MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BIBLIOGRAPHIC CONTROL COMMITTEE WORKING GROUP ON POPULAR MUSIC SOURCES Selected sources for Jazz compiled by Vincent Pelote: Carner, Gary, ed. Jazz Performers: An Annotated Bibliography of Biographical Materials. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990. An annotated bibliography of jazz books, theses, dissertations, and scholarly journal articles. The section most relevant to catalogers is the main section: an alphabetcial listing of sources on individual jazz artists and ensembles. Musicians' names are listed as they were generally known (e.g., Cannonball Adderley not Julian Adderley, Count Basie not Bill Basie). Complete birth and death dates are given. Good mix of current and older artists. Mostly American artists listed but musicians from other countries are included. Obscure names like Phil Nimmons, Hal Mitchell, and Paul Plimley are included but better known names like Tete Montoliu, Jack Montrose, and Buddy Montgomery are not. Includes a list of reference works that lists a number of biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias. Contains an author index and subject index. Carr, Ian, Digby Fairweather, and Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Essential Companion. London: Grafton Books, 1987. This work's emphasis is on English musicians but American artists are well represented. It is especially strong in listing musicians active on the scene today. Artists are listed alphabetically by the working versions of their names with either full names or nicknames in parentheses. Complete birth dates and death dates are given. Terms are included. No index. Chilton, John. Who's Who in Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street. 4th ed. New York: Da Capo Press, 1985. An anthology of biographies of over 1,000 American jazz musicians all born before 1920. Artists are listed alphabetically by their full names with nicknames supplied as well. Full dates are generally given (except in the case of certain musicians born around the turn of the century, when birth cetificates were not always supplied). Dates are generally very accurate. No index. Claghorn, Charles Eugene. Biographical Dictionary of Jazz. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1982. Good mixture of American and non-American jazz artists. Good mixture of old and contemporary (ca. 1982) artists. Arranged alphabetically with only the years of birth and death given. Full names are used with nicknames in parentheses. Dates are not as reliable as previously listed sources. Contains an index of jazz and various small groups. Feather, Leonard. The New Edition of the Encyclopedia of Jazz. New York: Horizon Press, 1960. Updated version of the 1955 encyclopedia. Includes most of the important jazz artists before 1960. Entries with few exceptions lists the musicians by their full names with nicknames (or working names) in parentheses. Birth dates are generally accurate. Includes a good number of non-American jazz artists. No index. ________________. The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties. New York: Horizon Press, 1966. Includes prominent artists from the previous decades still active in the sixties plus any major new (ca. 1966) jazz personalities. First volume to contain a number of "avant-garde" artists. Other commemts same as previous volume. No index. ________________; Ira Gitler. The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies. New York: Horizon Press, 1976. Includes prominent artists from the previous decades still active in the seventies plus any major new (ca. 1976) jazz personalities. Commemts concerning form of entries and birth dates same as previous editions. No index. Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. London: Macmillan Press Limited, 1988. The largest jazz dictionary to date. 1360 pages in two volumes. Covers the entire spectrum of jazz. More than 3,000 individuals covered. Groups not named after the leader (e.g., Count Basie Orchestra) are given entries (e.g., Arcadian Serenaders, Firehouse Five Plus Two). While musicians make up the bulk of the entries, composers, arrangers, record producers, writers, editors, discographers, and impresarios are covered also. A substantial number of entries for non-American jazz artists. Entries are made using the artists working names with parts of the name not generally used in parentheses and alternative names in brackets (in inverted form). Full birth dates and death dates are given and they are generally correct (one big gaff is Louis Armstrong's birth date given as ca. 1898!). Even an ambitious undertaking as this managed to miss some important (and not so important) jazz figures such as: Peggy Lee, Dick Wetmore, William Thornton Blue, Vernell Fournier, Jane Ira Bloom, and many more. Topics and terms related to jazz are given. There are cross references. Overall, one of the better sources for birth dates on a number of today's jazz stars. No index. Kinkle, Roger D. The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950. New York: Arlington House, 1974. Four volumes of which volumes two and three contain biographies. Jazz figures are covered, but not exclusively (as the title implies). Musicians are generally listed by their working names with nicknames and real names supplied in parentheses. Full birth dates and death dates are given. Dates are generally accurate. Contains some foreign names, but not really strong in that area. Entries for groups as well. Because of its age, not a good source for today's jazz names. Volume four contains an index. Larkin, Colin, ed. The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz. Middlesex, England: Guinness Publishing Ltd, 1992. This publication from England is especially useful for its biographical entries of musicians active on the current jazz scene in the U.S. and Great Britain. It also includes musicians from the different eras of jazz history. There are some interesting omissions like Horace Henderson, Keith Ingham, Oscar Moore, Buddy and Monk Montgomery, Mary Osborne, Harry Allen, and Leo Parker just to name a few. Musicians are listed alphabetically, but for some odd reason Carter, Benny is listed after Carter, Ron. Working versions of names are used almost in all instances (e.g., Johnson, Budd not Johnson, Albert J.) and group names are listed as well. Complete birth and death dates are given. Jazz terms are not listed. No index. NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE SOURCES: Bohlander, Carlo, Karl Heinz Holler and Christian Pfarr. Reclam Jazzfuhrer. Stuttgart: Reclams, 1970. German jazz dictionary that has a large number of American artists listed. The emphasis is on German and other European jazz artists. Working versions of names used with other names in parentheses. Full birth dates and death dates given. There is a section on terms (useful only if the cataloger can read German). No index. Carles, Philippe, Andre Clergeat and Jean-Louis Comolli. Dictionnaire du Jazz. Paris: Laffont, 1988. French jazz dictionary. A substantial number of American artists covered. Especially good for a number of today's jazz stars. Also good for non-American artists. Entries use working version of names with full names in quotation marks. Full birth dates and death dates given. Terms are included (useful if the cataloger can read French). No index. Frandsen, Kjeld. Jazzleksikon: Udenlandske og Danske Jazznavne. Kobenhavn: Politikens, 1987. Danish jazz dictionary that covers American artists both young and old (from King Oliver to Greg Osby). Musicians from European and other countries covered with a special section for Danish musicians. Entries use working versions of names with real names in parentheses. Full birth dates and death dates given. No index. OTHER SOURCES: The Institute of Jazz Studies Name-Authority File. Contains over 3,000 individual names and groups in jazz. Names are according to AACR 2, with years of birth (and death) given in almost all cases. Includes many names not found in any of the above-mentioned book sources. Inquires can be made by: Telephone: (201) 648-5595 Fax: (201) 648-5944 E-mail: Bitnet: Pelote@zodiac Mail: Institute of Jazz Studies Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey 135 Bradley Hall Newark, N.J. 07102 END OF FILE