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The New York Chapter of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections presents its February 2017 program:

RICHARD PRYOR'S LAFF RECORDINGS
Presented by Dan Blazek

Considered perhaps the greatest Stand-up comedian of all time, Richard Pryor's complex and dramatic life extended into his recording history as well. Much has been written about Pryor’s 1967 Las Vegas meltdown, which turned his career inside out. He collected himself in the black clubs of the day, signing with Laff Records, which released his seminal album, "Craps (After hours)" in 1971. Considered a minor classic, "Craps" ushered in Pryor's new raw and militant voice. But just as quickly Pryor jumped to the Partee/Stax label and subsequently to Warner Brothers, rocketing to success with "That [N-word's] Crazy" in 1974. In the 1970's, Louis and David Drozen of Laff Records had an agreement that they could release any album of Pryor's for which they owned earlier material. Pryor’s Laff record releases trailed upon the success of his cinema and Warner album releases, even winning him a Grammy in 1982. Years later Pryor regained control of his Laff masters and three separate re-releases ensued. This presentation seeks to examine and rate Pryor’s Laff albums, which spotlight his formative genius and had been neglected by the Goldmine standard comedy guide.

DANIEL BLAZEK is the former head of the Government Information Section at the Otto G. Richter Library, University of Miami. He is currently a Recorded Sound Technician at the Library of Congress, Culpeper, VA, and has recently been a liaison for procuring Jewish LPs from Florida Atlantic University.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR RECORDED SOUND COLLECTIONS (www.arsc-audio.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals—everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.

Videographer: Joseph Patrych; www.patrych.com/index.html