Hello! Brooke Anderson here, from northeast Ohio, near Cleveland.

 

I have been a devoted and ceaseless fan of trad jazz for over 70 years. My other love has been military history, to which I have allocated much of my research and writing time, while enjoying jazz as both entertainment and inspiration. Happily those two passions intersected from time to time.

 

My main focus for over 30 years was WWI, collecting uniforms, equipment and accompanying ephemera. For inventory purposes I developed a one-page descriptive format consisting of text and photos which would help others to understand the significance of the items. In 2021, we downsized and I sold my collection, then turned to the wonderful world of the 78 rpm record. While history is an old friend, the intricate world of recordings, its participants, and the sales and marketing strategies are a new challenge.  I continue to use the one-page inventory sheet for collection description and that is what you will see here, some with and some without music (my choice). As I am not a sound engineer, some recordings will be heard warts and all!

 

The research here is somewhat different. In order to save time I have–in many circumstances–copied biographical data verbatim as these sheets have until now been strictly informational for my family and friends. Other parts may well contain original research as I dig deeper into the world of recordings and their sales.

 

Instead of using footnotes, here are some of my main reference sources:

 

Discography:  Rust, Lord, Jepsen, Rau, Dixon & Godrich, Conner & Hicks, Lange and Sutton. History:  Blesh, Panassie’, Collier, Lomax, Sudhalter, Schuller, Russell, Rose, Wright, Vernhettes, Kimball & Bolcom and Driggs & Lewine. Manufacturing and Sales:  Sutton. Internet:  Wikipedia and others.

 

As to the records themselves, I look for:

     1. Musicians

     2. Bands

     3. Labels

     4. Sidemen

     5. Pseudonyms

     6. Ragtime & proto-jazz

     7. Jazz and the military

     8. Jazz in Europe pre-WWII

In collecting 78s I seek representative pieces as opposed to completeness.  Quality is always important, but so is owning a piece of history enjoyed by my grandparents—and yours.

 

Thanks for looking!