Maureen Russell's blog

From the 1920s through the early 1950s, Central Avenue was the economic and social center for African American Los Angeles. It was also a hub for all Southern Californians who wanted to hear the latest and best in jazz.

The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is thrilled to announce that the second round of recordings from our collections are now available at California Light and Sound Collection on the Internet Archive.  California Light and Sound is a project of the

Charlotte Heth has a long and distinguished history at UCLA.  In 1973, she began teaching a survey course on American Indian music.  In 1975 she completed her disseration in Ethnomusicology, "Stomp dance music of the Oklahoma Cherokee: a study of contemporary practice with special reference to the Illinois District Council Ground."  Heth was director of UCLA's

It all began as an assignment for Ethnomusicology 205.  The two archivists (Aaron and Maureen) suggested archival collections to research that might specifically interest each student in the class.  For Marc Bolin, we could think of no better choice than the

Don Ellis (1934-1978) was a jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader.  Ellis won a Grammy in 1972 for Best Instrumental Arrangement for the Theme From The French Connection.  He is probably best known for his extensive musical experimentation.  Ellis’ rhythmic innovations came as a direct result of his studies in non-Western music

James Arkatov was born in 1920 in Odessa, Russia and raised in San Francisco, where his father, Alexander Arkatov, owned a photography salon.  In 1938, he was invited by Fritz Feiner to join the Pittsburgh Symphony.  Later, he joined the San Francisco Symphony with Pierre Monteux, and went on to be principal cellist of the

The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is thrilled to announce that the first 54 recordings from our collections are now available at California Light and Sound Collection on the Internet Archive. 

As probably everyone knows, Mantle Hood (1918-2005) was the Founder and DIrector of the UCLA Institute of Ethnomusicology.  Hood was on the UCLA Faculty from 1956 to 1975.  As Chris Waterman said to the LA Times in 2005, "Mantle Ho

June is African American Music Appreciation Month.  As the Presidential Proclamation explains in part: 

The Music of Persia Performance Group was founded in 1959-1960, under the direction of Hormoz Farhat (now Emeritus Professor of Music, Trinity College, University of Dublin).  Professor Farhat is perhaps best known for his book, The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music (Cambridge University Press, 2004), now available on Google Boo