12 Timeless ASCAP Works Inducted Into National Recording Registry in 2022

 

 

Another historic moment for ASCAP creators! The National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress has announced its music choices for preservation this year, and 12 iconic ASCAP works made the cut. Among the inducted recordings made by ASCAP members, or featuring music written by ASCAP members, you’ll find a plethora of styles and stories.

 

There are hip-hop treasures like The Low End Theory by ASCAP Golden Note winners A Tribe Called Quest and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) from Wu-Tang Clan (featuring ASCAP rappers U-God and GZA). For groundbreaking jazz from historic greats, James P. Johnson’s “Harlem Strut” and the sublime Ellington at Newport from Duke Ellington have been added to the registry as well. ASCAP members Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s beloved “Moon River” heads to the library as recorded by Andy Williams. Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time contributed to the archive’s blues collection. Queen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is preserved for future generations to rock along to, as well as Journey’s  “Don’t Stop Believin’” with ASCAP members Ross Valory and Steve Smith playing on the inducted recording! “The Christmas Song,” a yuletide standby recorded by Nat King Cole and written by ASCAP scribes Mel Tormé and Robert Wells rode to the registry all the way on Santa’s sleigh. Buena Vista Social Club’s adored self titled album represented Latin music in the picks, along with Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” co-written by ASCAP Founders Award-winning Desmond Child (also an ASCAP Board member!) and Draco Rosa, winner of the ASCAP Vanguard Award. Alicia Keys’s innovative and emotional Songs in A Minor rounded out the bunch.

 

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden named these and 15 other recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation because of their cultural, historical and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage.

 

“The National Recording Registry reflects the diverse music and voices that have shaped our nation’s history and culture through recorded sound,” Hayden said. “The national library is proud to help preserve these recordings, and we welcome the public’s input. We received about 1,000 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry.”

 

“I’m so honored and grateful that Songs in A Minor, the entire album, gets to be recognized as such a powerful body of work that is just going to be timeless,” Keys said of her album’s induction into the registry.

 

A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991 album, The Low End Theory, was the group’s second studio release and came to be seen as a definitive fusion of jazz and rap with its distinctive sound. "We are honored to have our work added to the prestigious National Recording Registry amongst so many other astounding works,” said rapper Q-Tip. “We are humbled and grateful for this acknowledgement. Thank you so, so much."

 

Congratulations to all ASCAP creators whose work will be forever preserved in the archive.

 

ASCAP Recordings in the 2022 National Recording Registry

“Harlem Strut” — James P. Johnson (1921) (single)

James P. Johnson (1894-1955), a native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was one of the creators of the jazz piano style known as “Harlem Stride,” which fused elements of ragtime with an active left hand that provided a bass characterized by wide leaps, or “strides.” “Harlem Strut,” a multi-strain work and a Johnson original, was his first recorded selection, although he did cut piano rolls prior. This recording, along with Eubie Blake’s “Sounds of Africa,” lays claim to being the first recordings of Harlem Stride piano. Today, James P. Johnson is best remembered as the composer of “The Charleston” and as the mentor of pianist and composer Thomas “Fats” Waller. He was one of the earliest Black music creators to join ASCAP, in 1925.

Ellington at Newport — Duke Ellington (1956) (album)

After enduring a decade of waning record sales, Duke Ellington reignited his career via one single solo recorded in 1956. After their short set at the Newport Jazz Festival, on July 7, 1956, Duke and his orchestra were recalled to the stage. One of the numbers they performed at that time was the 1930s composition “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.” For this piece, at first, just the rhythm section played, then they were joined by the full orchestra. Then, saxophonist Paul Gonsalves jumped in, and at the urging of the crowd and Ellington himself, wailed through 27 choruses. The performance was historic. “Time” magazine would later call it a turning point in Ellington’s career and the Duke himself later said, “I was born in 1956 at the Newport Festival.” For decades, this performance was only available to record buyers in a version sourced from a tape where Gonsalves was off-mic and could only be heard beneath the band and audience. But, years later, a location tape recorded for overseas broadcast by Voice of America was discovered, and a restored version was finally released as part of a 1999 CD set.

