Happy December! It is hard to believe we are almost at the end of the year. For this month’s blog post, we are excited to showcase the jazz materials in our collection. We’ve heard from jazz students that they feel disconnected from the library – so this display is attempting to bridge that gap.
These are by no means the only jazz materials in the library. There is so much more for you to explore. We have posted a few signs around other areas in our stacks where you can find jazz materials. If you take a picture of them and tag us on social media, you can win some Music Library merch!
Content note: some of these resources quote earlier time periods that can have harmful language. Please take care.
Jazz and social issues
- Jazz: race and social change (1870-2019) by David Szatmary explores jazz history through the social and cultural changes it evolved alongside. Recommended chapter: “Jazz in a troubled twenty-first century America: hard times, black lives matter, and #metoo.”
- Jazz and justice: racism and the political economy of the music by Gerald Horne recounts through story the social, economic, and political forces that shaped jazz. There are numerous instances of female artists. Recommended chapter: “Original Jelly Roll Blues.”
- Brassroots democracy: maroon ecologies and the jazz commons by Benjamin Barson re-centers jazz history through the context of slavery, racism, and capitalism. Recommended chapter: “Sowing Freedom: Abolitionist Agroecology in Afro-Louisiana.”
- Improvising the score: rethinking modern film music through jazz by Gretchen L. Carlson tells the story of collaborations between jazz artists and film directors with in-depth case studies. Recommended chapter: “When strangers meet: structures, tensions, and negotiations in jazz/film collaborations.”
- Jazz worlds, world jazz edited by Philip V. Bohlman and Goffredo Plastino features chapters that give a snapshot of jazz from around the world. Recommended chapter: “Culture, commodity, palimpsest; locating jazz in the world” by Travis A. Jackson.
- New jazz conceptions: history, theory, practice edited by Roger Fagge and Nicolas Pillai is a collection of essays about 21st Century British jazz. Recommended chapter: “Making scenes: social media and new conceptions of jazz communities” by Tom Sykes.
- Learning jazz: jazz education, history, and public pedagogy by Ken Prouty tackles the disparities between institutional and informal contexts. Recommended chapter: “We don’t know what we don’t know: historiography and the “lost voice” in jazz.”
- Rhythm changes: jazz, culture, discourse by Alan Stanbridge highlights how cultural discourse intersects with the creation of jazz. Recommended chapter: “The Body Electric: Music, Machines, and Mechanical Reproduction.”
- Queer blues: the hidden figures of early blues music by Darryl W. Bullock tells stories of LGBTQ+ lives in early jazz history. Recommended chapter: “Any woman’s blues.”
Jazz genres and histories
- Free Jazz by Jeff Schwartz is a history of the genre of free jazz from its beginnings and major figures to today.
- Early jazz: a concise introduction, from its beginnings through 1929 by Fumi Tomita tells us the story of the earliest iterations of jazz and its major performers. Recommended chapter: “Jazz around the world.”
- The jazz problem: education and the battle for morality during the jazz age by Jacob Hardesty speaks to the debates taking place around educating students in jazz early in its conception. Recommended chapter: “The “Jazz Problem” in Higher Education: Attitudes of College Students and Faculty.”
- Jazz with a beat: small group swing, 1940-1960 by Tad Richards is about swing from the 40s-60s and the way it fits within the broader literature of jazz. Recommended chapter: “Postwar Explosion.”
- Analysis of jazz: a comprehensive approach by Laurent Cugny speaks to the theoretical and methodological framings for jazz throughout its history.
- In with the in crowd: popular jazz in 1960s Black America by Mike Smith counters narratives that the 1960s did not have advances in jazz, by showcasing key cultural moments and musicians from that period. Recommended chapter: “the groove that launched a thousand clones.”
Regional jazz
- Jazzing: New York City’s unseen scene by Thomas H. Greenland is research that highlights not jazz performers but rather those who witness the performance, like photographers, critics, fans, and tourists, through interviews and observation. Recommended chapter: “Making the scene: fan communities.”
- Jazz in the Hill: nightlife and narratives of a Pittsburgh neighbourhood by Colter Harper investigates how jazz directly shaped the Hill District in Pittsburgh, while connecting it to larger political contexts. Recommended chapter:
- Live at the Cellar: Vancouver’s iconic jazz club and the Canadian co-operative jazz scene in the 1950s and ‘60s by Marian Jago dives deep into the co-operative club movement in the realm of jazz in the 50s and 60s in Vancouver. It features both archival and original evidence. Recommended chapter: “No room for squares: the cellar as artistic hub.”
- Dangerous rhythms: jazz and the underworld by T. J. English details the relationship between historical jazz artists and the mob – one which perpetuates racial inequalities. Recommended chapter: “Birth of the hipster.”
- Wichita blues: music in the African American community by Patrick Joseph O’Connor focuses in on blues in the Midwest, with interviews from African American Wichita blues musicians. Recommended chapter: “Early African Americans in Kansas: cowboys, soldiers, settlers, and minstrels.”
- A supreme love: the music of jazz and the hope of the gospel by William Edgar details the deep links between jazz and gospel music through examples of major jazz musicians throughout history. Recommended chapter: “Jazz in Midlife: Bebop and Cool.”
- Jazz singing: a guide to pedagogy and performance by Tish Oney is a recent guide for jazz singers and also teachers to understand common techniques and styles. Recommended chapter: “Artistry and pedagogy.”
Repertoire
- A jazz trifle: for piano solo (1986) by Zenobia Powell Perry, edited by Jeannie Gayle Pool, Christopher Husted
- A very merry widow: operetta goes jazz: 10 piano arrangements by 10 jazz composers by Franz Lehár
- New standards: 101 lead sheets by women composers edited and curated by Terri Lyne Carrington
- The real Philadelphia book edited by David Dzubinski, Suzanne Cloud
Recordings
- Pink dolphins by Anteloper
- Sparkle beings by Angelica Sanchez
- Electric Django by Django Reinhardt
- Bells on sand by Gerald Clayton
- Linger awhile by Samara Joy
- Love quantum by Theor Croker
Electronic resources
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