Samuel Charters (born Samuel Barclay Charters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1929; his name also appears as Sam Charters) is an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He is a noted and widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz music, as well as a writer of fiction. Nickname: Steel City, Iron City, City of Champions, City of Bridges, City of Colleges, P-Burgh, The Burgh Motto: Benigno Numine Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Allegheny County Founded 1758 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area    - City 151. ... Official language(s) English, Pennsylvania Dutch Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that typically follows a twelve-bar structure. ... Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ...

Overview

Charters was born and spent his childhood in Pittsburgh. He first became enamored of blues music in 1937, after hearing Bessie Smith's version of Jimmy Cox's song, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Charters 2004). He moved with his family to Sacramento, California at the age of 15. He attended high schools in Pittsburgh and California and attended Sacramento City College, graduating in 1949. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California in 1949. This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Nickname: River City Location of Sacramento in California County Sacramento Government  - Mayor Heather Fargo Area  - City  99. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Sacramento City College is a two-year community college located in Sacramento, California. ... The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

In the 1940s and 1950s, Charters purchased numerous old recordings of American blues musicians, eventually amassing a huge and valuable collection.

In 1951, at the age of 21, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he absorbed the history and culture he had previously only read about; he lived there for most of the 1950s. He served for two years in the United States Army (1951-53) and began to study jazz clarinet with George Lewis, but soon acquired an interest in rural blues. In 1954, he and his wife began conducting field recordings (initially for Folkways Records throughout the United States, and then in the Bahamas in 1958). Their 1959 recordings of the Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins proved instrumental to Hopkins' rediscovery. Nickname: Location in the State of Louisiana and the United States Coordinates: Country United States State Louisiana Parish Orleans Founded 1718 Government  - Mayor Ray Nagin (D) Area  - City  350. ... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city Baton Rouge [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... The United States Army is one of the armed forces of the United States and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... George Lewis (13 July 1900 – 31 December 1969) was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in his later decades of life. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Folkways Records is a record label founded by Moses Asch. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Charters began his writing career in 1959 with The Country Blues. Since that time, his writings have been influential, bringing to light aspects of African American musics and culture that had previously been largely unknown to the general public. His writings include numerous books on the subjects of blues, jazz, African music, and Bahamian music, as well as liner notes for numerous sound recordings. An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Africa is a large and diverse continent, consisting of dozens of countries, hundreds of languages and thousands of races, tribes and ethnic groups. ... Junkanoo celebration in Nassau The music of the Bahamas is associated primarily with junkanoo, a celebration which occurs on Boxing Day (December 26) and again on New Years Day (January 1). ...

From approximately 1966 to 1970 he worked as a producer for the anti-war band Country Joe and the Fish. He became thoroughly disenchanted with American politics during the Vietnam War and moved with his family to Sweden, establishing a new life there despite not being able to speak the language at first. He divides his time between Sweden (where he has a residence permit to live, though maintaining his U.S. citizenship) and Connecticut. He has translated into English the works of the Swedish writer Tomas Tranströmer and helped produce the music of various Swedish musical groups. Country Joe and the Fish, from the cover of Feel Like Im Fixin to Die Country Joe and the Fish was a rock music/folk music band known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1965 to 1970. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... Tomas Tranströmer (b. ...

Charters is married to the writer, editor, Beat generation scholar, photographer, and pianist Ann Charters (b. 1936), whom he met at the University of California, Berkeley during the 1954-55 school year in a music class; she is a professor of English and American literature at the University of Connecticut.[1] The two have collaborated together on many projects, particularly their extensive field recording work. “Beats” redirects here. ... Ann Charters was a close friend of Jack Kerouac. ... Sather tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ... The University of Connecticut, commonly known as UConn, is the State of Connecticuts land-grant university. ...

Charters is a Grammy Award winner and his book The Country Blues was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1991 as one of the "Classics of Blues Literature."[2] In 2000, Charters and his wife donated the Samuel & Ann Charters Archive of Blues and Vernacular African American Musical Culture to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. The archive contains materials collected during the couple's decades of work documenting and preserving African American music throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. The archive's materials include more than 2,500 sound recordings, as well as video recordings, photographs, monographs, sheet music, field notes, correspondence, musicians' contracts, and correspondence.[3][4][5] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Blues Hall of Fame is a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. ... Storrs, Connecticut - Near the Hawley Armory Gymnasium Storrs is a census-designated place and part of the town of Mansfield, Connecticut located in eastern Tolland County. ...

Charters' most recent book, New Orleans: Playing a Jazz Chorus, is scheduled for release in September 2006.

Books by Samuel Charters

• 1959 - The Country Blues. New York: Rinehart. Reprinted by Da Capo Press, with a new introduction by the author, in 1975.
• 1963 - The Poetry of the Blues. With photos by Ann Charters. New York: Oak Publications.
• 1975 - The Legacy of the Blues: A Glimpse Into the Art and the Lives of Twelve Great Bluesmen: An Informal Study. London: Calder & Boyars.
• 1981 - The Roots of the Blues: An African Search. Boston: M. Boyars.
• 1984 - Jelly Roll Morton's Last Night at the Jungle Inn: An Imaginary Memoir. New York: M. Boyars.
• 1986 - Louisiana Black: A Novel. New York: M. Boyars.
• 1999 - The Day is So Long and the Wages So Small: Music on a Summer Island. New York: Marion Boyars.
• 2004 - Walking a Blues Road: A Selection of Blues Writing, 1956-2004. New York: Marion Boyars.
• 2006 - New Orleans: Playing a Jazz Chorus. Marion Boyars.

With Leonard Kunstadt

• 1962 - Jazz: A History of the New York Scene. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.

External links

• "Blues Faces: Celebrating the Work of Sam & Ann Charters" (October 21, 2000)

Listening

• 1984 interview by Don Swaim