Bibliography

Eileen Southern's Scholarly Output

Eileen Southern was an immensely productive scholar, and this bibliography marks a fresh step towards compiling a full record of what she wrote. It also includes publications about her scholarship and information related to her archival legacy. The citations were drawn from several main sources: Southern’s curriculum vitae circa 1989 (housed in the Harvard University Archives), citations in RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale), WorldCat (an international union catalog), and a bibliography of Southern’s writings by Josephine Wright (in New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen Southern, see below). The latter is particularly noteworthy, as it was compiled decades before digital sources were available. Even though we took care in compiling our entries, we recognize that work still remains in obtaining a comprehensive account of Southern’s publications, with each detail in place.

There are striking aspects to Southern’s impressive list of publications. First is the large number of articles and reviews for The Black Perspective in Music, the journal that she began issuing in 1973. Not only did she edit that publication, but Southern also contributed frequently to its contents, at times doing so anonymously. Second is the degree to which Southern was clearly the go-to source about Black music for her era. One such example is The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and published in London in 1980, for which Southern wrote the conceptual article “Afro-American Music,” as well as 24 biographies of Black musicians. Third is her historic position as the first African American scholar to have an article published in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, the flagship publication in musicology that began in 1948. Southern’s contribution, “Foreign Music in German Manuscripts of the Fifteenth Century,” appeared twenty years later. Fourth, her occasional contributions to general-interest publications is notable, such as Black World and Stagebill (Lincoln Center). Through them, Southern participated in what today we call the “public humanities.” Finally, the “conversations” with notable musicians that Southern published in The Black Perspective in Music stand out, both because she sat down with such legendary figures as Eubie Blake and William Grant Still and because she employed oral history, a methodology that was struggling for acceptance among musicologists of her era. 

Here is the most notable aspect of all: even as Southern faced gender and racial discrimination on some of the campuses where she taught, she continued to write, doing so steadily, prolifically, and constructively.

User Note:

The listings below are chronological within each category, after the section of archival materials. An asterisk (*) indicates an entry for which Eileen Southern served as editor.

Archival Materials 

Columbia College Chicago, "Guide to the Eileen Southern Collection" (2020). CBMR Collection Guides / Finding Aids. 36. https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cmbr_guides/36

Eileen Southern, interview by Judith Walzer, 1981. Oral History of Tenured Women in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Henry A. Murray Research Center. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CR02PG

Eileen Southern Personal Archive, 1936-1993. HUM 253, Harvard University Archives. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua04017/catalog 

The Eileen Jackson Southern Papers, The Archives, Manuscripts, and Rare Books Department, John B. Cade Library, Southern University, and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Fisk University John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, Special Collections & Archives.

Eileen Jackson Southern Collection, Group 1, 1968-1975

Eileen Jackson Southern Collection, Group 2, 1971-1983

Eileen Jackson Southern Collection, Group 3, 1973-1975

Works About Eileen Southern

Sara Taber and Jessica Ancker. “Women Professors at Harvard: ‘The Most Doggedly Persistent.’” Radcliffe Quarterly 72, no. 3 (September 1986): 10-13. https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:427992496$122i 

Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. “Eileen Jackson Southern: Quiet Revolutionary.” In New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen Southern, edited by Josephine Wright with Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1992, 3-15.

This book is a Festschrift for Southern. In addition to Floyd’s introduction about her, it includes chapters by the following scholars (listed in the order they appear in the book): David Fallows, John M. Ward, Howard Mayer Brown, Jan LaRue, J. Roland Braithwaite, Anne Dhu Shapiro, Horace Clarence Boyer, Dena J. Epstein, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Yvonne C. Williams, Frank Tirro, Thomas L. Riis, Richard Crawford, William Ferris, Olly Wilson, Rulan Chao Pian, Adrienne Fried Block, Josephine Wright, Doris Evans McGinty, D. Antoinette Handy, and George A. Ryder. Josephine Wright also contributed two bibliographies.

Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. "Eileen Jackson Southern: A Tribute and a Mandate." ISAM [Institute for Studies in American Music] Newsletter 32, no. 1 (Fall 2002): 8.

