Content area
Full text
SECOND LOOK
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Centennial ed. Ed. by Nicolas Slonimsky. New York: Schirmer Bks., 2001. 6 vols. alkaline $595 (ISBN 0-02-- 865525-7). www.galegroup.com; www. mlr.com.
Theodore Baker was responsible for the original Biographical Dictionary of Musicians published in 1900; however, it is the name Nicolas Slonimsky, editor of the fifth through eighth editions (appearing in 1958-1992) that is most closely associated with this monumental reference work. It is his voice, his writing style, which is at once informative, entertaining, witty, and full of interesting anecdotes, that is responsible for Baker's commercial success. Although Slonimsky died in 1995, his spirit pervades the centennial edition, the first edition not to include new material by the eminent musicologist. Virtually all of Slonimsky's classical entries from the eighth edition have been preserved, revised, and updated by advisory editor Laura Kuhn and her associate Dennis McIntire. Originally a small reference work devoted to classical musicians, under Slonimsky's reign the scope of Baker's began to broaden, and entries for major jazz and pop figures were included. The new edition continues this trend and is infused with 2,000 new popular and jazz entries, with William Ruhlmann assuming editorship for the popular music entries and Lewis Porter for the jazz. Now,...