“The Christmas Song” — Nat King Cole (1961) (single)

One of America’s favorite holiday songs was inspired by a hot summer day. During a sweltering July afternoon in 1945, while visiting his frequent songwriting collaborator, Robert Wells, at his Toluca Lake, California, home, Mel Tormé noticed some lines Wells had written to distract himself from the heat, with wintry images like “Jack Frost nipping at your nose.” Sensing their potential as a song, Wells and Tormé went to work and in less than an hour created an enduring holiday standard. Although Tormé himself was an accomplished singer, he felt that a bigger name was needed to generate more record sales. He and Wells pitched the song to Nat King Cole, the leader of a long established jazz trio, who was becoming a popular vocalist. Cole recorded “The Christmas Song” four times: in June 1946 with just his Trio; in August of that same year with an added string section; in 1953 with a full orchestra, conducted by Nelson Riddle, and in 1961 with a full orchestra, conducted by Ralph Carmichael, the first stereo version and the one most commonly heard today. According to reports, King Cole Trio guitarist Oscar Moore created the “Jingle Bells” coda heard at the end of every one of Cole’s versions. “The Christmas Song” is said to be one of the most recorded holiday songs in history, but it’s Cole’s 1961 performance, with perhaps his most lush vocal take, that is generally regarded as definitive.

“Moon River” — Andy Williams (1962) (single)

Though first introduced to audiences in the 1961 Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany’s (in which Hepburn herself sang it), “Moon River” is forever associated with smooth pop singer Andy Williams. It became his signature hit, and he sang the first eight bars of the song at the beginning of each and every episode of his long-running television variety show. Simple yet endearing, the song’s evocative lyrics, as the Financial Times once noted, “are a metaphor of yearning for the unpredictable eddies of an adventurous life, to be swept along by the currents of somewhere new.” The success of the song made it a modern standard and relaunched the career of its lyricist Johnny Mercer. Though “Moon River” has gone on to be recorded more than 500 times by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Louis Armstrong to Judy Garland (and there’s even a Joan Rivers funny version and Hepburn’s version certainly has its charms), it is Williams’s flawless rendition that endures.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” — Queen (1975) (single)

“Bohemian Rhapsody” breaks nearly every rule in the playbook for rock songs: it starts with a gentle a cappella intro; it has a complex structure without a chorus; and it clocks in at nearly six minutes. Nonetheless, songwriter and vocalist Freddie Mercury, while acknowledging the risk, was convinced that the public would receive it enthusiastically. Guitarist Brian May remembers the band being largely supportive of Mercury’s composition, finding it “intriguing and original, and worthy of work.” In fact, the recording required a huge amount of work with one section requiring 180 overdubs, and the vocal sessions with Mercury, May and drummer Roger Taylor stretched to 10 or 12 hours. Bassist John Deacon does remember an attempt to edit the song, but, in the end, he and the band felt nothing should be lost. Ultimately, “Rhapsody” was released in its full length, and audiences embraced it.The song has proven to have a number of afterlives, appearing in Wayne’s World and the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, ensuring its continued place in the public’s consciousness.

“Don’t Stop Believin’” — Journey (1981) (single)

Powered by lead singer Steve Perry’s soaring, crystalline lead vocal, “Don’t Stop Believin’” was the second single off the supergroup Journey’s 1981 album Escape. It went to #9 on the charts — selling over 7 million copies in the US alone--and has since been described as a “perfect rock song.” While it has never left the airwaves — or Journey’s setlist — the song has gained further cultural permanence via its frequent use at sporting games, in the Broadway rock musical Rock of Ages (where the song was the show’s big closer) and in film and television, most notably the cryptic final episode of The Sopranos and in the debut episode of Glee. Additionally, the song, written by Perry with bandmates Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, has now taken its place, not only as Journey’s greatest legacy, but also as the personal empowerment anthem of millions of people of various generations. ASCAP members Ross Valory and Steve Smith, Journey’s bassist and drummer respectively, played on this classic recording.

Nick of Time — Bonnie Raitt (1989) (album)

Bonnie Raitt released her first album in 1971 and had long been considered a great and respected talent. But, though often critically acclaimed, significant commercial success had often eluded her. In 1989, seven years after being dropped from her previous record label and after suffering a debilitating skiing accident, Raitt rallied herself and returned to the studio. With the assistance of renowned producer Don Was, she not only fashioned the most important album of her career but an album many consider among the best of the decade. Nick of Time, Raitt’s 10th LP, would earn three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, top the Billboard chart, sell 5 million copies and earn a lasting place in the book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.”  With the aid of Was, Raitt dove deep emotionally and cared little about genre labels or categories. About the record, it was said “[she] never rocks too hard, but there is grit to her singing and playing, even when the surfaces are clean and inviting.” About the album, Raitt herself said, “Basically, it’s a return to my roots.”

