MUHI 455 : Jazz History

Your assignment is to create a bibliography and write a short (5-7 page) research paper on some aspect of jazz history.

Choosing a Topic

The first place to consult is your lecture schedule. Any of the weekly topics outlined in the lecture schedule may qualify.
Also consult your class lecture notes and examine your own personal interests.

Explore current topics in jazz history. What have you read about, heard about, experienced? A good way to get an overview of topics is to browse issues of print jazz journals, found on Level A of the Mudd Library:

• Down Beat, vol 61:no 1 (01/1994) - v.74:no.1-2(2007:Jan.-Feb.)
• Gene Lees jazzletter, three years kept, vol 22:no 1 (01/2003) - v.24:no.6-12(2005:Jun.-Dec.)
• Jazz Times, vol 23:no 1 (Feb., 1993) - v.37:no.1 (Feb., 2007),

Other jazz periodicals as cataloged as circulating books and are found on the 3rd floor. You can find them in LUCIA, the library's online catalog by selecting Journal titles from the pull-down "Search..." menu at the top of the page and using the Subject Keywords jazz.

LUCIA can also be used to explore books. Go to Guided Search and choose Material type: Books to eliminate scores and recordings. Many topic in jazz are Library of Congress Subject Headings. Try:
Subject begins with...

• ragtime
• swing music
• latin jazz
• big band music
• jazz vocals
• gospel music
• dixieland music
• funk
• blues

Some Keyword anywhere terms to search, along with "jazz" are:

• be-bop
• avant-garde
• mainsream
• fusion
• delta
• alternative
• traditional
• delta

As you consult these sources, be sure to keep track of the journals, books and web sites you have looked at. They may come in handy when you begin your research.

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Background Reading

Once you have chosen a preliminary topic, you need to do some background reading. This is to familiarize yourself with the topic and terminology associated with it. This will allow you to compile a list of search terms to use when doing you research. Encyclopedias and books on your subject are good places to gather this information. Note: encyclopedias themselves are not valid sources for your bibliography. Use them as a jumping-off point.

Grove Music Online has full-text searching capability and contains the complete text of the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Find an entry on your subject, such as coltrane or zydeco. Or you can consult the paper New Grove Dictionary of Jazz in the reference area on the first floor: [q.] ML102.J3 N48 2002.

Go back to LUCIA. Begin with terms you think describe your topic and use those as a Keyword anywhere search. If you find books that seem to be helpful, look at the description of those books in LUCIA and see what subject terms are used. Try another LUCIA search using those terms.

The Reference area has quite a few books on jazz. In LUCIA Search... Reference Collection, Keyword anywhere jazz.

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Narrowing or Refining a Topic

Consult with your professor who will have good ideas on how to proceed next.

Search the journal literature using electronic periodical indexes, databases and indexes:

• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. The first source for finding scholarly articles in music periodicals
• EbscoHost, accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. Several databases, some of which include full text, through which RILM and The Music Index Online can be accessed either separately or together
• The Music Index Online, accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. Indexes both scholarly and popular music related periodicals from 1979-2006
• The Music Index (paper), in the Reference area, vol. 1-49 (1949-1997)

The Music Index is where you will find citations for articles in popular periodicals, such as Down Beat.
• To locate articles published prior to 1949, start with History of Music: An Index to the Literature Available in a Selected Group of Musicological Publications compiled by Ernst C. Krohn (Ref. ML113 .K77 1958)

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Identifying Sources

Now that you've settled on a topic and have surveyed the literature to make sure enough has been written on your subject, you can begin identifying sources to use for your research. In preceding steps you will have encountered some good sources and will have recorded them (!!) Using your notes, revisit those sources. Locate and read the articles, books and web sites you found.

LUCIA will lead you to reference books, circulating books, scores, and sound recordings. and will tell you if the library owns the periodical titles which contain the articles you need.

Periodical indexes (see above) will lead you to citations of articles in periodicals, and sometimes full text. If the index does not deliver the full text to you electronically, follow these steps to find and read the articles:

• Make a note of the article's complete citation:
  • author of the article
  • article title
  • source (journal name)
  • volume, number and date
  • pages
• Search the journal title in LUCIA. If the library subscribes to this journal, make sure the library has the volume you need. The article may be available electronically or in paper (Level A.)
• If the library does not own that title, or if the library does not own the volume you need, search the journal title in BESS, Buried Electronic Serials Search.
• If the journal title appears in neither Lucia nor BESS, you will need to get the article through Interlibrary Loan.

The Web may be used as a resource, but be very particular in evaluating the authors of the sites you find. See Evaluating Internet Resources.

Use the Google Advanced Search to limit your results to an .edu or .org site.

Google Scholar contains scholarly journal articles, citations, and information on books. But these sources still need to be aproved by your professor.

Other sites for current news:

• Lexis Nexis Academic news search.
  Accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. Can be limited by date, region and publication, and includes today's news.
• Newspapers from ProQuest.
  Accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. National, regional and international English-language newspapers. Citations and come full-text. Most date back to the mid-early '90's and some to the mid-early '80's. All are current as of today.

Other indexes you may find helpful, depending on your topic are:

• PsychInfo, accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. Searches all PsycINFO journal, book and chapter records from 1887 to present
• PsychArticles, accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. Searches the full text of journals published by the American Psychological Association
• Medline, accessed via the Library Research page and the pull-down menu. ll areas of medicine.

For older news sources:

• New York Times 1851-2004 contains full-text page images from the New York Times.
  
