LibGuides: Jazz: Getting Started

Finding Background Information

Reference tools, like bibliographies, dictionaries, and encyclopedias can be good starting places when you're trying to find basic information. Below are a few examples.

Print
(located in the Reference section of the Music & Performing Arts Library)

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz by Barry D. Kernfeld and Barry Kernfeld (Editors)
Call Number: ML102.J3 N482002 [Reference]
With articles on every aspect of the field, from jazz groups, composers and arrangers to instruments, terms, record labels and venues, the new edition is the ideal companion for scholars and enthusiasts in this rapidly growing field.
Jazz Scholarship and Pedagogy by Eddie S. Meadows
Call Number: ML128.J3 M342006 [Reference]
An annotated bibliography to books, recordings, videos and websites in the field of jazz.
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler (editors)
Call Number: ML102.J3 F32B46 [Reference]
Arranged alphabetically according to last name, each entry of this book chronologically lists the highlights of every jazz musician's career.
The Oxford Companion to Jazz by Bill Kirchner (Editor)
Call Number: ML3507 O94 [Reference]
Jazz and its colorful, expansive history resonate in this unique collection of 60 essays specially-commissioned from today's top jazz performers, writers, and scholars. The Companion surveys the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and Europe until the present.
Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World by John Shepherd, Peter Wicke, David Horn, Dave Laing, and Paul Oliver (Editors)
Call Number: ML102.P66 C66 [Reference]
Includes extensive bibliographies, discographies, sheet music listings and filmographies.

Online

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Oxford Music Online (OMO) is the access-point for Oxford music reference subscriptions and products, including Grove Music Online, The Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and Encyclopedia of Popular Music. With OMO patrons can cross-search Grove and Oxford reference content in one location. Articles from specialist dictionaries such as The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., are available via OMO.

The Grove Dictionary of American Music by Charles Hiroshi Garrett (editor)
The articles of the dictionary range from small definitions of dance styles and musical terms to mid-length biographies of important performers, composers and music patrons, to longer examinations of larger subjects such as the history of jazz, musical instruments, music education in the United States, and the American history of the orchestra.

Biography In Context This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the biographies of over 300,000 people. All time periods and nationalities are covered. Includes narrative biographies (2,000-3,000-word essays).