most of the content was written by Francis Wilford-Smith himself.
The bulk of the book comprises scripts of the many radio programmes
he presented on BBC Radio between 1979 and 1995. The last series he
presented, broadcast in January and February 1995, was especially
valuable, as it featured the field recordings of Harry Oster, quite
a lot of which has never been issued in any form. Another was
devoted to the output of Bluebird Records (1993), one of his
particular interests, and whose undeserved reputation for blandness
he was determined to correct (a three-part series I wrote for this
magazine in the 1980s was based on Francis Wilford-Smith's
statistical analysis of Bluebird's output). There's also a
bibliography by Rob Ford of Francis's writings in printed form,
which is surprisingly short, given how fluently and informatively
he was able to write for broadcast, and it prompts the thought of
how fortunate we are, then, that he did write all these scripts,
and all the more so that the editors have now brought us that work
in such a useful and attractive form, richly transformed, with all
the added features, into a definitive tribute. Blues & Rhythm Feb
2016
This book is an excellent read on a number of levels getting to
know the man through his witty observations and the wealth of
information offered in the broadcast scripts. By all means get and
enjoy this book. Russ Shor, Vjms Jazz & Blues Mart Spring 2016
Nominated for the 2016 Association for Recorded Sound Collections
Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. The
goal of the ARSC Awards program is to recognize and draw attention
to the finest work now being published in the field of recorded
sound research. The winners will be announced by September, and the
awards will be presented during a banquet at ARSCs annual
conference in May 2017. Additional information about ARSC, the
awards, and this years conference may be found on the ARSC website
at www.arsc-audio.org.
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