Leading Musical Performers (Popular Music and Jazz), 1900-1950 by Roger D. Kinkle

First published in 1974 as a four-volume set entitled The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950, this indispensable reference tool originally consisted of two volumes devoted to 2,006 biographical entries replete with lists of recommended recordings, and another volume consisting of year-by-year lists of Broadway Musicals (with casts and musical credits), Popular Songs (with composer credits), Movie Musicals (from 1929 on), and Representative Recordings listed alphabetically by artist. The final volume comprised Indexes of Personal Names, Broadway and Movie Musicals, and Popular Songs, and several Appendices, which included lists of Down Beat and Metronome poll winners, Academy Award winners and Nominees for Music (1934-1972), and Numerical Listings of Principal Record Labels from the mid-1920s through the early 1940s. A mammoth undertaking previously unknown in the world of jazz and pop music, it had precedent only in Leonard Feather’s considerably less embracing work in the 1960s.

In this first revised version since the original publication, Kinkle has expanded the biographical entries to include 2,150 names and brought the factual data up to date as of 1996. Completing the second of these volumes is the list Popular Songs, referenced to the individual name entries under which they can be found. The third and smaller volume in this set consists of Additions and Corrections to Volumes I and II, and, for those who already own the first edition and are on a tight budget this 372-page supplement can be purchased separately for $47.50.

Originally Published November 1, 1998