First Advisor
Applegate, Erik
Document Type
Dissertation
Date Created
5-2020
Department
College of Performing and Visual Arts, Music, Music Student Work
Embargo Date
5-31-2021
Abstract
This study focuses on the career of Bob Cranshaw by examining his musical attributes and his leadership within the jazz community. Cranshaw’s career exceeded sixty years and yielded more than 400 recordings with artists such as Sonny Rollins, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Dexter Gordon, and numerous others. His career is examined using recordings, interviews, articles, discographies, and other publications. Biographical information about Cranshaw’s upbringing, education, military service, and family dynamic offers perspective on how he established himself as a professional bassist and clarifies certain important decisions regarding his work. A timeline of Cranshaw’s career is constructed using discographies, articles, and interviews to show the development of his professional life. New interviews with Cranshaw, his colleagues, and his students further illuminate the range and scope of his work musically and non-musically. The identification of important events and key elements in Cranshaw’s professional and personal life makes it possible to better understand how and why he achieved success. In so doing, this study recognizes Cranshaw’s significant place in jazz history.
Extent
359 pages
Local Identifiers
Lewis_unco_0161D_10839.pdf
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Recommended Citation
Lewis, Seth Britton, "We, Not Me: The Musical Life of Bob Cranshaw" (2020). Dissertations. 664.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/664