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JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH, APRIL 2016 ♪
Selector: Robin Darling
“My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being… When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups… I want to speak to their souls.”
– John Coltrane [from an interview, quoted in John Coltrane, His Life and Music by Lewis Porter]
– John Coltrane [from an interview, quoted in John Coltrane, His Life and Music by Lewis Porter]
*Display image from the Virtual Motor City Collection
Web Resources
- National Jazz Museum in Harlem
The mission of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem is to preserve, promote, and present jazz by inspiring knowledge, appreciation and celebration of jazz locally, nationally, and internationally. - The National Museum of American History - Smithsonian Jazz
Through world-class collections, scholarship, concerts, exhibitions and programs, Smithsonian Jazz at the National Museum of American History explores and celebrates the American experience through the transformative power of jazz. - Chicago Jazz Archive (The University of Chicago Library)
The archive spans nearly a century of Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde, fusion, and other siblings of "traditional" jazz. Its holdings range from 1905 piano sheet music to photos and recordings of current performers. - Duke University Libraries - Jazz Archive
The Jazz Archive at Duke University acquires, preserves, and makes available unique materials that document jazz's historical and ongoing significance. The archive exists to facilitate research and performance at the local, national and international levels. - The Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives (University of the District of Columbia)
The Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives at the University of the District of Columbia was established as a research and resource center for the study, preservation, and continued development of one of America’s greatest original cultural treasures—JAZZ.
Electronic Journals
- Current Research in JazzCurrent Research in Jazz is an online open access journal designed to publish peer-reviewed articles of original jazz research. In addition to shorter articles of a scholarly nature, it publishes bibliographies, indices, chronologies, and other research aids to serve and support jazz scholarship.
- Journal of Jazz Studies (JJS)The Journal of Jazz Studies (JJS), formerly the print journal Annual Review of Jazz Studies, is an open-access online journal, which is peer reviewed and published by the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Addressed to specialists and fans alike, JJS provides a forum for the ever-expanding range and depth of jazz scholarship, from technical analyses to oral history to bibliography to cultural interpretation.
- JazzTimesJazzTimes has been published continuously since 1970 and is the recipient of numerous awards for journalisim and graphic design. A large crossection of music afficionados and fans alike view JazzTimes as America's premier jazz magazine.In addition to insightful profiles of emerging and iconic stars, each issue contains over 100 reviews of the latest CDs, Books and DVDs. Published ten times annually, JazzTimes provides uncompromising coverage of the American jazz scene.
Books from the Catalog
Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60 by ISBN: 0472067656Publication Date: 2001Before Motown is the first book about the history of jazz in Detroit. It shows the significant impact Detroit has had on the development of jazz in America, with its own sound, distinct from that of the other jazz centers.
Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History by ISBN: 9780195091731Publication Date: 1998Drawing from contemporary journalism, reviews, program notes, memoirs, interviews, and other sources, Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History brings to life the controversies and critical issues that have accompanied every moment of jazz history. Highlighting the significance of jazz as a complex and consequential social practice as well as an art form, this book presents a multitude of ways in which people have understood and cared about jazz.
The Masters of Bebop by ISBN: 0306810093Publication Date: 2001In The Masters of Bebop, Gitler traces the advent of what was a revolution in sound. He profiles the leading players--Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillepie, Max Roach--but also studies the style and music of the first disciples, such as Dexter Gordon and J. J. Johnson, to reveal bebop’s pervasive influence throughout American culture. Revised with an updated discography--and with a new chapter covering bebop right up through the end of the twentieth century--The Masters of Bebop is the essential listener’s handbook.
Ebooks from the Catalog
At the Jazz Band Ball by ISBN: 9780520945883Publication Date: 2010Nat Hentoff, renowned jazz critic, civil liberties activist, and fearless contrarian has lived through much of jazz s history and has known many of jazz s most important figures, often as friend and confidant. Hentoff has been a tireless advocate for the neglected parts of jazz history, including forgotten sidemen and -women. This volume includes his best recent work: short essays, long interviews, and personal recollections.
The History of Jazz by ISBN: 9780199830589Publication Date: 2011Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic--acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present.
