweet Blues.”
In the episode, “Good Night, Swee Blues”, Ethel Waters plays Jenny Henderson, a retired singer in failing health who commissions Tod and Buzz to find and bring her the members of the Memphis Naturals, the band she performed and recorded with thirty years earlier.
Waters’ nomination for this role paved the way for women like Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, Alfre Woodard, Halle Berry, Kerry Washington, Regina King, and Viola Davis, now the first Black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Beyond acting, Waters’ also performed jazz, big band, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.
Her best-known recordings include “Dinah,” “Stormy Weather,” “Taking a Chance on Love,” “Heat Wave,” “Supper Time,” “Am I Blue?” and “Cabin in the Sky,” as well as her version of the spiritual “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”
Here at the Recorded Sound Archives we are celebrating Black History month through music by highlighting the voices of the past and their accomplishments.
To listen to recordings by Ethel Waters, click here.
Have you recently typed “Chanukah” into Google? No….please go and try nowand discover the beautiful animated image Google’s put together to celebrate Chanukah.
Here at the Recorded Sound Archives we celebrate with music, sharing over 50 Chanukah albums for you to enjoy with family and friends. The Songs of Chanukah Collection consists of what is considered traditional, children’s songs that teach about the holiday and a few old favorites with a new twist.
There is a little bit of something for everyone in this collection, so please share it with friends and family. In years prior we’ve highlighted the voice of Gladys Gewirtz and Kenny Ellis.
This year on the Recorded Sound Archives website we are highlighting the voice of Margie Rosenthal and Ilene Safyan, who were brought together by a mutual love of Jewish music in 1979 and are both featured performers on the Recorded Sound Archives website. The music on their album Just In Time for Chanukah is a blend of old and new melodies and words, and we think you’ll enjoy them this holiday season.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access. Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
Join FAU Libraries March 4-8 in celebrating Jewish Culture through Kultur Festival highlighting music from Florida Atlantic University Libraries’ Special Collections performed by distinguished artists and internationally acclaimed musicians and actors including the Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra, Beyond The Pale, klezmer band from Toronto, Brian Potts Vibraphone Quartet and Yiddish Tango LIVE!
Links to all events listed below with date, time and links to purchase tickets.
Looking for music to celebrate the High Holy Days this year? Look no further, the Recorded Sound Archives has a collection of over 40 recordings for you to choose from and share and enjoy with your family.
Here are a few favorite albums, which can be listened to in full on the Recorded Sound Archives website.
Two weeks after his 101th birthday, pianist and composer Irving Fields passed away August 20, 2016 in Manhattan. He was perhaps the longest working musician in the world. At the age of hundred, he used to play the piano several nights a week at Nino’s Tuscany restaurant in Manhattan. Irving Fields became known by fusing Jewish tunes, jazz, and popular songs with Latin music.
Born as Isidore Schwartz in 1915 New York City to Jewish immigrants, Irving Fields started working as a pianist in the thirties during the years of the Great Depression. In this time of high unemployment, he started playing piano in resort hotels in the Catskills Mountains, and then he found work as a pianist on cruise ships sailing from New York to Havana, capital city of Cuba. In Havana, Irving Fields listened to the great Cuban orchestras, and developed his love for Latin music. Attracted by pictures from palm trees and beaches in travel magazines, Irving decided to settle in Miami Beach and performed in hotels playing dinner music, and did sessions with local orchestras.
After joining the army, he began the Irving Fields Trio, with a bass and a drummer, and started composing his own songs. In 1947, his song Miami Beach Rhumba became a big success by versions of Kay Kyser, Freddy Martin, Carmen Miranda, and even by the popular band leader Xavier Cugat. During the Latin craze trend in the 40s, Irving Fields was at the right time and place, and soon Miami Beach Rhumba was followed by the number one hit song Managua, Nicaragua (1947) recorded by big band leader Guy Lombardo, and ten years later by Chantez-Chantez (1957) by singer Dinah Shore.
In 1959, the Irving Fields Trio recorded the album Bagels and Bongos blending popular Jewish tunes with Latin rhythms such as Bei Mir Bist Du Schön as a mambo, Havannah Negila a paso doble, and I Love You Much Too Much a rhumba. The album became a big hit all over the world, and was followed by the albums More Bagels and Bongos (1960), Pizzas and Bongos (Italian traditionals), Champagne and Bongos (with French standards), and Bikinis and Bongos (with Hawaiian music). Every song was mixed with a Latin beat, which turned out to be a story of success.
After the success with his trio in the sixties, Irving Fields went back working as a solo pianist on cruise ships again, where he sailed the whole world, and finally settled as a music entertainer in restaurants, from 2004 six nights a week in Nino’s Tuscany, Manhattan. This would become the place, where he started his second career.
