Jazz: Home

Basic resources for the study of jazz

Helpful Links

Collection of Catalogued Jazz CD's and DVD's
From the Princeton library. There are currently over 3,251 items from the personal collection of Bob Rickles that was donated to Princeton by his widow in 2009. His collection includes many rare recordings.
Collection of Jazz CD's #2
Also from the Princeton library, this collection contains 482 items and originally belonged to Dr. Stephen Gates. The collection was donated to the university by his daughter in 2009.
Rutgers University Jazz Libguide
MIT Jazz Libguide
All About Jazz
A magazine for jazz fans by jazz fans.
Institute of Jazz Studies
Located at Rutgers University, the Institute of Jazz Studies is home to a variety of archival resources for American jazz studies. This website provides information about the collections and serves as a gateway to additional web-based resources.
Jazz Discography
This database provides discographic information for a variety of jazz musicians. The level of detail varies, however, and it should be kept in mind that information on this site is frequently updated.
Jazz Discography Project
This site allows name and full text searches of jazz performers and record labels. Content includes recording dates, record label, and performers on the album.
Jazz Studies Online
This site is a unique online environment making available journal articles, book chapters, teaching materials, and an index of print materials important to jazz studies.
Monterey Jazz Festival Digital Collection
Hosted by Stanford University, this collection includes transcripts, photographs and audio and visual clips of historic performances at the annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
William Ransom Hogan Archive
The Hogan Jazz Archive is an internationally renowned resource for New Orleans Jazz research.

Locating Materials

Main jazz book call number sections: ML3506, ML3561.J3
Biographies of jazz composers: ML410
Biographies of jazz performers: ML421-ML422
Many print-only encyclopedias and bibliographies are available in the library; see especially Ref ML102.J3 and Ref ML128.J3

Intro

Core Databases

Canadian Music Periodical Index [Government of Canada]
An index of citations to over 37,000 music-related articles dating from the late-19th century to the present day.
Classical Music Library [Alexander Street]
A repository of classical music recordings ranging from medieval to modern times.
Music Periodicals Database [ProQuest]
A database of indexed abstracts and full-texts for music periodicals, covering both scholarly journals and popular magazines.
JSTOR [ITHAKA]
A multi-disciplinary full-text database of articles from many scholarly journals. Content available is usually 1-5 years behind the most recently published journal article. Also contains some current journals and books.
Music Index [EBSCO]
An index to publications about music and musicians, including performance reviews, obituaries, periodicals, and book reviews.
Tip:
A print version is available in the Music Library reference area (ML 118 .M84).
Music in Print [emusicquest]
An international database of published sheet music.
Naxos Music Library [Naxos Digital Services]
A collection containing almost 2 million tracks of classical music, jazz, world, folk and Chinese music. Notes and biographical information are included with the music.
Met Opera on Demand [The Metropolitan Opera]
Met Opera on Demand offers users instant access to full-length Metropolitan Opera performances, including HD videos from the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, classic telecasts from the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, and hundreds of radio broadcasts dating back to 1935.
Oxford Music Online (Grove Music Online) [Oxford University Press]
A reference resource covering all aspects of music, including composers, performers, other persons involved with music, terminology, musical genres and forms, orchestras, institutions, and cities and towns with significant musical traditions.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature [EBSCO]
A database providing access to portions of books, international periodical literature, and other music publications.
Tip:
The print version is available in the Music Library building reference area (ML 1 I83).