• NewspaperARCHIVE is a fascinating archive of newspaper articles from around the world dating from 1759 to 2006. Coverage is very spotty, however. For instance, the Appleton Post-Crescent coverage ranges from 1920-1971, but includes only 28 years.

  Do a search, limiting to a year or range or years
  

  Get your results
  

  Choose an article
  

  Zoom in to read it
  

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Compiling a Bibliography

Your bibliography (list of sources used in your paper) must contain at least 6 sources:

• at least one from a scholarly journal
• at least one from a monograph (book on a single subject by a single author)
• at least one recording liner note

Other sources may include:

• at least one from a jazz periodical (Down Beat, Jazz Times)
• a chapter or essay from a collection
• a newspaper article
• a scholarly electronic resource (All online sources must be approved by your professor)
• other sources with approval (here are some interesting links)
  • African American Sheet Music, 1850-1920
    
  • American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
    From the Library of Congress American Memory Project. Includes sound recordings, playbills, programs and motion pictures.
  • Archives of African American Music and Culture
    "...a repository of materials covering a range of African American musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era." From Indiana University.
  • Brubeck Oral History Project
    Video interviews of Dave and Iola Brubeck conducted on January 30 and 31, 2007.
  • Celebrating African-American History Month
    A listing of teaching materials, links and suggested reading from MENC.
  • Dismuke's Virtual Talking Machine
    Vintage phonograph recordings 1900-1939.
  • Historic American Sheet Music 1850-1920
    From the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University. Includes minstrel songs.
  • Indiana University Sheet Music
    Includes many digitized images of sheet music.
  • Jazz Age in Paris: 1914-1940, Bibliography
    A bibliography accompanying the Smithsonian traveling exhibit at the University of Missouri Kansas City libraries.
  • Jazz Research page from the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.
  • Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
    "The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music consists of over 29,000 pieces of American popular music. The collection spans the years 1780 to 1980, but its strength is its throrough documentation of nineteenth-century America through popular music. The collection is especially strong in music spawned by military conflicts from the War of 1812 through World War I, and minstrel music is also well-represented."
  • Musical Styles and Genres
    From Center for Black Music Research, definitions of styles and some sound clips.
  • 19th and 20th Century Sheet Music of Negro Themes
    The E. Azalia Hackley Collection from the Detroit Public Library.
  • The Red Hot Jazz Archive
    A history of jazz before 1940.
  • Templeton Sheet Music Collection
    From MississippiState University: "The sheet music collection of almost 22,000 pieces includes popular tunes dating as far back as 1865. Highlights include a rare copy of Scott Joplin’s “Cascades” bearing his photograph, rare first editions of W.C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues” and “St. Louis Blues,” and scarce Confederate imprints from the Civil War. Special collections are devoted to ragtime, blues, movie tunes, foxtrots, popular music, show tunes, Irving Berlin, war songs and specialty."
  • University of South Carolina Sheet Music Collection

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Citing Sources

Both your footnotes and your bibliography must be formatted according to The Chicago Manual of Style, reference area, LB2369 .U69 2003, also one copy in the library's circulating collection and one copy in the Con office.

Your owns ideas should be stated as such:
In my opinion Nat "King" Cole was a much better piano player than he was a singer

Someone else's ideas must be attributed:
Louis Armstong's originality and range as an improviser and the power and beauty of his ideas, as revealed in his remarkable early recordings, established his international reputation as the greatest and most creative jazz musician

Any fact that can easily be verified does not have to be attributed:
In 1938 Fats Waller undertook a European tour and recorded in London with his Continental Rhythm as well as making solo pipe-organ recordings for HMV

Any statement or idea taken from another source, whether common knowlege or another's opinion, must be re-written in your own words. If a statement is taken word-for-word it must appear in quotation marks.

An entire paragraph or section of ideas taken from a single source, written in your own words, may be cited using a single footnote or endnote.

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Links to Library Services and Information:

• Circulation: The Circulation desk is where you check out materials from the library. Remember to bring your Lawrence ID; you can't check out anything without it.
• Electronic reserves: Contain digital copies of course reserves, both text and audio, placed on reserve by the faculty. These may be viewed or listened to only on campus.
• Reserves: A portal for locating both digital reserves and items on the shelves in the Reserve area next to the Circulation desk.

  Other links of interest:

  • Lawrentian Library Lingo: learn to speak Muddish in one hour
  • Glossary of Library Terms: general definitions as well as information specific to the Lawrence library.
  • Online Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary: with pronunciations.
  • Reference Conference Request Form: you can use this to make an appointment to meet with a reference librarian.
  • Virtual Library Tour: a list of important locations in the library with maps and pictures.

As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask a Reference Librarian.

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Definitions of terms and abbreviations:

Ref. = Reference collection, first floor
RRef.= Ready reference, shelves behind the reference desk
Periodicals = Current issues; Level A
Periodical Back Files = Level A
GovDoc = U.S. Government Documents, second floor
Reference Indexes = Alphabetically arranged at the end of the reference collection
Microform Area = Reading room east of the reference desk, near microform drawers
q. = Oversized books and performance size scores: interfiled in reference and scores; at end of classes in other collections
[CD] = Displays before the call number: a compact disc, first floor Media Center
[LP] = Displays before the call number: an LP, or long-playing recording, a 33 1/3 rpm, 12" vinyl disc, first floor, Media Center
[DVD] = Displays before the call number: a DVD, first floor, Media Center

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This page last updated: 14-January-2008
Antoinette Powell, Music Librarian