More Important than the Music: A History of Jazz Discography by Bruce D. Epperson (review)

Bruce Epperson’s More Important than the Music may be read as a companion to Barry Kernfeld and Howard Rye’s classic two-part article “Comprehensive Discographies of Jazz, Blues, and Gospel” (Notes 51, nos. 2–3 [1994–95]: 501–47; 865–91). Kernfeld and Rye first used as exemplars the jazz discographies by Brian Rust, Jørgen Jepsen, and Erik Raben; the blues discographies by Robert M. W. Dixon, John Godrich, Mike Leadbitter, and Neil Slaven; and the gospel music discography by Cedric J. Hayes and Robert Laughton. In their second part, they compared the competing jazz meta-discographies by Walter Bruyninckx and Tom Lord. For the most part, Kernfeld and Rye took analytical ahistorical views of the works they selected, although they did include as an immediate precedent The Directory of Recorded Jazz and Swing Music by David A. Carey, Albert J. McCarthy, and Ralph Venables ([Fordingbridge, Hampshire, Eng.; London: Delphic; Cassell, 1949–1957], 6 volumes, A–L only). Their “Comprehensive Discographies” article reaffirmed jazz discography’s relevance to music librarianship, for which the Music Library Association (MLA) conferred its 1996 Richard S. Hill Award for the best article on music librarianship or article of a music–bibliographic nature. Epperson takes a complementary approach by looking at the careers of the leading discographers and how they developed their standards and practices. His resulting narrative is expansive, probing, and quite funny, too. He confirms some suspicions long held by veteran jazz record collectors and he also gives some much-needed historical background to younger music librarians.

In the first chapter, Epperson introduces as historical figures Rust, Bruyninckx, and Lord, whom he maintains as narrative characters throughout the rest of the book. He also discusses the concepts of discography (for individual artists, historical periods, and jazz styles) and meta-discography (for every jazz record ever made). The next three chapters relate the growth of jazz discography from collectors’ checklists of records to the initial conceptions of a jazz meta-discography, as seen in the pioneering publications of Charles Delaunay (his editions of Hot Discography and New Hot Discography, 1936–1952), Orin Blackstone (Index to Jazz [Fairfax, VA: Record Changer; Gullickson, 1945–1948, 4 volumes]), and Brian Rust (various). In chapter 5, how a meta-discography has become a near (but not quite) attainable goal is described by means of a double-portrait of Bruyninckx and Lord (whose efforts I will discuss further below). Two chapters about specialized discographies, including those on individual musicians, and others about individual recording firms, broaden the presentation and sustain the history through the 2000s. An avid collector of discographies, Epperson mentions many compilers and works not included in the Kernfeld and Rye “Comprehensive Discographies” article. More than paying dues to the pioneers, Epperson may help today’s librarians who are wondering whether to keep their copies of Delaunay and Blackstone. He explains to the jazz novice how Brian Rust’s three major works, Jazz Records, 1897–1942 (five editions, 1961–1983), The Complete Entertainment Discography, from the Mid-1890s to 1942 (with Allen G. Debus [New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1973]), and The American Dance Band Discography 1917–1942 (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1975) are complementary to each other, and hence all three should be acquired and retained. He explains why one should not expect to see any more volumes of Erik Raben’s accomplished but uncompleted Jazz Records 1942–1980 ([Copenhagen: Stainless/ Wintermoon; JazzMedia, 1989–2007], 7 volumes and 1 CD-ROM, A–G only). By telling some well-researched tales behind the names and book titles, Epperson refreshes many works for the experienced jazz collector, and he leads the novice to dive into the lists of discographies and references in the back of the book.

His closing chapter about the present state of jazz discography may be a little difficult for some readers because of...