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Home , Allen Eager, Bengt Hallberg, Cannonball Adderley, Clifford Brown, Jack Noren, Lars Gullin

Listening to the Blindfold Tests: Olivia Wikle Digital Initiatives Librarian A Sonic Community of 20th Century Artists University of Idaho Leonard Feather

❖ 1914-1994 ❖ Jazz critic, musician, composer, arranger, broadcaster, and producer

Leonard Feather, 1970 Jazz Journalism Blindfold Tests

❖ Format: Feather played several selections of jazz pieces for a “blindfolded” jazz musicians, then asked them to identify who was playing ❖ Feather recorded, edited, and published (in writing) the musicians’ responses

Leonard Feather with , 1975 Blindfold Tests

❖ 1946-1994 ❖ Published in Jazz Magazines Metronome, Downbeat, Record Whirl, and JazzTimes ❖ Broadcast on Feather’s radio show, “Platterbrains”

Louis Armstrong, 1955 & Leonard Feather, broadcasting from the summit on Knob. L.A., 1962 University of Idaho Blindfold Tests

❖ 1953-1986

❖ 33 audio files

❖ Approximately 43 individual tests

❖ Files include misc. interviews, performances, and taped radio broadcasts “the best way to show what musicians really felt about music would be to subject them to an experience where they listened to what they were hearing, and then expressed their opinions. Obviously, they couldn’t be accused of prejudice if they didn’t know who it was they were listening to.”

–Leonard Feather, “90 Months Behind a Blindfold,” Downbeat, June 30, 1954, 61. “Over decades, Feather embarrassed scores of musicians who thought that race or gender were audible, or that studio men can't improvise, or that big names are invariably identifiable.” –Gary Giddins “Leonard Feather Obituary,” 1994 Blindfold Tests in Downbeat

❖ 1951-1970: A pivotal time in jazz history Pearl Bailey and , 1965

Nesuhi Ertegun, Dave Lambert, Leonard Feather, Jack Teagarden, and Gene Lees

LEONARD FEATHER: Well, ah, one thing that might surprise you, or it might not, is that all the records I played were made on the west coast.

PAUL DESMOND: [sighs] Oh

LF: It doesn't, I don't think it proves anything either way, but it ah, it sort of might be of interest. I was just wondering what we can, uh?

PD: That is interesting.

LF: Does it demonstrate anything?

PD: Demonstrates that they have recording studios at both ends of the continent, and that people travel.

LF: Yeah, I guess that’s—, and you get all styles on both coasts, right?

PD: Certainly, I never said anything to the contrary.

LF: No, but so many people have

PD: Oh

LF: and coming from an authoritative voice, it might carry some weight. If you'd, but you haven't said that.

PD: I always thought it was the critics more than anyone else who fostered the East Coast-West Coast …

LF: I think so too.

PD: dichotomy because they need things to write about. They're professional pigeonholers.

LF: That's right.

Paul Desmond Blindfold Test Recording, 1958, University of Idaho Digital Collections “Blindfold Test: The Adderleys Part Two,” Downbeat, April 26, 1962, 43 . Lover, Come Back to Me (from Clifford Brown Memorial, Prestige). Brown, , trumpets; , piano; , baritone ; Arne Domnerus, alto saxophone; Gunnar Johnson, bass; , drums. Recorded in September, 1953, in , .

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY: It’s certainly Clifford Brown and Art Farmer. It has to be 1953. For the time, especially, I thought they both sounded very well. And I always liked Bengt Hallberg’s lyricism. I thought this was just fair Lars Gullin. I didn’t like the alto player, simply because he didn’t swing enough. Sounded like Paul Desmond without Paul Desmond’s pretty sound. And the never really got off the ground.

It was interesting to hear how they sounded then. Brownie was startling, with the same facility he always had. Beautiful. And Farmer had the warm feeling then that he has today.

“Blindfold Test: The Adderleys Part Two,” Downbeat, April 26, 1962, 43

Adderley Brothers Blindfold Test Recording, 1962, University of Idaho Digital Collections Art Pepper. Red Pepper Blues (Contemporary). , bass; , drums; Red Garland, piano.

PAUL DESMOND: Uh, this reminds of that Blindfold Test that Bill Russo took where he heard a record and said it sounded as if he had fallen back into the mainstream. [sniffs] Which killed me at the time because, it seems awful to think that you would, [sighs] change your playing after careful consideration and have somebody else interpret it as an unfortunate accident.

LEONARD FEATHER: yeah [laughs]

PD: And ah, my first thought is that if it' s Lee, he' s drowning and [laughs] that someone should save him. I shouldn't say all these things. Can I edit this later?

LF: [laughs] No [laughs]

PD: That' s not fair.

Paul Desmond Blindfold Test Recording, 1958, University of Idaho Digital Collections Benefits of Listening to the Tests

❖ Nuances of voice lost in written form

❖ Feather’s roll in directing musicians’ responses

❖ Exploring the recordings’ settings and soundscapes Blindfold Test Soundscapes

❖ Blindfold Test, 1960

❖ Herb Ellis Blindfold Test, 1960 Feather’s Scrapbooks & Photos

Charlie Parker and , 1975

Ella Fitzgerald, 1950

Leonard Feather Scrapbook, March 1958 - September 1959 Moving Forward: The Blindfold Tests as a Digital Collection Current Blindfold Test Digital Collection (without contextual information)

https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/blindfold/ Our approach…

❖ Sound Studies

❖ Take “earwitness accounts” seriously: explore non-audible material to learn more about historical sound

❖ Digital Collections

❖ Facilitate access to historical acoustemologies by making it easier for users to encounter not only historical recordings but also related inaudible material, and find connections between media types

❖ Collections as data philosophy

https://github.com/CollectionBuilder/collectionbuilder.github.io Thank you!