by Scott Jeppesen

Humanizing the Deities

of Jazz
Abstract: As musicians, we have been taught to idolize certain figures in music history. These
individuals are considered untouchable, unassailable, and unquestionably brilliant. This
practice is increasingly evident in jazz. Figures like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charlie
Parker, and Miles Davis have all undergone a virtual apotheosis. While there is no question
of their importance, the idolization of these people makes attaining what they have done dif-
ficult to grasp. We have dug a chasm between aspiring musicians and the music itself. This
gap is wide in that we regard these figures and their music so glowingly that relating to them
becomes difficult. Students must understand that these figures were ordinary people. Through
technology and creative storytelling, students can explore the world in which these musicians
lived. Providing context can help students gain a better understanding of how jazz music has
evolved and why. Students can then use this knowledge to develop confidence in their cre-
ative process and in how it relates to their unique life context.
Keywords: context, ethnomusicology, history, jazz, legend, musicology, pedagogy, recording
Help your students
understand the

I
am guilty. I have adorned the walls of my
home studio with framed images of John
Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Charles Mingus,
Clifford Brown, and Miles Davis. Over my
computer desk, Art Kane’s famous photo-
graph “A Great Day in Harlem” is promi-
nently displayed like an altar to those I hold
most dear. Admiration for those who have
contributed to your field is entirely reason-
able. However, particularly in the arts, we
maintain an obsessive and almost religious
infatuation with our idols. Our admira-
tion can be devastatingly heavy, crushing
us under the weight of ambition and envy
while driven by the presence of the giants
of our art. How can one ever hope to
gain membership in the fraternity of such
notables? Can my art ever be deemed wor-
thy while residing under the shadow cast by context in which
such heroes? Sadly, it is not rare to encoun-
ter aspiring jazz musicians incapable of
jazz was created
accepting compliments on performance due and continues to be
to a constant feeling of inadequacy due to
comparisons of their imposition. It is by no enjoyed.
accident that to this point I have avoided
using the term people. These musical icons
are in fact ordinary people. Brilliant, hard-
working, and often flawed, lack of context
of their achievements have dehumanized
them to the extent that we view them as so
much more. Instantiation of context to their
tales not only shows younger musicians that
achievement is the result of hard work and
dedication but can also lead them down a

NAfME is glad to offer one hour of professional development recognition to you for reading this article.
Please follow the link below and complete a short quiz to receive your certificate of completion.
http://bit.ly/DeitiesOfJazz

Copyright © 2017 National Association

Scott Jeppesen recently completed his doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles
for Music Education
and is teaching part-time while job hunting. Jeppesen is also cofounder with his wife Roxanne Jeppesen of Cultivating Creative DOI: 10.1177/0027432117697799
Minds, a nonprofit corporation in Santa Clarita, California. He can be contacted at scottjeppesen@mac.com. http://journals.sagepub.com/home/mej