David Horn. “Eileen Southern.” Popular Music 22, no. 3 (October 2003): 378-79.

Works by Eileen Southern

Books and Music Editions

“The Use of Negro Folksong in Symphonic Forms.” Master’s thesis, University of Chicago, 1941.

“The Buxheim Organ Book.” PhD diss., New York University, 1961. 

The Buxheim Organ Book. Brooklyn, NY: The Institute of Medieval Music, 1963.

The Music of Black Americans: A History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971. 2nd edition 1983. 3rd edition 1997. 

Translations of The Music of Black Americans:

French:

Histoire de la musique noire américaine. Translated by Claude Yelnick. Paris: Buchet-Chastel, 1976, 1992. Translation of the 1st edition, reissued in 1992.

Chinese: 

Meiguo hei ren yin yue shi. Translated by Huaqing Yuan. Beijing: Ren min yin yue chu ban she, 1983. Probably a translation of the 1st edition. 

Spanish:

Historia de la música negra norteamericana. Translated by Ramón Polledo. Madrid: Tres Cantos, 2001. Translation of the 3rd edition.

Italian:

La musica dei neri americani: dai canti degli schiavi ai Public Enemy. Melinda Mele. Milano: Il saggiatore, 2007. Probably a translation of the 3rd edition. 

Readings in Black American Music. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971. Revised edition 1983. 

*Anonymous Pieces in the MS El Escorial IV.a.24. [no place]: American Institute of Musicology; Neuhausen-Stuttgart: Hänssler-Verlag, 1981.

*Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982.

Eileen Southern and Josephine Wright, compilers. Afro-American Traditions in Song, Sermon, Tale, and Dance, 1600s-1920: An Annotated Bibliography of Literature, Collections, and Artworks. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990.

*African American Theater [Musical plays Out of Bondage by Joseph Bradford and Peculiar Sam, or, The Underground Railroad by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins.] Nineteenth-Century American Musical Theater 9. New York: Garland, 1994.

Eileen Southern and Josephine Wright. Images: Iconography of Music in African-American Culture, 1770s-1920s. Music in African-American Culture, edited by Josephine Wright. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. 

Articles, Chapters, and Editions

"The Negro's Contribution to the Arts in the United States." Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Bulletin 31 (March 1945): 43-55.

“An Index to Das Buxheimer Orgelbuch.” Notes 19, no. 1 (1961): 47-50.

“Some Keyboard Basse Dances of the Fifteenth Century.” Acta Musicologica 35, no. 2/3 (1963): 114–24.

"Basse Dance Music in Some German Manuscripts of the Fifteenth Century." In Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music, edited by Jan LaRue, 738-755. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.

"The American Musicological Society and Music Library Association Translations Center." College Music Symposium 8 (1968): 44-47.

"Foreign Music in German Manuscripts of the Fifteenth Century." Journal of the American Musicological Society 21, no. 3 (Autumn 1968): 258-285.

“El Escorial, Monastery Library Ms. IV.a.24." Musica Disciplina 23 (1969): 41-79.

"An Origin for the Negro Spiritual." The Black Scholar 3, no. 10 (June 1972): 8-13. Reprinted in The Theatre of Black Americans volume 1: Roots & Rituals and The Image Makers, edited by Errol Hill, 89-98. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980.

“Needs for Research in Black-American Music.” College Music Symposium 13 (1973): 43-52.

“Some Guidelines: Music Research and the Black Aesthetic.” Black World 23, no. 1 (November 1973): 4-13.

"Afro-American Musical Materials.” The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 24-32.

"Conversation with Eubie Blake." The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 50-59.

“In Retrospect: Early African Musicians in Europe.” The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 2 (Autumn 1973): 166-168.

“In Retrospect: Harry T. Burleigh.” Black Perspective in Music 2, no. 1 (Spring 1974): 75-86.

“An Early Black-Music Concert.” The Black Perspective in Music 2, no. 2 (Autumn 1974): 191-208.

“Whither the Black Contemporary Composer?" WFLN Philadelphia Guide (February 1975): 10-12.

