Columbia Records Celebrates 125 Years With New Book

Columbia Records is about to turn 125 years old and will celebrate with the new book 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story.

360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story

The book is written by Pulitzer Prize winner Sean Wilentz and will cover the label’s history and vast contributions to the music and entertainment industries. It will be out on October 30 via Chronicle Books.

Also being released is a deluxe edition that includes a second book by Dave Marsh chronicling his selection of 263 recordings from the label that he considers of great musical and historical significance.  A thumb drive is included in the package with all 263 songs.

Columbia’s list of major performers, past and present, is unsurpassed and includes much of the most important, and beloved music in all genres, including pop, rock, country, show tunes, classical, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and blues. Artists recorded by Columbia and its subsidiaries have included Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Leonard Bernstein, Johnny Cash, Beyonce, Adele, Billy Joel, Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Robert Johnson, Bing Crosby, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma, LL Cool J, James Taylor, Philip Glass, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Dixie Chicks, John Mayer, Jack White, and more.

360 Sound includes 300 rare and intimate photographs from the Columbia archives and sidebar discussions of crucial developments and performers written by eminent music historians Dave Marsh and Colin Escott. The book offers a virtual history of the music industry from its infancy, tracing Columbia’s pivotal technological as well as business innovations, not least its invention of the LP. It also reflects on the connection between Columbia’s artists and music and sweeping cultural and political changes, from the emergence of mass commercial culture to the rise of the civil rights movement and beyond. The release of 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Storywill be celebrated with a launch event in New York on Oct. 30th. Additionally there will be a retrospective exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. An event is set for November 7th at the Museum on opening day.

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