Joe Glazer

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Joe Glazer
Joe Glazer

Joe Glazer (1918-September 19, 2006), closely associated with labor unions and often referred to as the "labor's troubadour," was a US-American folk musician who recorded more than thirty albums over the course of his career.

Contents

[edit] Early life and union career

Born in New York City, Glazer was a graduate of Brooklyn College. He eventually moved to Akron, Ohio where he performed for the United Rubber Workers throughout his career, a union for which he served as education director from 1950 to 1962. He was also a member of the Textile Workers Union of America [1] as well as an adviser to the United States Information Agency.[2] According to a 9/24/06 obituary in The Washington Post, written by Fred Barbash: "Mr. Glazer in 1961 joined the Foreign Service staff of the U.S. Information Agency, then headed by Edward R. Murrow, and was sent to Mexico as labor information officer. He transferred to the State Department in Washington as a labor adviser in 1965." His younger brother is sociologist Nathan Glazer.[3]

[edit] Singer and songwriter

Some of his more acclaimed songs include "The Mill Was Made of Marble," "Too Old To Work" and "Automaton." In 1960, in collaboration with Edith Fowke, Glazer published Songs of Work and Freedom, which included 10 of his original compositions. In 1979, Glazer invited 14 other labor musicians to the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland, to share musical and written compositions, and to discuss the effective use of music, song, poetry and chants in labor activism. The three-day event became an annual one, becoming known as the Great Labor Arts Exchange (GLAE). Over the next five years, the concept of "labor culture" and how the labor movement and the arts interacted which Glazer and others held expanded. In 1984, Glazer incorporated the Labor Heritage Foundation as a parent body for GLAE as well as to curate and promote the culture of the American labor movement.[4]

In 2002, Glazer released an autobiography entitled Labor's Troubadour, which was published by the University of Illinois Press. On September 19, 2006, it was disclosed that Glazer had died at the age of 88, reportedly due to the progression of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

[edit] Discography

  • Eight New Songs for Labor. CIO Department of Education and Research, 1950.
  • Ballads for Sectarians. Labor Arts, 1952. Reissued 1953. Also included in Songs for Political Action, Bear Family BCD 15720 JL, 10 CDs, 1996.
  • The Songs of Joe Hill. Folkways Records FA 2039, 1954.
  • Songs of the Wobblies. Labor Arts, 1954.
  • Joe Glazer and the PAC Bucks. CIO Education and Research Department, 1955.
  • Image of History: Twenty Years of the CIO. UAW Education Department, 1956.
  • A Douglas for Me and Other Songs of the New Democratic Party of Canada. Woodworth Book Club of Canada, 1956.
  • Ballads for Ballots. Sound Studios, 1956.
  • Union Songs. UAW Education Department, 1958.
  • Songs of Work and Freedom. Washington Records WR-4601, 1960.
  • Ballads for Ballots. Labor's Committee for Kennedy and Johnson, 1960.
  • Democratic Music. Democratic Committee for John F. Kennedy for President, 1960.
  • Songs of Coal. Sound Studios, 1964.
  • The Golden Presses -- That Heavenly Newspaper Plant. The American Newspaper Guild, 1966.
  • My Darling Party Line. Sound Studios, 1968. Reissued as cassette, 1988.
  • AFSCME Sings with Joe Glazer, 1968. Reissued in 1971 as Joe Glazer Sings Labor Songs, Collector Records #1918.
  • Singing about Our Union. AFSCME, 1969.
  • Joe Glazer Sings Garbage -- and Other Songs of Our Times. Collector Records #1919, 1971. Reissued in 1980, and in 1993 as a cassette.
  • Joe Glazer Live at Vail. Central Pension Fund of the OEIU, 1973.
  • Songs of Steel and Struggle -- the Story of the Steelworkers of America. Collector Records, 1975.
  • Down in a Coal Mine. Collector Records #1923, 1974. Reissued in 1997 as a cassette.
  • Textile Voices -- Songs and Stories of the Mills. Collector Records #1922, 1975. Reissued 1985 as a cassette.
  • Singing BRAC with Joe Glazer. Collector Records #1924, 1975.
  • Union Train. Collector Records #1925, 1975.
  • Songs for Woodworkers. Collector Records #1929, 1997.
  • Songs of the Wobblies. Collector Records #1927, 1978. Reissued 1988 as a cassette.
  • Service Employees International Sings with Joe Glazer. SEIU, 1980.
  • Joe Glazer Sings Labor Songs. Collector Records, 1980. Reissued 1988 as a cassette; reissued 1994 as a CD.
  • Jellybean Blues. Collector Records #1935, 1982. Also issued 1982 as a cassette.
  • Jellybean Blues, Vol. II. Collector Records #1935, 1984. Also issued 1984 as a cassette.
  • A Century of Labor Songs. Collector Records #1934, 1981.
  • Songs for USIA. Collector Records, 1985, cassette.
  • Fifty Years of the UAW. Collector Records #1934. 1985, cassette.
  • Bricklayin' Union Man. Collector Records #1991, 1987, cassette.
  • Old Folks Ain't All the Same. Collector Records # 1942, 1987. Also issued 1987 as a cassette.
  • Joe Glazer Sings Labor Songs, II. Collector Records #1944, 1989, cassette.
  • The Jewish Immigrant Experience in America. Collector Records #1945, 1989, cassette.
  • Sing and Build -- Songs for Architects, Builders and Planners. Collector Records #1950, 1991, cassette.
  • Welcome to America -- Songs of the American Immigrants. Collector Records #1952, 1990, cassette.
  • Folk Songs of the American Dream. Collector Records #1954, 1995, cassette and CD.
  • The Music of American Politics. Collector Records #1955, 1996, cassette and CD. [5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Joe Glazer, Labor's Troubadour, pp. 1-149.
  2. ^ Glazer, Labor's Troubadour, pp. 150-211
  3. ^ Glazer, Labor's Troubadour, p. 4
  4. ^ Glazer, Labor's Troubadour, pp. 212-215.
  5. ^ For a highly detailed complete discography, see Glazer, Labor's Troubadour, pp. 285-294.

[edit] References

  • Barbash, Fred. "Joe Glazer; Music Set Tone for Labor Movement." Washington Post. September 24, 2006.
  • Carney, Jim. "U.S. Labor Troubadour Dies at Age 88." Akron Beacon-Journal. September 21, 2006.
  • Conn, Richard. "Review: Labor's Troubadour." Labor Studies Journal. 28:3 (Fall 2003).
  • Glazer, Joe. Labor's Troubadour. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2002. ISBN 0252026128
  • Martin, Douglas. "Joe Glazer, 88, A Singer and Songwriter for Labor, Dies." New York Times. September 21, 2006.
  • Moe, Doug. "Labor's Love Lost: Joe Glazer Dies." Madison Capitol Times. September 21, 2006.

[edit] External links