"In Retrospect: Black Musicians and Early Ethiopian Minstrelsy." The Black Perspective in Music 3, no. 1 (Spring 1975): 77-99. Reprinted in Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth-Century Blackface Minstrelsy, edited by Annemarie Bean, James V. Hatch, and Brooks McNamara, 43-63. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1996.

“In Retrospect: A Pictorial Survey.” A Birthday Offering to William Grants Still Upon the Occasion of His Eightieth Anniversary. The Black Perspective in Music 3, Special Issue, no. 2 (May 1975): 207-221.

“Conversation with William Grant Still." The Black Perspective in Music 3, Special Issue, no. 2 (May 1975): 165- 176. Reprinted in ASCAP Today 7, no. 2 (1975): 18-22. 

"Black-American Composers of Classical Music.” Music Educators Journal 62, no. 3 (November 1975): 46-59.

Afro-American Pioneers in Music from Newport Gardner to William Grant Still. Tape recorded for use by Voice of America. [197-]. Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress.

“Conversation with Fela Sowande, High Priest of Music.” The Black Perspective in Music 4, no. 1 (Spring 1976): 90-104.

"On Folk Music"; "On Concert Artists: Thomas Green Bethune, Sissieretta Jones"; "A Portfolio of Music: The Philadelphia Afro-American School." The Black Perspective in Music 4, Special Issue, no. 2 (July 1976). 

"Black Music in the United States.” National Scene Magazine: Magazine Supplement (November-December 1976): 5-6, 10.

“A Partial Report on Black Women in College Music Teaching.” In The Status of Women in College Music: Preliminary Studies College Music Society Report no. 1, edited by Carol Neuls-Bates, 22–25. Iowa City: College Music Society, 1976.

“Songs of Slavery.” Odyssey (1976): 35-36.

"Frank Johnson of Philadelphia and His Promenade Concerts." The Black Perspective in Music 5, no. 1 (Spring 1977): 3-29.

“Conversation with Olly Wilson." The Black Perspective in Music 5, no. 1 (Spring 1977): 90-103; 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 57-70.

“Musical Practices in Black Churches of Philadelphia and New York.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 30, no. 2 (Summer 1977): 296-312. Reprinted as “Musical Practices in Black Churches of New York and Philadelphia, ca. 1800-1844” in Afro-Americans in New York Life and History (January 1980): 61-77.

“The Black Composer.” Stagebill 4, no. 12 (August 1977): 11, 21-23. Published for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City.

"In Retrospect: Black Music Concerts in Carnegie Hall, 1912-1915." The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 71-88.

Introduction to Famous Modern Negro Musicians, by Penman Lovinggood, v-viii. Brooklyn, NY: Press Forum Co., 1921. Da Capo Press Music Reprint Series. New York: Da Capo Press, 1978.

“Conversation with Clarence Whiteman." The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 2 (Autumn 1978): 169-188.

"In Retrospect: Gussie Lord Davis (1863-1899), Tin Pan Alley Tunesmith," compiled with Josephine Wright. The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 2 (Autumn 1978): 188-230.

"In Retrospect: Black Prima Donnas of the Nineteenth Century." The Black Perspective in Music 7, no. 1 (Spring 1979): 95-106.

“Conversation with William (Billy) Eckstine." The Black Perspective in Music 7, no. 2 (Autumn 1979): 182-198; 8, no. 1 (Spring 1980): 55-64.

"In Retrospect: Letters from W. C. Handy to William Grant Still," compiled and edited with notes. The Black Perspective in Music 7, no. 2 (Autumn 1979): 199-234; 8, no. 1 (Spring 1980): 65-119.

“Origin and Development of the Black Musical Theatre: A Preliminary Report." Black Music Research Journal 2 (1981): 1-14.

"In Retrospect: W. Rudolph Dunbar: Pioneering Orchestra Conductor." The Black Perspective in Music 9, no. 2 (Autumn 1981): 193-225.

“African Retentions in Afro-American Music (U.S.A.) in the 19th Century." In Report of the Twelfth Congress Berkeley, 1977. International Musicological Society, edited by Daniel Heartz and Bonnie Wade, 88-98. Kassel: Bärenreiter; Philadelphia: The American Musicological Society, 1981.

