It’s Your Jam: Test Your Knowledge with a Big Red Music Quiz

In advance of the Dead & Company anniversary show, we offer a tuneful playlist of trivia—from jazz to rock to the ‘Alma Mater’

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: MEDIUM

A black-and-white photo of the Grateful Dead performing at Cornell University in 1977.
© Larry Reichman / www.gdbartonhall1977.com

How much do you know about Cornell-related music history? Take our 14-question quiz and find out!

Published April 13, 2023


Comments

  1. Jennifer Krasnoff, Class of 1988

    Fun but don’t think I knew many of these

    • Yoshi, Class of 1996

      Next time please do not forget Steve Reich

  2. Mark, Class of 1981

    I’m forever impressed with the diverse accomplishments of our alums — amazing!

  3. Bill Gallagher, Class of 1979

    Huey Lewis was also one of the first artists to perform at Anabel Taylor Hall’s “Bound for Glory” radio show (he performed under his real name, Hugh Cregg).

  4. Kenneth Fields

    Why nothing about Harry Chapin who I remember hanging out in front of Williard Straight playing guitar while he was an “intermittent” student at Cornell in the 60’s?

    • George+Weiner, Class of 1964

      Harry was an architecture classmate, before he switched to A&S. We used to kid him, if don’t quit singing all the time, you’ll bust out and never be successful. Well, we were partly right. He returned in 1972, along with Phil Ochs and Eric Weissberg (Dueling Banjos), for a Barton Hall concert benefitting Ramsey Clark, who was vying for the Democrat nomination for president.

  5. Victor Tancredi, Class of 1995

    Everybody loves taking quizzes, keep ’em coming!

  6. Marie-Celeste Scully, Class of 1969

    Also missing from this line up… Richard Farina, author of “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me”, husband of Mimi Baez with whom he produced and performed 3 albums…
    Celebrations For A Grey Day Vanguard 1965
    Reflections In A Crystal Wind Vanguard 1965
    Memories Vanguard 1968

    • Carol Selman, Class of 1968

      Why were the audience members surprised it was snowing? Snow during spring finals seemed commonplace in the 1960s. Enjoyed the quiz and did fairly well. Sigh, if only Herbie Hancock had been at Cornell…..Remembering the music of the mid 60s when hearing Odetta, Bob Dylan, Donavan (these in a small venue) and of course P<P and Mary and laughing over The Rolling Stones. But anyone from that era recall if it was Smokey Robinson and the Miracles or the Temptations or perhaps the Four Top one big weekend? I tried to find out but records seem to only go back to the 1970s.

      • Linda Triggs Dostie, Class of 1971

        The Temptations performed during Orientation Week in 1967. (My roommate had tickets, but I did not.). The Four Tops performed over Fall Weekend 1967 – one of the best concerts. They performed every hit and ignored the somewhat rowdy, somewhat drunken crowd.

  7. marty muggleton, Class of 1980

    8 out of 14. Is this graded on a curve?

  8. Lois Gans Kemp, Class of 1983

    Fun … wish I could listen to the answers – or at least hear a song from the correct answer.

  9. Phil Marriott, Class of 1989

    Hey let’s not forget Jesse Harris’91, who among other things wrote and won the Grammy for Don’t Know Why” performed by Norah Jones. He’s put a lot of great music out there.

  10. Angela DeSilva, Class of 1978

    Fun but next time let’s have some music to go with it!

  11. Dr. SUSANNE SOLOMON, Class of 1978

    Got 13 of 14- Cornell still has the best university music!

  12. Jeff Cohlberg, Class of 1966

    Greatest moment in Cornell music? Maybe the magnificent Charles Mingus Sextet concert of March 18, 1964, at Bailey Hall. Regarded by many as one of the greatest jazz concerts in history and available on Blue Note (“Charles Mingus Quartet with Eric Dolphy – Cornell 1964”). One of Dolphy’s last performances. The previous night Mingus was interviewed at Bailey Hall by the one of the campus ministers; he talked about what it was like being a black artist in America. Overall probably the best educational experience of my years at Cornell.

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