ROSWELL RUDD'S WORLD MUSIC CLASS • Bard College, 1973–74 • A Classroom Mixtape from the Alan Lomax Cantometrics Project

In 1973, jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd taught a course unlike any other at Bard College. Drawing on Alan Lomax's groundbreaking Cantometrics Project, he immersed students in vocal traditions, ritual music, work songs, epics, and ceremonies from every corner of the globe—not as museum pieces, but as living music to be heard, debated, and loved.

Among those students was ethnomusicologist Kenneth Bilby, who borrowed recordings from Rudd, copied them onto cassette, and assembled his own classroom mixtape. Passed from hand to hand, it became a favorite among classmates—a personal map through one of the most adventurous listening courses ever taught.

This transmission reconstructs that spirit. The first half follows the sequence of musical examples used in the Cantometrics coding sessions; the second expands outward into additional recordings Roswell shared in class, reflecting the curiosity, generosity, and boundless musical imagination that defined his teaching.