Ed Novitsky
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Ed Novitsky
[edit]Ed Novitsky is an American music historian, recording archivist, collector and music-industry consultant known for his work documenting recorded music and the catalogs of major American record labels. He is particularly associated with large-scale discographical projects covering Mercury Records, MGM Records, and Capitol Records, as well as research into recording sessions, master numbers, releases, artists, personnel, and recording histories. Sets of his work are held and used by the *Smithsonian Institution's Libraries and Archives*
Infobox
[edit]| Music archivist, discographer, researcher, collector | |
| Published works | |
| Michel Ruppli; William R. Daniels | |
| Jazz, blues, popular music, country, classical music, film and musical recordings | |
| Ed Novitsky Music & Art Archive |
Major discographical works
[edit]The Mercury Labels
[edit]was published by Greenwood Press in 1993 as a five-volume reference work compiled by Michel Ruppli and Ed Novitsky. The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives holds and catalogs the complete five-volume set.
The series covers Mercury's recording activities from and includes Mercury and numerous associated labels, including Blue Rock, Cumberland, EmArcy, Fontana, Limelight, Philips, Smash, and Wing. It also includes leased and purchased material and recordings by independent labels distributed by Mercury.
The project covers a broad range of music, including jazz, blues, classical, country, rock, and popular music.
Volumes
[edit]• *Volume 1*: 1945–1956
• *Volume 2*: 1956–1964
• *Volume 3*: 1964–1969
• *Volume 4*: 1969–1991 era and classical recordings
• *Volume 5*: Record and artist indexes
This set is held in the *Smithsonian Institution's Libraries and Archives* collection.
The MGM Labels
[edit]In 1998, Ruppli and Novitsky published through Greenwood Press.
The three-volume work documents recordings issued by the MGM Record Company between. It includes recordings made specifically for MGM as well as material leased or purchased from outside sources.
The discography covers numerous genres, including jazz, country, popular music and classical music. One of its particularly substantial areas is the documentation of recordings..
Volumes
[edit]The MGM project consists of:
- Volume 1 — 1946-1960 https://books.google.com/books/about/The_MGM_Labels_1946_1960.html?id=z6NHAAAAMAAJ
- Volume 2 — 1961-1982 https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_MGM_Labels_1961_1982/IqVHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=THe+mgm+labels+novitsky&pg=PR15&printsec=frontcover
- Volume 3 — Additional recordings, foreign recordings, classical material, indexes and related listings. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0313307806?lv=shuf&language=he&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
The first volume alone contains more than 1,000 pages, while the second contains nearly 1,000 pages.
The Capitol Label Discography
[edit]Novitsky subsequently collaborated with Michel Ruppli and William R. Daniels on
Published by Names & Numbers in 2007, the work documents recordings made or issued by Capitol Records, its subsidiaries, and distributed labels.
Its primary entries are recording-session listings that document personnel, locations, recording dates, master numbers and issue numbers. Releases are documented across several formats, including 78 rpm and 45 rpm singles, extended-play records, LPs and compact discs.
The work also includes indexes for artists, composers and genres.
Historical significance
[edit]Novitsky's significance to recorded-music history can be considered in two related contexts: his written work and the collection.
The importance of the physical archive
[edit]If the reported 250,000-record collection is confirmed through a formal inventory, its scale would make the archive potentially significant as a physical complement to Novitsky's published discographical research.
The combination of:
- a large physical record collection
- a researcher who specialized in label discographies
- published documentation of Mercury, MGM and Capitol recordings
- a modern digital cataloguing project could provide an unusually direct connection between
The historical importance of the collection should, however, ultimately be evaluated through an archival inventory rather than by size alone.
Bibliography
[edit]Books
[edit]- Ruppli, Michel; Novitsky, Ed. . Greenwood Press, 1993. Five volumes. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Mercury_Labels/6oZzRAAACAAJ?hl=en
- Ruppli, Michel; Novitsky, Ed. . Greenwood Press, 1998. Three volumes.
- Ruppli, Michel; Daniels, William R.; Novitsky, Ed. . Names & Numbers, 2007.
Early periodical research
[edit]- Novitsky, Ed. Mercury 5000-series discographical research, listed in the bibliography, 1989
See also
[edit]- Discography
- Music history
- Recorded music
- Record collecting
- Music archives
- Association for Recorded Sound Collections
- Mercury Records
- MGM Records
- Capitol Records
References
[edit]- Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
- Ruppli, Michel; Novitsky, Ed. . Greenwood Press, 1998
- Ruppli, Michel; Novitsky, Ed. . Greenwood Press, 1998
- Open Library
- Greenwood Press, 1993
- Greenwood Press, 1993
- Greenwood Press, 1993
- Association for Recorded Sound Collections. , bibliography listing Novitsky's Mercury discographical research.
- Ed Novitsky Music & Art Archive. Current archival and cataloguing platform.
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