Journal of Jazz Studies (JJS)
Not a member yet
176 research outputs found
Sort by
How “The Kid from Red Bank” Came to Newark: Processing the Count Basie Family Papers and Artifacts at the Institute of Jazz Studies
No full textInstitute of Jazz Studies Archivist Elizabeth Surles reports on the acquisition, conservation, and processing of the Count Basie family papers and artifacts. She details select notable items in the collection and emphasizes portions of the collection of particular interest to jazz researchers
Media Review: Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues: A Sacha Jenkins Jammie. An Imagine Documentaries Production in association with Polygram Entertainment (streaming on Apple TV+). Released Oct. 28, 2022
No full textBuddy Bolden’s Photo: The Solution to an Eighty-Year-Old Riddle
No full textIn their 1939 monograph Jazzmen, Frederic Ramsey Jr. and Charles Edward Smith presented the photograph of a sextet from New Orleans which prominently features a cornet player identifed as Buddy Bolden. From the time of its publication, this photo has been the subject of controversy and many unanswered questions. What is the correct orientation of the photograph? What are the mysterious spherical objects that are seen on the edge of the photograph? Who is the leader of the band?
This article presents a detailed photographic analysis of this so-called first jazz photo, proposing a solution to an enigma that has lasted for eighty years. Analysis of early photographic processes, analysis of the history of musical instruments portrayed in 19th century photographs, study of the history of US clothing in 19th century photographs, and organological investigations have helped provide answers to the riddles that Buddy Bolden's photography has raised
Revisiting Kenny G (Colloquy): Aesthetic Abjection - Kenny G From the Saxophonists’ Perspective
No full textSaxophonists have a complicated relationship with Kenny G. His presence as the public face of the instrument is often contested by members of the saxophone community for a variety of reasons ranging from doubts about his authenticity and integrity to a perception of his lack of taste and skill, which has resulted in a form of aesthetic abjection of him and his music. Through a brief exploration of historical contexts, narratives from community members, and a survey of some of his career choices, this essay aims to illustrate that the saxophonists’ rejection of Kenny G serves to diminish the public’s understanding of the instrument’s significance
Revisiting Kenny G (Colloquy): Introduction - What Kenny G Can Teach Us About Jazz
No full textKenny G is the bestselling instrumentalist and bestselling saxophonist of all time. He is, in short, the most commercially successful artist in the history of jazz—a position that he holds despite the vehement objections of many within the jazz community. In this introductory essay, I provide an overview of the common criticisms levelled against Kenny G; I then deconstruct them and some of their underlying implications. As I argue, the popular backlash against him has much to teach us about the prevailing values of contemporary jazz discourse
Revisiting Kenny G (Colloquy): Listening Past Kenny G - Crossover Jazz and the Foregrounding of Black Sensualities
No full textFrom fusion jazz, to quiet storm, to neo-soul and lo-fi hip hop, jazz has often been used as a marker of authenticity in contemporary Black popular genres. Given his disproportionate popularity, the class-ing, racialization, and gendering of Kenny G in popular culture has become, in effect, the lens through which we evaluate all forms of crossover jazz. Ultimately, critiques that focus on Kenny G as a means to dismiss such musics are rooted in racialized discourses of authenticity that ignore the long tradition of crossover projects that characterize Black popular musics broadly
The Victoria Spivey Collection: An Overview, with a Supplementary Bibliography of Spivey’s Jazz Criticism
No full textThis "From the Archives" essay offers a critical contextualisation of the IJS's Victoria Spivey Collection, together with a supplementary bibliography of the singer's jazz criticism in the magazine Record Research and other jazz journals
An Analysis of Mary Halvorson's Improvisational and Compositional Style
No full textMary Halvorson has established herself as one of the leading figures of free improvised music since the turn of the millennium, winning DownBeat Magazine’s Best Guitarist category in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and receiving a “Genius” Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2019. Despite these accolades—and the many reviews of her albums and performances, interviews, and opinion pieces in the jazz press—there has been a marked dearth of scholarly literature dedicated to analyzing her music and her guitar playing to date. This article is intended to open the door to a more critical discourse about Halvorson’s artistry, achievements, and her position in the intersecting jazz, avant-garde, and free improvising communities. Throughout, I draw extensively on interviews I conducted with Halvorson and one of her early mentors, guitarist/educator Joe Morris as well as my own transcriptions of her work to detail how Halvorson approaches composing and interpreting music in a meticulous manner while still preserving space for the adventurous and sometimes chaotic aesthetic of free improvised music
Revisiting Kenny G (Colloquy): Kenny G and the Ignorance of Whiteness
No full textThroughout his career, Kenny G has been heralded by some audiences as a jazz icon, even as he portrays ambivalence toward well-recognized jazz histories and is often critiqued by self-described members of jazz communities. By diving deeply into the cringe-worthy moments in which Kenny G’s refusal of jazz knowledge are most evident, Klotz examines Kenny G’s performance of white ignorance as a form of white privilege. The essay closes with a meditation on what exclusion of Kenny G might tell jazz scholars about gender exclusivity and the jazz genre