The Low End Theory — A Tribe Called Quest (1991) (album)

The Low End Theory was A Tribe Called Quest’s second studio release and is frequently seen as the definitive record of jazz and rap fusion. Featuring sparse, live-sounding beats and acoustic-feeling bass runs with melodic jazz samples, the production of Ali Shaheed Muhammad showcases the nimble flows of ASCAP rappers Phife Dawg and Q-Tip, as well as a guest spot from an up-and-coming Busta Rhymes. Lyrically, Tribe infuses the laid-back vibe with deft and infectious chemistry, touching on themes of social awareness and commentary, celebration of Blackness, self-deprecating humor and classic MC boasting as a counterpoint to the rising mainstream popularity of “gangsta rap” that was often seen as glorifying depictions of criminality and violence. The result was a distinctive sound that helped to expand and deepen the sonic palette of the growing rap and hip-hop genres.

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) — Wu-Tang Clan (1993) (album)

The Wu-Tang Clan released Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, in the process shaping the sound of hardcore rap and reasserting the creative capacity of the East Coast rap scene, centered around New York City. The lo-fi sound of the mix, an artifact of the equipment band member RZA employed, communicated the rough-hewn nature of underground rap and the hard experiences that formed the intense, combative, paranoid energy of the group. Across the record, samples from dozens of pulp kung-fu movies lend imagery of a secret knowledge and a warrior’s honor — and blend with the wordplay of the Clan’s MC to develop an evocative mythology. While the Wu-Tang Clan collectively signed with Loud Records to release Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), their contract preserved each artist’s ability to sign with other labels of their choice for solo work. This flexibility enabled a constellation of Wu-Tang affiliated projects to flourish, which served to deepen the influence of the group throughout subsequent decades of hip-hop.

Buena Vista Social Club (1997) (album)

In 1996, guitarist Ry Cooder and producer Nick Gold journeyed to Havana, Cuba, to record an all-star ensemble of 20 Cuban musicians, most of whom had been central in the development of the key Cuban musical styles of son, danzon and bolero.The group adopted the name the Buena Vista Social Club to honor the popular nightclub of the same name at which many of the performers had appeared in the 1940s and 1950s. The album’s surprising popularity helped fuel a resurgence of Cuban and Latin music, propelled the band to concert dates in Amsterdam and New York’s Carnegie Hall, and led to a popular film by director Wim Wenders. Wender’s film, The Buena Vista Social Club, was previously selected for the National Film Registry, and it is now fitting to add the record that started all the excitement.

“Livin’ La Vida Loca” — Ricky Martin (1999) (single)

When ex-boy band member Ricky Martin (once part of Latin America’s perpetually young Menudo group) gave a legendary, star-making performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards (singing the World Cup anthem “Cup of Life”), audiences quickly realized that big things were going to be coming from this young singer. But few expected the massive overwhelming popularity of his first major US release, “Livin’ La Vida Loca.”  Written by Draco Rosa and future ASCAP Board member Desmond Child, and drenched in the swagger of Martin’s lead vocal, the song went #1 in 20 countries and was certified platinum in the US, the UK and Australia. Later, it was named the ASCAP Song of the Year, the BMI Latin Awards Song of the Year and would win four Grammys. Earwormy, fun and danceable, yet true to its Latin roots thanks to its horns and percussion, Martin was soon labeled by the press as the “original Latin Crossover King,” in the process paving the way for the globalization of Latin pop and the emergence of such other acts as Shakira, Paulina Rubio and others.

Desmond Child on "Livin' La Vida Loca": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJZwl4fi4-0

Songs in A Minor — Alicia Keys (2001) (album)

On this album, J Records label head, Clive Davis, afforded singer-songwriter Keys great independence in creating the album she wanted to release.Under a previous record deal, Keys had written and recorded much of the album, but the label rejected it. Dissatisfaction with the rejection and the label’s unwillingness to take her seriously led Keys to J Records where Davis’ instinct proved prescient. Keys has described her influences on the album as a “fusion of my classical training, meshed with what I grew up listening to,” which included the jazz from her mother’s record collection, along with the classic R&B and hip-hop that was prevalent in her New York City neighborhood. Reviewers were quick to point out the sophistication and assurance with which the young Keys realized the sound on this album. Her unaffected vocals were capable of expressing feelings from heartbreak to new love and from righteous women’s empowerment to elegant, stylish yearning.

Alicia Keys reflects on Songs in A Minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JM12c8dU-k