Jazz Archives in the United States
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Michael Fitzgerald. Jazz Archives in the United States. A Master’s paper for the M.S. in L.S. degree. July, 2008. 177 pages. Advisor: Timothy D. Pyatt The jazz archive is a unique hybrid that combines elements of a music library, sound archives, and black studies center, as well as a traditional manuscripts collection. It has been greatly affected by both the evolution of the field of jazz studies as well as recent trends in libraries and archives. This study examines what institutional management perceives as the current challenges facing jazz archives in America and how these are being addressed. Five case studies of significant repositories in the United States (Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University, Chicago Jazz Archive at University of Chicago, Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives at University of the District of Columbia, and Los Angeles Jazz Institute) were based on telephone interviews with the archives directors. Patrons, staff, collection development, institutional affiliation and funding, description and access, preservation, communication and outreach, and inter-institutional cooperation are addressed. Headings: Jazz music—Collections Music archives Recorded sound archives Special collections—Case studies JAZZ ARCHIVES IN THE UNITED STATES by Michael Fitzgerald A Master’s paper submitted to the faculty of the School of Information and Library Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Library Science. Chapel Hill, North Carolina July 2008 Approved by _______________________________________ Timothy D. Pyatt 1 Outline I. Introduction II. Literature Review 1. The Study of Jazz in America a. Evolution from Recreational to Scholarly b. Organizations c. Scholarly Communication d. Jazz Books e. Early Archives f. Jazz in the Curriculum g. The Present Day 2. Musical Sound Recordings a. Integrated Access to Sound and Music b. Jazz Discography and Library Cataloging 3. Special Collections: Gifts and Donors 4. Archival Challenges of Preservation and Access 5. Professional Training and Institutional Integration III. Assumptions and Methodology IV. Case Studies 1. Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University 2. William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University 3. Chicago Jazz Archive at the University of Chicago 4. Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives at the University of the District of Columbia 5. Los Angeles Jazz Institute V. Conclusions Bibliography Appendices A. Institution Websites B. Sample Interview Questions C. Recruitment Letter D. Informed Consent Form 2 I. Introduction The first jazz archive in the United States was established just over fifty years ago. In the intervening decades, progress has been slow, but steady. Twenty-five years ago there were three, with additional collections being established within larger departments. At present, there are nearly fifty institutions in this country with significant special collections holdings related to jazz. 1 The story of jazz archives in America is closely tied to the history of the music and its acceptance, first by the general public and then by academic institutions. Issues of bias and discrimination are prevalent, whether based on race, musical style, or even the physical format of materials. When examining this subject, it is vital to consider the people involved—the creators and donors of the materials, as well as the patrons and the staff of jazz archives—and the impact their backgrounds have had. The jazz archive is a unique hybrid that can combine elements of a music library, sound archives, and black studies center, as well as a traditional manuscripts collection. It has been greatly affected by both the evolution of the field of jazz studies as well as recent trends in libraries and archives. A portion of the difficulties faced by jazz archives have parallels in other areas, such as the special collections library and the field of archives as a whole, and just as it borrows from the aforementioned types of focused repositories, it also shares some of their problems. Other situations encountered by jazz archives are not as universal, being rooted in the special interaction of subject matter, formats, patrons, staff, and cultural history. This study will examine those 3 concepts in the context of how jazz archives developed, the environment in which they exist, the challenges that they currently face, and possible directions for their future. 1 Information listed on the Chicago Jazz Archive’s webpage of Jazz/Blues Archives, Collections & Museums at < http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/cja/jazzarch.html > as of June 27, 2008. 