I Remember Jazz by ISBN: 9780807153758Publication Date: 1999Al Rose has known virtually every noteworthy jazz musician of this century. For many of them he has organized concerts, composed songs that they later played or sang, and promoted their acts. He has, when called upon, bailed them out of jail, straightened out their finances, stood up for them at their weddings, and eulogized them at their funerals. I Remember Jazz is replete with such amusing and affectionate anecdotes -- vignettes that will delight all fans of the music.
Jazz Matters: Sound, Place, and Time Since Bebop by ISBN: 9780520266896Publication Date: 2010In this engrossing new book, David Ake expands on the discussion he began in Jazz Cultures, lending his engaging, thoughtful, and stimulating perspective to post-1940s jazz. Ake investigates such issues as improvisational analysis, pedagogy, American exceptionalism, and sense of place in jazz. He uses provocative case studies to illustrate how some of the values ascribed to the postwar jazz culture are reflected in and fundamentally shaped by aspects of sound, location, and time.
*Note: Ebooks from the catalog require a WSU access ID and password
Local Interest
- Detroit Sound Conservancy
The Detroit Sound Conservancy (DSC) mission is to increase awareness of and support to Detroit’s musical heritage through advocacy, preservation, and education in a spirit of vigilance and solidarity. - Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is the world's largest institution dedicated to the African American experience. - DIA - Friday Night Live!
The DIA is open late every Friday night with live music, art-making workshops, drawing in the galleries and much more. - DSO - Paradise Jazz Series
The 2016-17 Paradise Jazz Series will feature a collection of one-night-only appearances hand-picked by their very own Fred A. & Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Chair, trumpeter Terence Blanchard. - Detroit Jazz Festival (Sept. 2 - Sept. 5)
The world's largest free jazz festival! - Baker's Keyboard Lounge
The world's oldest jazz club. Baker's is noted for its long history of presenting local and major jazz acts, its excellent acoustics, its intimacy.
Fun Fact - History of JAM
Jazz Appreciation Month (fondly known as "JAM") was created by the National Museum of American History in 2002 to herald and celebrate the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz for the entire month of April.
JAM is intended to stimulate and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz - to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and more.
For more information visit the JAM page on the Smithsonian NMAH website (here)
CDs from the Catalog ♫
Virtuoso by Call Number: CDR:2500
Coltrane Live At Birdland by Call Number: CDR:0973
Change Of The Century by Call Number: CDR:2465
6 Pieces Of Silver by Call Number: CDR:2864
The Real McCoy by Call Number: CDR:2283
Birth Of The Cool by Call Number: CDR:0826
Midnight Blue by Call Number: CDR:3021
Saxophone Colossus by Call Number: CDR:1111
Ella At Duke's Place by Call Number: CDR:3821
The Jaki Byard Experience by Call Number: CDR:1013
Mingus Ah Um by Call Number: CDR:1060
Out To Lunch by Call Number: CDR:1052
Dialogue by Call Number: CDR:0260
DVDs from the Catalog
Jazz by Publication Date: 200110 episodes tracing the history of jazz from its roots in the African-American community of New Orleans to its heights and continuing presence.
Jazz IconsPublication Date: 2007Jazz Icons is an ongoing DVD series featuring full-length concerts and in-studio performances by the greatest legends of jazz, filmed all over the world from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Streaming Videos
Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read by Call Number: Streaming (requires WSU access ID and password)Publication Date: 2012In a triumphant career that lasted forty years Erroll Garner pushed the playability of the piano to its limits, developed an international reputation, and made an indelible mark on the jazz world. And yet, his story has never been told. Until now. Atticus Brady's new film uses an astonishing array of archival materials interwoven with interviews with friends, family, and fellow musicians.
Imagine The Sound by Call Number: Streaming (requires WSU access ID and password)Publication Date: 1981Imagine the Sound brings together interviews and performances with the prime innovators of the once controversial free jazz movement of the 60s. The film features articulate interviews and dramatic performances by pianists Cecil Taylor and Paul Bley, tenor saxophone Archie Shepp, and trumpet player Bill Dixon.