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Performers in
the Mavericks in Music Film Preservation event included
Mindi Abair, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Monica Mancini, Diane Schuur
and the Montclair’s Big Band.
Pictured above: Abair, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow,
Foundation Board Member Frances Preston, Caesar, GRAMMY Foundation
Sr. VP Kristen Madsen, Mancini and GRAMMY Foundation VP Griff
Morris |
Mavericks in Music, this year's Music on Film Preservation Project
held at UCLA on Feb. 9, 2005, featured highlights from rare and historical
footage of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and Ina Ray Hutton
And Her Melodears. These female bandleaders and musicians of the
mid-1900's, who enjoyed a brief yet triumphant reign in the spotlight,
took center stage during World War II while their male counterparts
served abroad. Their trailblazing efforts paved the way for generations
of women who aspired to perform as professional musicians. The film
footage is being preserved as part of our archiving and preservation
initiatives. The event included live performances by celebrity guests,
including Diane Schuur, Pastor Shirley Caesar and Mindi Abair, and
commentary from industry icons Leslie Ann Jones, Frances Preston
and Suzanne de Passe.
A vast number of music performances and other music-related content
have been documented on film and video. To address the deteriorating
condition of many of these historic materials, each year the GRAMMY
Foundation partners with archives, artists, foundations and others
with significant collections to identify at-risk media requiring
restoration. With organizations and archives like the Library of
Congress, UCLA Film and Television archives, Woody Guthrie Archives,
Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, the Leonard Bernstein estate
and the Louis Armstrong House and Archives, the GRAMMY Foundation
chronicles and preserves historic music performances captured on
film and video. To add public awareness to the program, each year
the restored footage is featured at a GRAMMY Week screening that
includes live performances and guest speakers who link the past
to the present. The screenings serve to introduce or reintroduce
works from these major contributors to American music not only to
the several thousand people who've attended the events but also
to the generations of music lovers who will be able to access the
content in years to come.
Past projects include live or filmed presentations of Louis Armstrong,
Patti Austin, Shari Belafonte, Leonard Bernstein, Dave Brubeck,
Arlo Guthrie, Lena Horne, Mahalia Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Midori,
Les Paul, Bud Powell, Leontyne Price, Della Reese, Reverend Run,
Arturo Sandoval, Isaac Stern and Bebe Winans. In 2003, Sound Inventions:
A Celebration Of The 125th Anniversary Of The Phonograph featured
contemporary artists making live recordings onto wax cylinders like
those used by Thomas Edison. In 2004, the preservation project was
Soul To Soul, an outstanding 1971 music documentary featuring
Roberta Flack, Les McCann, Wilson Pickett, Santana, the Staple Singers,
Ike and Tina Turner and others in a cultural exchange with Ghana.
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