© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz & Blues Musicians

Marian McPartland and and Dizzy Gillespie during a recording session for "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz."
SC Public Radio
Marian McPartland and and Dizzy Gillespie during a recording session for "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz."

(Originally broadcast 11/04/16) - In An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz and Blues Musicians, Benjamin Franklin V documents the careers of South Carolina jazz and blues musicians from the nineteenth century to the present. The musicians range from the renowned (James Brown, Dizzy Gillespie), to the notable (Freddie Green, Josh White), to the largely forgotten (Fud Livingston, Josie Miles), to the obscure (Lottie Frost Hightower, Horace "Spoons" Williams), to the unknown (Vince Arnold, Johnny Wilson).

Though the term "jazz" is commonly understood, if difficult to define, "blues" has evolved over time to include rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and soul music. Performers in these genres are represented, as are members of the Jenkins Orphanage bands of Charleston. The volume also treats nineteenth-century musicians who performed what might be called proto-jazz or proto-blues in string bands, medicine shows, vaudeville, and the like.

Note: Walter Edgar's Journal is preempted on Friday, January 20, for coverage of the Presidential Inauguration. This episode will air on all News Stations on Sunday, January 22, at 4:00 pm.

Stay Connected
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.