Emile Berliner

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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Technical GRAMMY Award: Emile Berliner

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Paul Charosh pays tribute to the audio pioneer behind the gramophone and microphone
Paul Charosh
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 56th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2014 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

Emile Berliner was born in 1851 in Hanover, Germany, emigrated to the United States in 1870, and settled in Washington, D.C. During this decade a number of inventions of lasting importance were patented, including the telephone and the phonograph. Berliner's restless, inventive mind focused on these devices and he devoted his energies to improving them. 

His initial concern was with the telephone. Berliner wanted to develop a more efficient transmission and reception process and make the telephone a practical means of communication. He is known to his biographer, Frederic Wile, as "the maker of the microphone" and today an award with this title is offered annually by the Berliner family. During the 1920s modified versions of the microphone became routinely incorporated into the recording process.

Berliner's interest in sound recording prompted an attempt to improve upon Edison's phonograph and in 1887 he received the first of several patents. At this time those working with the phonograph believed it could become a voice transcription device useful in business offices and did not see its potential as a means of home entertainment.   Sound waves were cut vertically into revolving wax cylinders. These objects were fragile, difficult to store, and subject to attracting mold which rendered them unplayable. No method of reproducing copies of a specific cylinder existed. If a cylinder holding sound that was worth preserving was rendered unplayable, one had to record another one.

Berliner recorded on a disc, and sound waves were cut laterally, thus eliminating a source of sound distortion intrinsic in the vertical-cut process. Discs had a center hole and were held in place by a spindle in the center of the turntable on which the disc rested. His discs did not deteriorate with time, were easy to store, and if not abused, sound today as they did when recorded and sold during the 1890s. Berliner's device also allowed for the creation of a master disc from which many identical copies could be made. Berliner also understood the value of the gramophone as a source of entertainment and in 1895 he procured capital from a group of businessmen to found the Berliner Gramophone Company, which was instituted to manufacture Berliner's sound discs and the gramophone that played them. 

Though he passed away in 1929, Berliner's vision encouraged the development of the modern record industry, dependent through most of the 20th century on profits accrued from the sale of identically recorded discs distributed in mass quantities.

(Paul Charosh is a widely published researcher of historic sound recordings and 19th century American popular music. A retired educator, he taught for many years in the Sociology and Computer Information Science departments at Brooklyn College. In 2012 he published Berliner Gramophone Records In America: A Discography (Denver: Mainspring Press), a reference for archivists and advanced collectors.)

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Armando Manzanero

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Lucero pays tribute to Mexico's master singer/songwriter/pianist
Lucero
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 56th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2014 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

How easy it seems to talk about music and songs. They have been part of our lives since we can remember. But rarely do we stop to think about where these songs come from. Those songs that make us fall in love, that give us goose bumps, that make us want to cry or laugh, and that have been with us in so many memorable moments of our lives.

It's then that I think of the master, Armando Manzanero. And automatically, in my mind, the melody and lyrics to "Adoro," "Somos Novios," "Contigo Aprendí," "Esta Tarde Vi Llover," "Voy A Apagar La Luz," and "No," among many others, begin to play. They are a part of my life and my surroundings — the pure romanticism reflected in their lyrics. Writing and singing of love, Armando Manzanero has become part of millions of us, although some are not as lucky as I am to know him.

Talking about him and his songs is like talking with family at our kitchen tables. He has taken over our hearts with such ease. He has entered our lives to fill them with wonderful sounds, accompanied by his piano, his voice and the vast amount of talented singers who have interpreted his songs with pride for decades. We've heard his songs in many languages and many countries, delivering the flavor of his native Yucatán to unexpected places. He makes me proud to be Mexican like him. It was a delight to have performed a duet with him on his song "No Existen Limites," and it is a joy to hear him tell his stories.

He is a remarkable man, whose every word gives us the opportunity to feel and vibrate with his inspiration. How many times have we dedicated his songs? How many times have we used his songs as the soundtrack to our love affairs and heartbreaks? How often have we hummed at least one of his songs? I seem to lose track.

That's how music is. It has to do with math, but math doesn't explain what we feel or what occurs within us when we hear his melodies. Thus, the number of hits that Don Armando Manzanero's musical legacy continues to leave many generations is truly staggering.

