39th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards Announced


NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 16, 2006 -- The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) has announced the winners of the 39th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music. The winners will be honored at a special reception on Thursday, December 7, 2006 at The Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Allen Room, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City. Over the years, tens of thousands of dollars have been distributed in cash prizes to winning authors, journalists and broadcast producers and personalities.

The ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award honors two programs this year. They are "The Bob Edwards Show" (Bob Edwards, host; Ed McNulty, producer; and Tish Valva, executive producer), which is produced at XM Satellite Radio; and "World Café" (David Dye, host and producer; Kimberly Junod, producer and Bruce Warren, executive producer), which originates from WXPN in Philadelphia and is nationally syndicated. Cited in the Television Broadcast category is the cable channel, "Ovation: The Arts Network" (Chad E. Gutstein, Executive Vice President; Charles Segars, Chief Executive Officer and Ronald Garfield, Chief Operating Officer).

The ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award honors the concert music blog, "Night After Night" (www.nightafternight.blogs.com), written by Steve Smith.

The Timothy White Award for Outstanding Musical Biography in the pop music field honors "The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir," by Dave Van Ronk with Elijah Wald, published by Da Capo Press. This award was established to honor the memory of Billboard Magazine editor Timothy White, who passed away in early 2002. Mr. White was himself a former Deems Taylor recipient, and was the writer of acclaimed biographies of Bob Marley, Brian Wilson, and James Taylor.

The Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography in the concert music field honors Phillip Ramey for "Irving Fine, an American Composer in His Time," published by Pendragon Press. This award was established to honor the memory of Slonimsky (1894-1995), the Russian-American composer, conductor, musicologist and critic. Slonimsky was the writer of "Baker's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, The Lexicon of Musical Invective and Perfect Pitch," an autobiography.

The Béla Bartók Award for Outstanding Ethnomusicological Book honors Nancy Guy for "Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan," published by University of Illinois Press. This award honors the memory of Bartók (1881-1945), the great Hungarian-American composer and ethnomusicologist.

The authors and publishers of the books to be honored at the ceremony are:

--  Julia Blackburn for "With Billie," published by Pantheon Books
--  Anna Marie Busse Berger for "Medieval Music and the Art of Memory,"
    published by University of California Press
--  Jeff Chang for "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hip
    Generation," published by St. Martin's Press/Picador
--  Boris Gasparov for "Five Operas and a Symphony," published by Yale
    University Press
--  Kenneth Morgan for "Fritz Reiner: Maestro and Martinet," published by
    University of Illinois Press
--  Tom Piazza for "Understanding Jazz: Ways to Listen," published by
    Random House
--  Michael V. Pisani for "Imagining Native America in Music," published
    by Yale University Press
--  Doug Ramsey for "Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul
    Desmond," published by Parkside Publications
--  George Rochberg for "The Aesthetics of Survival, A Composer's View of
    Twentieth-Century Music," published by University of Michigan Press
    

The writers and editors of journal, magazine and newspaper articles, and liner notes, and their respective publishers to be honored are:

--  Michael Beckerman and Jan Vogler for their liner notes, "The Secrets
    of Dvorák's Cello Concerto," released by Sony Classical, Sony/BMG
    Entertainment
--  Sally Bick for her article, "Of Mice and Men: Copland, Hollywood, and
    American Musical Modernism," published by American Music
--  Jeff Gordinier for his articles, "The Virtuoso" and "The Strange Art
    of the Male Soprano," published by Details
--  Ernest Hardy for his liner notes, "Chet Baker: Career, 1952-1988,"
    released by Shout! Factory
--  Marya Hornbacher for her article, "Return of a Virtuoso," published by
    Smithsonian
--  Joshua Kosman for his article, "Thoroughly Modern Music," published by
    Symphony
--  John McDonough for his article, "Elegant Vintage," published by
    Downbeat
--  Elizabeth Mendez Berry for her article, "Love Hurts," published by
    Vibe
--  David Ritz for his liner notes, "Johnny 'Guitar' Watson: The Funk
    Anthology," released by Shout! Factory
--  W. Anthony Sheppard for his article, "Cinematic Realism, Reflexivity
    and the American 'Madame Butterfly' Narratives," published by Cambridge
    Opera Journal
    

In addition, ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Awards will be presented to:

--  The Bard Music Festival Princeton Paperbacks
--  David Jenness and Don Velsey for their book, "Classic American Popular
    Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000," published by Routledge
--  Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve for their ongoing series, "An Oral
    History of American Music," published by Yale University Press
--  Bob Spitz for "The Beatles," published by Little, Brown and Company
--  Katy St. Clair for her article, "A Very Special Concert," published by
    SF Weekly
    

The members of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards Panel for 2006 are Charles Dodge, Julie Flanders, David Massengill, Larry John McNally, Richard Miller, Paul Moravec, Frank Oteri, Matthew Shipp, and Wesley Stace.

About ASCAP

Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 250,000 composer, lyricist and music publisher members. ASCAP also represents the repertories created by the international affiliates of 70 foreign performing rights organizations. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American Performing Rights Organization owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com