“A Prima Ballerina of the Fifteenth Century.” In Music and Context: Essays for John M. Ward, edited by Anne Dhu Shapiro and Phyllis Benjamin, 183-197. Cambridge, MA: Department of Music, Harvard University, 1985.

“William Grant Still: Trailblazer." William Grant Still Studies at the University of Arkansas: A 1984 Congress Report, edited by Claire Detels, 1-9. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1985.

“Milestones of Black-American Composition." American Music Week 27 (1985): 17. Reprinted in Black Music Research Newsletter 8, no. 2 (Spring 1986): 1-3. Also reprinted in Black Music Research Journal 10, no. 1 (Spring 1990): 123-124.

"Hymnals of the Black Church." Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center 14, no. 1-2 (Autumn 1986/Spring 1987): 127-40. Reprinted in The Black Perspective in Music 17, nos. 1/2 (1989): 153-70.

"The Music of the Black Church in the United States." In Images de L’Africain de L’Antiquite au XX Siècle (Images of the African from Antiquity to the 20th Century) edited by Daniel Droixhe and Klaus H. Kiefer, 143-48. Frankfurt au Main and New York: Peter Lang, 1987.

"An Early Black Concert Company: The Hyers Sisters Combination." A Celebration of American Music: Words and Music in Honor of H. Wiley Hitchcock, edited by Richard Crawford, Carol Oja, and Allan Lott. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989.

“A Study in Jazz Historiography: The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.” College Music Symposium 29 (1989): 123-133.

"The Georgia Minstrels: The Early Years." Inter-American music review (Revista interamericana) 10, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 1989): 157-168. Reprinted in Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth-Century Blackface Minstrelsy, edited by Annemarie Bean, James V. Hatch, and Brooks McNamara, 163-175. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1996.

“A Pioneer: Black and Female.” in Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe, edited by Werner Sollors, Caldwell Titcomb, and Thomas A. Underwood (New York: New York University Press, 1993): 499-504.

“A Camp-Meeting Spiritual.” In Themes and Variations: Writings on Music in Honor of Rulan Chao Pian, edited by Bell Yung and Joseph S. C. Lam, 59-81. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Music, 1994.

Samuel Arnold. Obi; or, Three-finger'd Jack. Introduction by Robert Hoskins with Eileen Southern. Music for London Entertainment 1660-1800. Series D, Pantomime, Ballet & Social Dance 4. London: Stainer & Bell, 1996.

“The Jazz Age (1983).” In Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology, edited by Andrew Clark, 24-25. London; New York: Continuum by arrangement with Bayou Press, 2001.

Reviews

Reviews of A Bibliography of Jazz, by Alan P. Merriam and Robert Benford; The Literature of Jazz, by Donald Kennington; The Night People: Reminiscences of a Jazzman, by Dicky Wells as told to Stanley Dance; Blow My Blues Away, by George Mitchell; Beneath the Underdog, by Charles Mingus, edited by Nel King; Folk Blues: 110 American Folk Blues Compiled, Edited and Arranged for Voice, Piano, and Guitar, by Jerry Silverman. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 29, no. 1 (September 1972): 34-38.

Reviews of Pops Foster: The Autobiography of a New Orleans Jazzman, as Told to Tom Stoddard; Louis Armstrong, by Hugues Panassié; Black Talk, by Ben Sidran; Black Music in America, by John Rublowsky. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 29, no. 3 (March 1973): 454-456.

Review of Black Composers Series, Columbia Records M32784, Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Freeman, 4 vols. The Musical Quarterly 61, no. 4 (October 1975): 645-650.

“Sermons on Shellac,” review of Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions on Race Records, by Paul Oliver, Times Literary Supplement, February 22, 1985, 194.

Review of We'll Understand It Better By and By: Pioneering African American Composers, by Bernice Johnson Reagon. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association Second Series, 51, no. 2 (December 1994): 567-569.

Reviews: The Black Perspective in Music

Volume 1, 1973

Reviews of AAMO Reports 1/1, edited by C. Edward Thomas and Yusef Mgeni; Record Research: A Magazine of Record Statistics and Information, edited by Bob Colton and Len Kenstadt. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 84-85.

Review of Music: Black, White & Blue, by Ortiz Walton. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 85-86.

