Bill Robinson Records "Keep a Song In Your Soul" Robinson, Bill "Bojangles" performer Sound Recording 1930-01-18 Bill Robinson, dean of American tap dancers, is the first artist to sign a contract with Brunswick to record his syncopated feet. By constructing a special wooden platform in the New York recording laboratories and surrounding it with microphones, every "tap-tap" of Bill's nimble feet was recorded as they beat time for the orchestra in his first record, "Ain't Misbehavin'" from Connie's Hot Chocolates. The sensational sales of this record have established Robinson as one of Brunswick's leading recording artists. "This is Bill Robinson talking, and I will now endeavor to do a tap routine and I will name every step, so please try to follow me: single roll; double roll; heel and toe cross;syncopation; drum tap; drum tap on right; left foot; both feet together; cramp roll; right foot; treble toe; Broadway walk; double cramp. Oh folks, I'm now leaving town." Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Sampson, Henry T.: Swingin' On the Etherwaves: A Chronological History of African Americans in Radio and Television Broadcasting, 1925-1955. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press (2005). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (biography) loc.music.tdabio.154 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.1380