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

Regional jazz

Repertoire

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

By Sabine O'Donnell, TALint Student, Music Library

Jazz in the library

Gallery