Review of A Select Bibliography of Music of Africa, compiled by L. P. J. Gaskin. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 87-88.

Review of Black Dance in the United States from 1619 to 1970, by Lynn Fauley Emery. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 88-90.

Review of Roots of Black Music in America, edited by Samuel Charters. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 90-92.

Review of African Music, published under the auspices of UNESCO. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 2 (Autumn 1973): 178-81.

Review of Bird Lives! The High Life and Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker, by Ross Russell. The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 2 (Autumn 1973): 181-82.

Volume 2, 1974

Reviews of American Black Women in the Arts and Social Sciences: A Bibliographic Survey, by Ora Williams; Blacks in American Films: Today and Yesterday, by Edward Mapp; James Weldon Johnson: Black Leader, Black Voice, by Eugene Levy; Run-Through: A Memoir, by John Houseman; Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Rise of Independent Black Churches, 1760-1840, by Carol V. George. The Black Perspective in Music 2, no. 1 (Spring 1974): 87-92. 

Review of Music Is My Mistress, by Edward Kennedy Ellington. The Black Perspective in Music 2, no. 2 (Autumn 1974): 211-12.

Review of The Story of the Blues, by Paul Oliver. Black Perspective in Music 2, no. 2 (Autumn 1974): 212-13.

Review of The Collected Works of R. Nathaniel Dett. The Black Perspective in Music 2, no. 2 (Autumn 1974): 216-18.

Volume 3, 1975 

Reviews of Bourbon Street Black: The New Orleans Black Jazzman, by Jack Buerkle and Danny Barker; Oh Didn't He Ramble: The Life Story of Lee Collins, as told to Mary Collins, edited by Frank J. Gillis and John W. Miner. The Black Perspective in Music 3, no. 1 (Spring 1975): 109-11.

Reviews of Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore, compiled by Alan Dundes; Negro: An Anthology, by Nancy Cunard, edited and abridged with an introduction by Hugh Ford. The Black Perspective in Music 3, no. 1 (Spring 1975): 111-13.

Volume 4, 1976

Reviews of Eric Dolphy: A Musical Biography and Discography, by Vladimir Simosko and Barry Tepperman; Famous Black Entertainers of Today, by Raoul Abdul; Boogie Lightning, by Michael Lydon; Coltrane, by Cuthbert O. Simpkins; Miles Davis, by Bill Cole. Black Perspective in Music 4, no. 1 (Spring 1976): 112-114.

Volume 5, 1977

Reviews of Chasin' the Trane: The Music and Mystique of John Coltrane by J. C. Thomas; John Coltrane, by Bill Cole; Of Minnie the Moocher and Me, by Cab Calloway and Bryant Rollins; Blues, by Robert Neff and Anthony Connor. The Black Perspective in Music 5, no. 1 (Spring 1977): 129-31.

Volume 6, 1978

Reviews of Jazz Index: Bibliography of Jazz Literature in Periodicals, 1, no. 1, compiled by Norbert Ruecker; Modern Jazz, 1945-70: The Essential Records, by Max Harrison et al.; The Literature of American Music in Books and Folk-Music Collections: A Fully Annotated Bibliography, by David Horn; Black Playwrights, 1823-1977: An Annotated Bibliography of Plays, edited by James V. Hatch and Omanii Abdullah. The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 94-96.

Reviews of Living Country Blues, by Harry Oster; Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis, by Jeff Todd Titon; Jamaica: Babylon on a Thin Wire, by Adrian Boot and Michael Thomas. The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 97-98.

Reviews of Cadence: The American Review of Jazz and Blues, 1 (1976), edited by Bob Rusch; Nigerian Music Review, 1 (1977), edited by Akin Auba; The Grackle: Improvised Music in Transition, 1. The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 98-100.

Reviews of The Black Composer Speaks, edited by David M. Baker, Lida M. Belt, and Herman C. Hudson; Blacks in Classical Music, by Raoul Abdul. The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 100-02.

Reviews of Improvising: Sixteen Jazz Musicians and Their Art, by Whitney Balliett; Fats Waller, by Maurice Waller and Anthony Calabrese; Willie Geary "Bunk" Johnson by Austin M. Sonnier, Jr.; The World of Earl Hines, by Stanley Dance. The Black Perspective in Music 6, no. 1 (Spring 1978): 102-05.

