One of our oldest and dearest friends is esteemed music historian, archivist, collector, and author Jeff Gold. Jeff and I worked together for six years at the legendary Rhino Records store on Westwood Boulevard in the seventies, and our paths have been intertwined ever since. It is an Arcana tradition that each time Jeff releases a new - and fabulous - book, he is gracious enough to have his Los Angeles publication party take place at our shop. Given that we are living in a different, more cautious world just now, in lieu of a book signing, we are collaborating with Harper Design Books to present a discussion between Jeff and Mark Ruffin of SiriusXM's "Real Jazz" on the subject of his hot-off-the-press "Sittin' In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s."
The book is a visual history of jazz clubs during these crucial decades when some of the greatest names in in the genre - Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, and many others - were headlining acts across the country. In many of the clubs, black and white musicians played together and more significantly, people of all races gathered together to enjoy an evening’s entertainment. House photographers roamed the floor and for a dollar, took picture of patrons that were developed on site and could be taken home in a keepsake folder with the club’s name and logo.
"Sittin’ In" tells the story of the most popular club in these cities through striking images, first-hand anecdotes, true tales about the musicians who performed their unforgettable shows, notes on important music recorded live there, and more. All of this is supplemented by colorful club memorabilia, including posters, handbills, menus, branded matchbooks, and more. Inside you’ll also find exclusive, in-depth interviews conducted specifically for this book with the legendary Quincy Jones; legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan; artist, musician, and creative director of the Kennedy Center, Jason Moran; and Jazz critic Dan Morgenstern.
Gold surveys America’s jazz scene and its intersection with racism during segregation, focusing on three crucial regions: the East Coast (New York, Atlantic City, Boston, Washington, D.C.); the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City); and the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco). Its collection of ephemeral snapshots tells the story of an era that helped transform American life, beginning the move from traditional Dixieland jazz to bebop, from conservatism to the push for personal freedom.
Jeff Gold is a Grammy Award-winning music historian, archivist, author and internationally recognized expert who has consulted for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Museum of Pop Culture (EMP), and various record labels and cultural institutions. He has discovered a number of previously unknown tapes later released by major labels, including Bob Dylan at Brandeis University 1963 and unreleased performances by the Velvet Underground and The Stooges. He was a producer of the album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck) and worked on archival projects for Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead and Gram Parsons. His discovery of 149 previously unknown Dylan acetate recordings received extensive media attention including articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Gold has helped curate museum exhibitions including the Experience Music Project’s Beatlemania! and the traveling exhibit Bob Dylan’s American Journey. He appeared as an authenticator / appraiser on PBS’s History Detectives, VH1’s television show Rock Collectors, and is profiled in the books “Vinyl Junkies” by Brett Milano and “Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction To Its Own Past” by Simon Reynolds. Jeff is the author of Total Chaos: The Story of The Stooges / As Told by Iggy Pop, which was one of Rough Trade’s ‘Books of the Year’ and earned rave reviews in Rolling Stone, Mojo, Esquire and many other publications along with his 2012 book 101 Essential Rock Records: The Golden Age of Vinyl, From The Beatles to the Sex Pistols, one of eight books selected that year by Rolling Stone as “The year’s best reading material.” Gold owns the music memorabilia website Recordmecca and writes about topics of interest to collectors on its blog. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @recordmecca or on Instagram at @recordmecca.
