Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Review in the American Library Association's magazine, College & Research Libraries News.

George M. Eberhart, senior editor of American Libraries and editor of AL Direct, wrote to say that Devil At The Confluence was "an excellent contribution to St. Louis history." Then in his review of the book in the December 2010 issue of College & Research Libraries News from the American Library Association, Eberhardt says that the book, "sets the record straight with a wealth of primary research."

"Belford, a professional illustrator, started out to make a series of portraits in honor of St. Louis blues and jazz musicians prior to World War II. When he found out how little research had been done on them compared to blues musicians further south, he launched a massive project to reestablish the city’s musical heritage. Here he sets the record straight with a wealth of primary research, noting that what became ragtime music was played in the city as early as 1888, and quoting St. Louis piano bluesman Stump Johnson on blues origins: 'St. Louis had some of the best blues singers that ever there was in the history of the blues. The levee at St. Louis was known throughout the country as the origination of blues.'”

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