Volume 7, 1979

Reviews of Afro-American Religious Music: A Bibliography and Catalogue of Gospel Music, by Irene V. Jackson; Black Music, by Dean and Nancy Tudor; Directory of Blacks in the Performing Arts, by Edward Mapp; Jazz, by Dean and Nancy Tudor. The Black Perspective in Music 7, no. 2 (Autumn 1979): 258-60.

Volume 8, 1980

Reviews of Blind Tom: The Post-Civil War Enslavement of a Black Musical Genius, by Geneva Southall; George Lewis: A Jazzman from New Orleans, by Tom Bethell; In Search of Buddy Bolden, First Man of Jazz, by Donald M. Marquis. The Black Perspective in Music 8, no. 1 (Spring 1980): 128-29.

Review of Brother Ray: Ray Charles’ Own Story, by Ray Charles and David Ritz; Jazz Lives, by Michael Ullman; To Be or Not to Bop, by Dizzy Gillespie with Al Fraser. The Black Perspective in Music 8, no. 1 (Spring 1980): 130-32.

Volume 9, 1981

Reviews of ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, 4th edition, edited for the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers by Jacques Cattell Press; The Dave Given Rock 'n' Roll Stars Handbook, by Dave Given; In Black and White: A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles, and Books Concerning More Than 15,000 Black Individuals and Groups, 3rd edition, edited by Mary Mace Spradling; Who's Who Among Black Americans, 3rd edition, 1980-81, edited by William C. Matney. The Black Perspective in Music 9, no. 2 (Autumn 1981): 231-34.

Volume 10, 1982

Reviews of African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms, by John Miller Chernoff; Downhome Blues Lyrics: An Anthology from the Post-World War II Era, by Jeff Todd Titon; Thunder from the Mountains: Mau Mau Patriotic Songs, edited by Maina wa Kinyatti. The Black Perspective in Music 10, no. 1 (Spring 1982): 117-20.

Volume 12, 1984

Reviews of Bibliography of Discographies, 1935-1980, 2: Jazz, by Daniel Allen; Black Music in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Reference and Research Materials, by Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. and Marsha J. Reisser; Popular Music: An Annotated Guide to Recordings, by Dean Tudor. The Black Perspective in Music 12, no. 1 (Spring 1984): 137-39.

Volume 13, 1985

Reviews of Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780): An Early African Composer in England. The Collected Editions of His Music in Facsimile, by Josephine R. B. Wright; The Continuing Enslavement of Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1865-1887), Book 2, by Geneva Handy Southall; Edmund Thornton Jenkins: The Life and Times of an American Black Composer, 1894-1926, by Jeffrey P. Green. The Black Perspective in Music 13, no. 1 (Spring 1985): 119-122.

Volume 14, 1986

Reviews of Stride: The Music of Fats Waller, by Paul S. Machlin; Benny Carter: A Life in American Music, by Morroe Berger, Edward Berger, and James Patrick; Lester Young, by Lewis Porter. The Black Perspective in Music 14, no. 2 (Spring 1986): 192-94.

Volume 15, 1987

Reviews of First Pressings: Rock History as Chronicled in Billboard Magazine, vol. 1, 1948-1950, vol. 2, 1951-1952, compiled and edited by Galen Gart; Rock Films: A Viewer's Guide to Three Decades of Musicals, Concerts, Documentaries and Sound Tracks, 1955-1986, by Linda J. Sandahl; Rock Record: A Collector's Directory of Rock Albums and Musicians, enlarged, revised, expanded 3rd edition, by Terry Hounsome; Rockin' in Time: A Social History of Rock and Roll, by David Szatmary. The Black Perspective in Music 15, no. 1 (Spring 1987): 122-24.

Reviews of Leslie Thompson: An Autobiography, as told to Jeffrey P. Green; A Life in Jazz, by Danny Barker, edited by Alyn Shepton; With Louis and the Duke: The Autobiography of a Jazz Clarinetist, by Barney Bigard. The Black Perspective in Music 15, no. 2 (Autumn 1987): 236-39.

