Paul Oliver

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Paul Ambrose Oliver is the name of a 19th Century inventor.

Paul Oliver (born 25 May 1927 in Nottingham, England) is an architectural historian and writer on the Blues and other forms of African-American music. His commentary and researches into blues have been widely influential.

Oliver is a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (Department of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University). He has argued that vernacular architecture will be necessary in the future to "ensure sustainability in both cultural and economic terms beyond the short term."

He is well known for his 1997 work Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. Spanning 3 volumes and 2500 pages, it includes contributions from researchers from 80 countries. As of 2005, he is at work on a book to be called the World Atlas of Vernacular Architecture.

His work on American traditional music did much to spread interest in the Blues and included early research into the influence of Islamic music from North Africa on the origins of the blues.

Paul Oliver's Collection of African American Music and Related Traditions was established in 2007 with the support of the European Blues Association at the University of Gloucestershire.

[edit] Quotes

"Solutions to the world housing's demand will only be met ... through the support, enhancement and adequate servicing of vernacular architecture."

[edit] Bibliography

Some of his architectural writings:

  • Oliver, Paul (1969). Shelter and society. London. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1981). Dunroamin : the suburban semi and its enemies. Barrie & Jenkins, London. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1987). Dwellings : the house across the world. Phaidon, Oxford. 

Blues books:

  • Oliver, Paul (1959). Bessie Smith. Cassell, London. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1960). Blues fell this morning : the meaning of the blues. Cassell, London. ISBN 3-85445-065-6. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1965). Conversation with the blues. Cassell, London. ISBN 3-85445-065-6. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1968). Screening the blues : aspects of the blues tradition. Cassell, London. ISBN 0-304-93137-3. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1969). The story of the blues. Barrie & Jenkins, London. ISBN 3-85445-092-3. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1970). Savannah syncopators : African retentions in the blues. Studio Vista. ISBN 0-289-79828-0. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1984). Songsters and saints : vocal traditions on race records. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-24827-2. 
  • Oliver, Paul (1984). Blues off the record : thirty years of blues commentary. Baton Press, Tunbridge Wells. ISBN 0-306-80321-6. 
  • Oliver, Paul (2006). Broadcasting the Blues : Black Blues in the Segregation Era. Routledge, New York & Abingdon. ISBN 0-415-97177-2. 

[edit] External links

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