www.nafme.org 57
path of exploration and discovery in an
art form that is much deeper than the
rabbit hole initially suggests.
Always a Bigger Fish
During the summer of 1997, I received
Joe Henderson’s phone number from a
good friend. Henderson had long been
my hero, and I was thrilled at the pros-
pect of potentially studying with him. I
dialed the number and listened to the
ring. I found myself secretly hoping that
he would not answer—he did not. “This
is Mr. J.—leave a message,” I heard. Both
deflated and relieved, I could not bring
myself to leave a message. After all, why
would Joe Henderson ever call me back?
Several times I called, until one day as I
was expecting to hear the usual message
prompt, he answered. While I am usu-
ally confident when speaking with oth-
ers, I found myself stumbling over my
words. I was utterly starstruck. Hender-
son was kind and supportive. He coun-
seled me not to be embarrassed about
being a fan of his playing and recounted
how in his youth he “didn’t want to play
like Prez, he wanted to be Prez.” He
recalled going so far as to don Lester’s
trademark porkpie hat. It was stunning
to me to come to the realization that
even my hero understood the feeling of
idolizing another and acted as though
wearing a hat would make them peers.
In his autobiography, Miles Davis
admits taking drugs at the age of twenty
because “the idea was going round that
to use heroin might make you play as
great as Bird.”1 Miles pursued poten-
tially devastating activities in his pur-
suit of reaching the heights that Charlie
Parker was already occupying. He,
like so many others after him, did not
see Parker as another struggling musi-
cian but something greater. This need
to reach the point of our idols can be
inspiring, debilitating, or both.
As his career developed, Miles
became known as “the Prince of Dark-
ness.” Nicknames in jazz are far from
rare. Many of these nicknames bestow
an air of importance and dominance.
We find these authoritative nicknames
among many of our most revered
58
musicians: Lester Young (“Prez”), Wil-
liam “Count” Basie, Benny Goodman
(“the King of Swing”), Paul Whiteman
(“the King of Jazz”), Thelonious Monk
(“the High Priest”), Joe (“King”) Oliver,
and Ella Fitzgerald (“the First Lady of
Song”). While these nicknames were
used during their lives, they only contrib-
ute further to posthumous deification.
Edward (“Duke”) Ellington holds a
well-deserved place in the jazz lineage.
Perhaps the most important composer
in the history of jazz, Ellington had his
idols. Duke spent his early years idol-
izing James P. Johnson. Ellington is
known to have spent countless hours
at a player piano allowing his fingers to
follow those of Johnson while perform-
ing “Carolina Shout.”2
We can help establish a clearer
historical picture by discussing
the roles that class, race, and
gender have played in the
development of jazz music.
I mentioned earlier the prominent
placement of “A Great Day in Harlem”
on my wall. This photo became a central
plot point of the 2004 film The Terminal,
starring Tom Hanks. In the movie, Hanks
plays an immigrant trapped in New
York’s John F. Kennedy airport termi-
nal while attempting to visit a jazz club
to obtain an autograph from one of the
participants in the photo—saxophon-
ist Benny Golson. Interviewed for John
Coltrane’s biography, Golson recalls, “I
told [Dizzy Gillespie] how John [Col-
trane] and I came to get his autograph,
and he laughed years later. We didn’t
think we would come to know him and
actually play with him and record with
him. If somebody told us then, we’d be
falling down on the floor.”3
Further deification exists outside
the minds of jazz musicians. Praise and
discussion by writers, filmmakers, and
audiences add to the power of the leg-
ends surrounding many jazz greats. Jazz
musicians often played central roles in
the poetry of the era. Charlie Parker,
considered by many to be the father
of modern jazz, received extreme rev-
erence in the eyes of poets. “Humbled
by Parker’s mythic legacy,” poets would
“praise him with embarrassingly hagi-
ographic detail, equating him to Christ,
Buddha, and other gods and saints.”4
Throughout their lives and particu-
larly posthumously, these artists have
become less and less human in our eyes.
Adding Context
It is understandable that aspiring musi-
cians view their idols with such admira-
tion. They are our idols because their
music touches us in a way that others’
does not. Their influences combine
within each of us to form unique individ-
ual artistic styles.5 However, the music
created by our heroes was not done so
in a vacuum but within a larger social
and cultural context. By understanding
the extramusical world in which they
lived, we can better understand how
those influences have imprinted them-
selves on the musicians we revere.
Influences in jazz come from many
places. From its early roots in slave spir-
ituals and work songs to the influence
of music from Cuba and South Amer-
ica and eventually classical music, jazz
has thrived because of its vast array of
sources. These sources exist in both cul-
tural and political forms. While single
events may not cause the creation of
a new style, music or societal changes
can positively reflect one another.6 For
example, while a music style may be
created independently of cultural hap-
penings, that style may catch on or
gain in popularity due to extramusical
factors. In addition to thoughtful con-
sideration between music and cultural
framing, we must also provide context
for musical events that are non–style
specific. Tracing the music through the
slave trade from the Ivory Coast, through
the Caribbean and South America, and
into America is essential to see where
and how some of the early aspects of
jazz originated. Observing the effects of
the closure of Storyville by the US gov-
ernment and its influence on the migra-
tion of musicians from New Orleans to
Music Educators Journal  June 2017
Chicago7 is a great example of how the
musical and the sociocultural overlap.
We can help establish a clearer his-
torical picture by discussing the roles