Volume 16, 1988

Reviews of Hot Dance Bands in Germany: A Photo Album, vol. 1: The Pre-History, by Rainer E. Lotz; Jazz Advertised in the Negro Press, by Frank Hoffman, vol. 1: The Negro Newspapers of New England: 1910-1929. The Black Perspective in Music 16, no. 2 (Autumn 1988): 257-59.

Reviews of Bass Line: The Stories and Photographs of Milt Hinton, by Milt Hinton and David G. Berger; Forces in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-Reality of Creative Music, by Graham Lock; James P. Johnson: A Case of Mistaken Identity, by Scott E. Brown; A James P. Johnson Discography, 1917-1950, by Robert Hilbert. The Black Perspective in Music 16, no. 2 (Autumn 1988): 259-62. 

Volume 17, 1989

Reviews of America's Music: From the Pilgrims to the Present, by Gilbert Chase, revised 3rd edition; Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction, by H. Wiley Hitchcock, 3rd edition; The Literature of American Music in Books and Folk Music Collections: A Fully Annotated Bibliography, Supplement 1, by David Horn with Richard Jackson. The Black Perspective in Music 17, nos. 1/2 (1989): 191-94.

Reviews of Cousin Joe: Blues from New Orleans, by Pleasant "Cousin Joe" Joseph and Harriet J. Ottenheimer; Meeting the Blues, by Alan Govenar. The Black Perspective in Music 17, nos. 1/2 (1989): 194-95.

Volume 18, 1990

Review of Perspectives on African Music, by Wolfgang Bender; African Musicology: Current Trends. Volume 1. A Festschrift Presented to J. H. Kwabena Nketia, by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje and William G. Carter. The Black Perspective in Music 18, nos. 1/2 (1990): 235-236.

Dictionary and Encyclopedia Entries

50 short articles on Renaissance music and musicians. Grolier's Universal Encyclopedia (1965) and Grolier's Encyclopedia International. 

“Burleigh, Henry Thacker.” Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 4 (1974): 125-26.

Entries in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Press Limited, 1980.

“United States of America: 7, 'Afro-American Music'." Volume 19, 448-452.

“Anderson, Thomas Jefferson” ; “Blake, Eubie” ; “Bland, James” ; “Cook, Will Marion” ; “Cunningham, Arthur” ; “Davis, Gussie (Lord)” ; “Dawson, william Levi” ; “Dett, Robert Nathaniel” ; “Europe, James Reese” ; “Freeman, Harry Lawrence” ; “Handy, William Christopher” ; “Holland, Justin” ; “Johnson, Frank” ; “Johnson, Hall” ; “Johnson, J(ohn) Rosamond” ; “Kay, Ulysses (Simpson)” ; “Perry, Julia” ; “Smith, Hale” ; “Still, William Grant” ; “Swanson, Howard” ; “Walker, George” ; “White, Clarence Cameron” ; “Williams, Henry F.” “Wilson, Olly”

“Music.” The Encyclopedia of Black America, edited by W. A. Low and Virgil A. Clift. New York: McGraw Hill, 1981.

Entries in Dictionary of Negro Biography, edited by Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

“Layton, John Turner (1849-1916)”; "Oliver, Joseph 'King' (1885-1938)"

Entries in The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie. New York: Macmillan, 1987.

“Afro-American Music." Volume 1, 13-21.

“T. J. Anderson”; “Eubie Blake” (co-authored with John Graziano); “Will Marion Cook"; “Arthur Cunningham”; “Gussie Lord Davis”; “William Levy Dawson”; “R. Nathaniel Dett”; “James Reese Europe”; “Harry Lawrence Freeman”; “W. C. Handy”; “Justin Holland”; Frank Johnson”; “Hall Johnson”; “Ulysses Kay”; “Julia Perry”; “Marie Selika”; “Hale Smith”; “William Grant Still”; “Howard Swanson”; “George Walker”; “Clarence Cameron White”; “Henry F. Williams”; “Olly Wilson”

Entries in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, edited by Barry Kernfeld, 2 volumes. London: Macmillan Press, 1988.

“Eubie Blake” ; “Will Marion Cook” ; “James Reese Europe”