4 II. Literature Review The Study of Jazz in America Evolution from Recreational to Scholarly Jazz music is approximately one hundred years and fortunately, this largely improvised music has been documented in recorded sound since 1917. The institutionalized academic study of jazz is much younger. The first English-language scholarly publication devoted to jazz was the Journal of Jazz Studies (now Annual Review of Jazz Studies ), which began publication in 1973. The first graduate program in jazz history and research was established at Rutgers University in 1997. These milestones were the culmination of many years of development, which began in the 1930s. How jazz studies has evolved into an academic discipline is a story that is quite unlike any other. While jazz was indisputably born in the United States, the serious study of the music had its roots in Europe. As pioneer jazz scholar Walter Schaap said, “To consider it seriously on an intellectual level just didn’t occur to very many people here until the Europeans did it for us.”2 Evidence of the early European attention can be seen in conductor Ernst-Alexandre Ansermet’s 1919 published review of a Sidney Bechet performance. 3 The bulk of the major jazz discographies have been European in origin (although some have been published in America) despite the great challenges of trans- Atlantic research. Two of the most prominent early scholars were the Frenchmen Hugues Panassié and Charles Delaunay. Panassié’s early writings sought to establish a 5 jazz canon and to define “The Real Jazz” (the title of his second book, published in 1942). Delaunay’s discographical research resulted in the influential book Hot Discographie , first published in 1936 and later revised and published in the United States. The activities and serious approach of the early French critics have been thoroughly described by David Strauss. In America, however, there was considerable establishment resistance to jazz and later to the study of it. In 1921 the Ladies’ Home Journal magazine published an article titled “Unspeakable Jazz Must Go!” and throughout the 1920s and into the 1940s there were similar articles denouncing jazz in both the popular press and in musical publications. “I think the time has come when teachers should assume a militant attitude toward all forms of this debasing and degrading music,” said a Kansas City schools superintendent and the story was front page news in The New York Times .4 Much of this opposition contained elements of racism and the lingering aftereffects are still present in how jazz is viewed by American society and educational institutions. The stories of early jazz collectors—the people who would eventually become ensconced in the field as record label executives, professional writers, and educators— has been surprisingly well documented. In many cases, autobiographical accounts have been published and in others, interviews and oral histories have been conducted so that we can now examine both how the study of the music developed as well as what circumstances led to these figures’ involvement and how their expertise and authority grew. Vivid first-hand accounts of the jazz collectors’ world in the 1930s are found buried in the early pages of the autobiographies of Jerry Wexler, Bob Thiele, John Hammond, Dave Dexter, Jr., and Leonard Feather; H.R.S. Society Rag published a 6 series of profiles on collector-writers, including George Hoefer 5 and in 1939, an excellent survey of the earliest history of jazz collecting was supplied by Stephen Smith as part of the book Jazzmen .6 Gary Marmorstein’s history of Columbia Records provides some material on George Avakian and Marshall Stearns; and additional sources such as the biography of George Frazier and the transcripts of Ron Welburn’s interviews of Stanley Dance, Helen Oakley Dance, Russell Sanjek, George T. Simon, and others are valuable in gaining an understanding of the environment in which the study of jazz was born. In spite of the many arguments against jazz, scholarship slowly evolved. A bibliography of “Books and Periodicals on Jazz from 1926 to 1932” was compiled by Jane Ganfield as part of the requirements for her 1933 degree in library service at Columbia University and in 1938 and 1939, another bibliography by Melvin C. Oathout appeared in serial form in early issues of H.R.S. Society Rag , where the compiler supplied this preface: There are two reasons why the literature of jazz is not extensive. One lies in the very nature of the art: the true genius of jazz is the improvisation of intricate skeins of musical pattern. […] Thus, unlike classical music, the importance of which can be set down on paper for examination by critics, jazz can only be studied at the time of performance and on records. […] The other reason I have in mind is less commendable to our civilization. It results from the fact that certain individuals in our society have conceived the idea that jazz is morally bad. 7 Clearly, even at such an early point in time, there was a burgeoning demand for access to the bibliographic universe of jazz-related writings. By 1942, Robert Goffin and Leonard Feather were offering a course studying jazz at the New School for Social Research in New York.