Some Problems in Jazz Research

Jazz research seems to be coming of age in the academic world. While many non-academics have been researching this music since the 1920s, we are now beginning to find a larger percentage of music professors engaged in these activities. During the past twenty years or more, many colleges and universities have had a jazz history or jazz ensemble course, but the impetus for such courses often came from a faculty member who had some interest in jazz as a sideline. More often than not, there was no institutional support for jazz, only the luck of having a faculty member who wanted to teach it. Recently, however, colleges have been actively seeking jazz scholars. There is a growing commitment to jazz as an academic subject, and colleges are actively seeking qualified teachers. The positions always require teaching other subjects in addition to jazz, but progress is clearly being made. To date, most jazz research has been done by individuals who are neither musicians nor academics. These efforts have been very much appreciated by all concerned with the field. All the while, we recognize the fact that non-musician non-academics usually have several handicaps as jazz researchers. First, they are not performers of the music. Second, they vary greatly in their understanding of research methods. The discographers as a rule are the most successful researchers, having over the years established their own methods and standards. Many discographies contain remarkable and indispensable findings. But jazz biographies, on the other hand, range from documents that are thoroughly researched to those based merely on hearsay. Finally, non-musicians are severely limited by their inability to analyze the music, which is after all the subject and inspiration of our study. Obviously, there are many types of research-discographical, biblio

Art · Art history · Jazz · Visual arts · Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity · Musicology and Musical Analysis

• The Institutionalization of Inequality

  Open Access•蒋玉涵 Jiang Yuhan•Popular Music & Society•2024

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• Louis Armstrong

  David Tatham, James Lincoln Collier•American Music•1987

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• A Preliminary Chronology of the Early Career of Ferd "Jelly Roll" Morton

  Lawrence Gushee•American Music•1985

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• Prejudice Lives

  Bruce Tucker•Black Music Research Journal•1984

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• The Making of Jazz

  Lewis Porter, James Lincoln Collier et al.•The Black Perspective in Music•1981

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