With these few humble words I try to express my admiration, respect and love for a man who is measured from the land to the sky, for a man who has given us his talent and inspiration, more than he can perhaps imagine himself. Long live our Armando Manzanero.

(A native of Mexico City, Emmy-winning actress, singer, and seven-time Latin GRAMMY Awards show host, Lucero performed "No Existen Límites" with Armando Manzanero on his 2001 duets album Duetos. To date, she has sold more than 27 million albums, and her most recent album, Lucero En Concierto, was released in November 2013.)

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Maud Powell

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Rachel Barton Pine pays tribute to an iconic violinist
Rachel Barton Pine
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 56th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2014 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

Every industry needs its pioneers and the recording industry found one in legendary American violinist Maud Powell. She stood for the highest achievement in the art of violin playing and radiated an unbounded spirit of adventure. 

In 1904 Powell stepped into a recording studio to play into a recording horn and helped launch the science and art of recording the violin. She became the first solo instrumentalist to record for the Victor Talking Machine Company's Celebrity Artist series (Red Seal label), and for the first time, violin recordings entered into the Victor Red Seal catalog.  

Recognized as America's greatest violinist and ranked among the preeminent musicians in the world, Powell was known for breaking barriers. Her magnetic personality, brilliant artistry, scintillating technique, and versatility were unequaled and she used them to introduce classical music to countless new audiences at a time when few performers dared to face the uncertain concert conditions and hardships of travel in North America. She championed music composed by women and by Americans alongside the music of Europeans. She fathomed the depths of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius violin concertos, giving them their American premieres when other violinists balked at their difficulties. She was among the first white instrumentalists to integrate the works of composers of African descent into recitals and recordings.

Powell recognized recording technology's potential to aid in her mission to bring the best in classical music to people everywhere. She recorded prolifically from 1904 until her untimely death at 52 in 1920, making more than 100 acoustic recordings. Powell mined the phonograph's potential to elevate the public's musical taste as she recorded only music that met the highest artistic standards. Through her recordings of short classical works and condensed versions of longer works, her artistry helped to revolutionize music appreciation. 

Powell's musical heritage is preserved by Naxos in four meticulously remastered CDs of 87 of her recordings. Even now, her playing as captured by the recording horn sets the standard by which today's classical recording artists are measured. 

Countless individual lives have been inspired and enriched by Maud Powell. Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler and Yehudi Menuhin considered her to be one of their musical heroes. Leading concert artists today include her repertoire in their programs. Students are inspired by her high ideals and mission to enrich the lives of everyone through music.

Maud Powell is the violinist I most admire. Dedicated to her art, brave in her repertoire choices, nurturing of young artists, tireless in utilizing music to break down social barriers and elevate society, her example inspires me every day.

(American violinist Rachel Barton Pine is internationally renowned for her interpretations of great classical works that combine her gift for emotional communication and her scholarly fascination with historical research. She is the music editor and advisor for Maud Powell Favorites, a collection of Powell's transcriptions and music dedicated to Powell, and in 2007 she released a best-selling recording of these treasures: American Virtuosa: Tribute To Maud Powell.) 

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Kris Kristofferson

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Rodney Crowell pays tribute to a country music icon
Rodney Crowell
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 56th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2014 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

When in 1971 the news reached my small corner of the world that there was this helicopter-piloting, William Blake-quoting Rhodes scholar by the name of Kris Kristofferson, whose songs were transforming the country and popular music airwaves, I was marooned six nights a week in an East Texas Holiday Inn lounge, fielding requests for "Scotch And Soda" and "99 Bottles Of Beer" from a handful of traveling salesmen and gin swills whose nightcap needs did not include meaningful music. Fortunately, recent recordings of "Help Me Make It Through The Night," "Me And Bobby McGee," "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," "For The Good Times," and "Why Me Lord" had begun seeping into the disinterested listeners' nonmusical psyche, and, practically overnight, introducing even the most obscure Kristofferson tune seemed to trigger in the Old Mill Club clientele something resembling audience refinement.

Despite the cold fact that the typical "Mill" crowd consisted of, maybe, six inebriated tractor suppliers, a table full of box tape wholesalers and a couple of recently divorced medical assistants, experiencing this subtle shift in the public's taste bolstered in me the notion that I too could someday carve out for myself a career as an artist.