In the last decade, several films appeared about Fields playing piano on YouTube. These films form a good impression of his talent, wisdom, and humor. Although Irving Fields was not a user of a computer or the Internet, he did compose the YouTube theme song.
Regarding my research about the influence of Jewish tunes in American popular song, I contacted Irving Fields, and then I received several handwritten letters from him. At my birthday March 2010, I met Irving Fields and his lovely wife Ruth in person in Nino’s Tuscany restaurant, where he entertained the guests with his music. From my letters, he knew that I should visit him this special evening. To my surprise, he welcomed me with a newly composed personal anniversary song. When listening to his music and talking to him, I knew that I was close to one of the last persons, already in his nineties, who could tell me first-hand about the history of popular music in the Tin Pan Alley period before the second World War.
Irving Fields and Niels Falch at Nino’s
Of course, I also asked him about his secret for longevity, and he replied with more than ten rules. The first three rules for longevity are; (1) Have a sense of humor (you’ll never get ulcers), (2) Think of these three magic letters before you make a decision: L.T.D. Look, Think and Do, and (3) Be the first to say “hello” with a smile on your face and a friendly glow. Following these rules during his life, Irving Fields became ultimately 101 years young.
Even U.S. President Donald J. Trump admired Irving Fields, and shared one of his secrets for longevity: “Irving has said that work is a blessing, especially when you like your work. He loves his work, and that love is evident in his music. Irving is a great pro.”
Irving Fields will be remembered as the pianist who blended bagels and bongos, although he never had a way to play a bagel…
You can listen to over 30 recordings by Irving Fields on the Recorded Sound Archives website by clicking here.
RSA Guest Blogger, Niels Falch, is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and is currently writing a dissertation on the influence of Jewish music in American popular songs.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access.Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
There was a “joke” in the cantorial world that “If you can’t get Koussevitzky, get Aroni!” Personally, I think Aroni (my dad) had a better voice.
His voice instructor and many others told him that he could have been, or should be an opera singer, but he loved being a cantor too much.
His voice didn’t age noticeably from his first recordings, specifically The Grape Song recorded in 1950, to his last recording Kohanecha Yilb’shu Tzedek recorded in 1990.
Both recordings can be heard on the RSA website, along with 34 other recordings by Cantor Zvee Aroni, just one of over 260 cantorial voices to choose from in the Cantorial Voices Collection.
Did you know the Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries has over 49,000 albums along with over 150,000 songs in its databases, which is growing everyday with the help of volunteers? With so many recordings to choose from, we have given Research Station users the ability to request items be digitized.
Below you’ll find a list of recordings that were recently added to the Research Station this SpringSemester from requests made by Research Station Users.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access.Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access.Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
Celebrate this Mothers Day by listening and discovering some vintage songs from the early 1900s about mothers. There’s even a song or two about Dad and a fun Monologue called How Mother Made Soup for your enjoyment.
Below you will find a list of over 20 songs for you to share and enjoy this year with family and friends.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access. Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access.Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
Join FAU Libraries February 28-March 8th in celebrating Jewish Culture through Kultur Festival highlighting music from Florida Atlantic University Libraries’ Special Collections performed by distinguished artists and critically acclaimed musicians including the Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra, Avi Hoffman, Eleanor Reissa, Second Avenue Jewish Chorale and Klezmrfats pianist Peter Sokolow.
Links to all events listed below with date, time and links to purchase tickets.
Did you know the Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries has over 49,000 albums along with over 150,000 songs in its databases, which is growing everyday with the help of volunteers? With so many recordings to choose from, we have given Research Station users the ability to request items be digitized.
Below you’ll find a list of recordings that were recently added this Fall Semester from requests made by Research Station Users.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for a 45-second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access.Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students, and serious researchers.
Please note, due to copyright some of these recordings may only play for 45 second snippet to give the user a taste of what this music sounded like back in the day, if you are interested in full access considering applying for Research Station Access.Access to Research Station is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.
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Join FAU Libraries March 4-8 in celebrating Jewish Culture through Kultur Festival highlighting music from Florida Atlantic University Libraries’ Special Collections performed by distinguished artists and internationally acclaimed musicians and actors including the Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra, Beyond The Pale, klezmer band from Toronto, Brian Potts Vibraphone Quartet and Yiddish Tango LIVE!
Yiddish Tango LIVE!
Celebrate this Mothers Day by listening and discovering some vintage songs from the early 1900s about mothers. There’s even a song or two about Dad and a fun Monologue called 
Themocracy