The Gotham-Attucks Music Publishing Company ("The House of Melody") was an African-American owned firm based in Manhattan, New York, that was formed July 15, 1905, by merger of the Gotham Music Company and the Attucks Music Publishing Company. The Gotham Music Company was founded by composer Will Marion Cook and songwriter Richard Cecil McPherson (aka Cecil Mack) and the Attucks Music Publishing Company, the first African-American music publishing company in the United States, founded in 1904 by Sheperd Nathaniel Edmonds (1874–1941).[1][2] Gotham-Attucks ceased to operate as a legitimate music publisher after its sale to the "song shark" Ferdinand E. Miersch in 1911.[3][4][5][6]

History

Sheet music cover: Bandanna Land (1908); Andréa Stephen Chevalier De Takacs (1880–1919)[7](illustrator); cameo photos: Bert Williams (White Studio) and George Walker

"Attucks" was the surname of Crispus Attucks (1723–1770), an African American widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre, which, by extension, makes him the first American killed in the American Revolution.

The Gotham-Attucks firm, according to Wayne D. Shirley in 1987, then a Music Specialist in the Music Division of the Library of Congress,[Note 1] was a small music publisher with relatively low output, but notable for the music it published. Despite never publishing more than twenty pieces a year over its eight-year existence, Gotham-Attucks managed to produce a remarkable number of important pieces. Its roster of composers and lyricists, according to Shirley, was impressive: Will Marion Cook, Bert Williams, Cecil Mack, Alex Rogers (né Alexander Claude Rogers; 1876–1930), William Tyers [fr] (1870–1924), Chris Smith, James Reese Europe, Wm. H. Dixon (1879-1917) "Malinda, Come Down To Me," Tom Lemonier (1870–1945), James Tim Brymn, Henry Creamer, and Ford Dabney – all of whom influential in the history of popular music in the early years of the 20th century. Shirley asserted that, aside from an impressive roster of people, many of the works published by Gotham-Attucks during its short tenure are still important, especially "Nobody," Bert Williams's signature song, and "Shine," a song with an enduring legacy that, among other things, has been included by musicologist Richard Crawford in The Core Repertory of Jazz Standards on Record, 1900–1942.[8]

Personnel

Gotham-Attucks Music Company

1907
42 West 28th Street, Manhattan, New York[9]
Executives[10]
(Capital $10,000)
Directors

Extant music

Attucks Music Publishing Company

Gotham Music Publishing Company

Gotham-Attucks Music Company

Form Abyssinia (1906)
Gotham-Attucks (continued)
From Bandanna Land
Gotham-Attucks (continued)
From His Honor the Barber
Gotham-Attucks (continued)

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Wayne Douglas Shirley (born 1936), from 1965 to 2002, worked at the Library of Congress, first as a reference librarian, then music specialist in the Music Division, retiring as Senior Music Specialist. (OCLC 4779683717)
  2. ^ Mord Allen (né Junius Mordecai Allen; 1875–1953) was an African American poet.

References

  1. ^ Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows (Vol. 1 of 2) (2nd ed.), by Henry T. Sampson (born 1934), Scarecrow Press (2014), p. 37; OCLC 868240874; ISBN 978-0-8108-8350-5
  2. ^ "The House of Melody: A List of Publications of the Gotham-Attucks Music Company at the Library of Congress," by Wayne D. Shirley, The Black Perspective in Music, Eileen Jackson Southern, managing editor-publisher, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 1987, pps. 79–112; OCLC 6033022422, 7493510050; ISSN 0090-7790 (accessible via JSTOR at www.jstor.org/stable/1215114; subscription required)
  3. ^ Tin Pan Alley: The Composers, the Songs, the Performers and Their Times, by David A. Jason, Omnibus Press (1988, 1990, 2011) pps. 32–33; OCLC 26315867, 472987867; ISBNs 0-7119-2149-0, 978-0-7119-2149-8
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of African American Music (Vol. 1 of 3), Emmett George Price III (executive ed.), Tammy L. Kernodle, and Horace J. Maxille, Jr. (associate eds.), Greenwood Press (2011), pps. 100–101; OCLC 1130985647
  5. ^ Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880–1930, by David A Jasen and Gene Jones, Routledge (2013), 124–125; OCLC 1100434419, 476766319
  6. ^ Trow's General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, Vol. 120, For the Year Ending July 1, 1907, Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company (1907), p. 410
    Note: The Gotham-Attucks Music Company ceased to operate as a legitimate music publisher after its sale to the "song shark" Ferdinand E. Miersch in 1911
  7. ^ "André De Takacs" by Bill Edwards (né William G. Motley; born 1959), ragpiano.com Website administrator: Bill Edwards (no date); Contributors: Andrea Ellis and Keith Emmons (retrieved February 21, 2020)
  8. ^ Jazz Standards on Record, 1900–1942: A Core Repertory (monograph), by Richard Crawford & Jeffrey Magee, Center for Black Music Research (Columbia College Chicago), Vol. 25 (1992); OCLC 876309151, 499244911; ISBNs 0-9299-1103-2, 978-0-9299-1103-8
  9. ^ "Trow's General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx" (part 2 of 3) (re: "Gotham-Attucks Music"), Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company, Vol. 120, July 1, 1907, p. 570
  10. ^ The Trow City Directory Co.'s Copartnership and Corporation Directory, Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company, Vol. 54, March 1906
  11. ^ "Barron's Exclusive Club, Harlem" on Flickr (re: "Barron D. Wilkins"), by Matthew X. Kiernan (born abt 1950), (no date; photo taken September 9, 2013), NYBAI13-5216 (retrieved February 24, 2020)
  12. ^ Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by Eileen Jackson Southern (1920–2002), Greenwood Press (1982); LCCN 81-2586; OCLC 902119012; ISBN 0-313-21339-9 (borrowable online via Internet Archive)
    "Vaughn (sic), James, p. 383
  13. ^ "Gay Music His Death Song – Warner Crosby Finishes Score Then Shoots Himself," The Sun (New York), April 29, 1907, p. 2, col. 6 (of 7) (accessible via Newspapers.com; subscription required)
  14. ^ ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
    3rd ed., compiled and edited by the Lynn Farnol Group, Inc. (1966), pps. 149–150; LCCN 66-20214
  15. ^ "Edward H. Pfeiffer" by Bill Edwards (né William G. Motley; born 1959), ragpiano.com Website administrator: Bill Edwards (no date)

External links

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