Forty-three years later, having gotten to know the man and his wife, Lisa, I feel modestly qualified to scribble down these few words framing his extraordinary musical legacy: By creating a narrative style that introduced intelligence, humor, emotional eloquence, spiritual longing, male vulnerability, and a devilish sensuality — indeed, a form of eroticism — to country music, Kris Kristofferson, without compromising the content and quality of his work, did as much to expand the mainstream accessibility of an all-too-often misunderstood art form as Roy Acuff, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles (I'm thinking of Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music) and, more recently, Garth Brooks. And, lest we forget, the man is one hell of an accomplished actor. 

(A GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter and 56th GRAMMY nominee for Best Americana Album for Old Yellow Moon with Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell was featured on the 2006 album The Pilgrim: A Celebration Of Kris Kristofferson with a cover of "Come Sundown," which is featured on Kristofferson's 1970 GRAMMY Hall Of Fame-inducted debut album. Six years later, Kristofferson was featured on Crowell's 2012 album Kin: Songs By Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell.)

 

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Trustees Award: Jim Marshall

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Henry Diltz and Graham Nash pay tribute to one of music's most iconic photographers
Henry Diltz and Graham Nash
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 56th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2014 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

Jim Marshall was my guru. He told me so himself. He was the guru of most of today's music photographers because he was one of the first and one of the best. His mantra was "Get the picture!"

I met him in the mid-'60s. He worked mostly in San Francisco and I worked mostly in L.A., but our paths crossed at the Monterey Pop Festival and at Woodstock, and then more often as the years went by.

There are many colorful adjectives that come to mind when remembering Jim: irascible, impatient, explosive, but always very, very kindhearted. He liked to drink and tell stories and he loved pretty women. "Cars, guns and cameras always get me into trouble," he used to say. He brooked no denial as he waded right in with his little Leica clicking quietly and constantly. His eye was amazing as he caught the essence of each scene before him. His subjects loved his energy and commitment to the moment. He was always very much in the moment.

I had always known Jim for his photos of San Francisco's rich music scene: the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Santana. I knew his famous photo of Johnny Cash giving the finger (a message to the warden of the San Quentin State Prison), but I was totally unprepared for the breadth of his subject matter the day I walked into a gallery in L.A.'s Bergamot Station that was exhibiting his work. There were several big rooms whose walls were completely covered with his photos from floor to ceiling with no space in between. I saw old blues singers, civil rights marches, baseball players, famous comedians, beatniks, hippies, and jazz musicians. I never saw so many pictures on a wall in my life. That huge collection of images is his living gift to us all.

Jim had no family as long as I knew him; his family was his friends, all of whom have hilarious and harried "Jim" stories they love to share. Some involve guns, some involve drugs, all involve the "F" word (his favorite), and all include an awe and a warm feeling for the man we all loved.

We still love you, Jim!

— Henry Diltz

The world is a better place because of the talent and vision of my friend Jim Marshall. He, of course, took countless iconic photographs over the years and always brought a deeper insight into the world of photography and music. His images can be likened to haiku poetry: everything in its proper place … no "extra" information … only the very essences necessary to convey what he wants us to see. Never one to be dissuaded from a good shot, he opened our eyes to the wonders of his portraits. Jim's images always have a sense of completeness and his ability to compose instantly is renowned. It's possible that I took the last portrait of Jim shortly before his untimely passing. Jim may be gone but his images will absolutely stand the test of time and be around for us to see and enjoy for years to come.

— Graham Nash

(With a career spanning more than 40 years, photographer Henry Diltz is responsible for capturing iconic images of historic events such as Woodstock and artists including Blondie; Eric Clapton; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; the Doors; and Led Zeppelin; among countless others. In 2001 Diltz co-founded the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which represents some of the most renowned photographers in music.)

(A GRAMMY-winning founding member of Crosby, Stills And Nash and the Hollies, and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Graham Nash is also a photographer and published author. His photographic work is collected in the book Eye To Eye: Photographs By Graham Nash. In 2008 he curated others' photographic work in Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'N' Roll Photographs Selected By Graham Nash (2009). Since 2005 the first IRIS 3047 printer owned by Nash's digital printing company, Nash Editions, and one of its first published works — his 1969 portrait of David Crosby — have been in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.)