that class, race, and gender have played
in the development of jazz music. These
parameters have been integral in defin-
ing prominence of individual artists
and their artistic contributions. A thor-
ough discussion of the beginnings of
jazz music must include a look at the
environment that encouraged its con-
ception. Jazz was conceived in economi-
cally challenged neighborhoods of New
Orleans. Fostered by a diverse congre-
gation of blacks, Creoles, and whites,
the music developed more out of util-
ity than convenience.8 Instruments used
were portable and inexpensive. Com-
monly used for funerals and celebration,
jazz quickly evolved into an art form
facilitating entertainment and personal
expression.9 The same class-to-jazz rela-
tionship can be seen in Prohibition-era
“Rent Parties” in Harlem that brought to
prominence pianists such as Willie “The
Lion” Smith and Thomas “Fats” Waller.10
Facing racial bias was nothing new
to early jazz musicians. Constantly
touring, often through racially stressed
areas, jazz musicians had to find ways
of coping with tension. Many big bands
of the swing era would form baseball
teams to compete and pass the time.11
Others turned to immersing themselves
in work or drugs. Aside from its effect
on daily life, racial bias can be seen
directly affecting the perceived success
of musicians. The top two bands of the
swing era were those of Duke Elling-
ton and Benny Goodman. Both bands
were groundbreaking in that they were
integrated. However, despite Duke’s
interest, it was Benny Goodman who
performed first at Carnegie Hall in 1938,
a whole five years before Ellington.
Until his debut at Carnegie, Ellington felt
humiliated to have been beaten to the
punch by Goodman.12
Music, throughout its history, has
been decidedly patrilineal, and this
is no less true of jazz. Why is it that
there are so few prominent women jazz
instrumentalists and composers? There
are many famous women jazz vocalists:
www.nafme.org
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie
Holliday, Dinah Washington, and Etta
James, to name a few. The problem isn’t
that there weren’t women instrumental-
ists: It’s that they don’t receive the same
level of attention as their male counter-
parts. Lil Hardin, the wife of Louis Arm-
strong and pianist for his Hot 5 and Hot
7 combos, wrote many songs commonly
attributed to Louis—including the well-
known “Struttin’ with Some BBQ.”13 This
again shows a strong connection to the
nonmusical world, where women of the
time were often relegated to lesser stat-
ures than men were. It is still common
in contemporary jazz to find the number
of instrumentalists dominated by men,
while women occupy more traditionally
“feminine” roles as vocalists.
Acknowledging and discussing
parameters such as gender,
race, and class are essential to
humanizing the figures that have
shaped jazz.
Acknowledging and discussing
parameters such as gender, race, and
class are essential to humanizing the fig-
ures that have shaped jazz. It is impor-
tant to recognize that artists create music
not only because of their environment
but often in spite of it. While indeed
requiring additional thought and effort
by teachers to implement, it would be
illogical to deprive the students of a
more vivid picture of the world inhab-
ited by the jazz artists we study.
Pedagogy
As educators, we teach jazz history with
textbooks and the analysis of recordings,
both of which are excellent resources.
However, we are fortunate to live in an
age where vast technological resources
are now easily and immediately avail-
able. These resources can be used to
present the history of jazz in a way
that offers cultural context to humanize
the people and events that have con-
tinuously evolved. Perhaps in doing so,
we can increase the enjoyment of our
students in their pursuit of experiencing
the music that we love so much.
In the following, I discuss some of
the tools that can help diversify lessons
in jazz history and facilitate the rein-
troduction of context to jazz curricula.
These devices should not be considered
a replacement for listening as there is no
greater gift than our recorded history.
Nor should these tools be used exclu-
sive of each other. Lessons that integrate
many of these tools together form an
enriching and engaging look at jazz his-
tory. Students can discover that jazz did
not evolve independent of culture but
is in fact dependent and reflective of
the culture in which it was developed.
Activities that utilize many of these can
help students learn that the arts exist
to preserve elements of our society
and culture while offering a means for
human thought and exploration.14 The
technological resources available to us
now can help students to experience
more than just the sound of these musi-
cians. Educators can expose students
to the multitude of other factors within
these musicians’ surroundings that may
have influenced artistic development.
Furthermore, the cultural context added
through the use of these tools will serve
as a reminder that the evolution of
jazz did not happen magically but was
instead propagated by real people react-
ing to their environments.
Tools for Exploration
As I have mentioned, most jazz history
education has revolved around the use
of textbooks and recordings. These are
irreplaceable. However, since they are
staples within most classrooms, I do
not focus on these resources. Addition-
ally, I chose to omit discussions about
biographies. Like textbooks and record-
ings, biographies are immensely useful.
However, like textbooks, they can be a
somewhat impersonal and external view
of the world in which jazz evolved. I
instead discuss the use of autobiogra-
phy since it reflects the views of the art-
ists’ themselves. The materials presented
from here on out focus on those that
seek to personalize the musicians and
59
their music: (1) recordings, (2) photos,
(3)  videos, (4)  autobiographies, and
(5) additional online resources.
Listen
Technological advancements are never
without controversy. We now have the
ability to listen to almost any recording
ever made through Internet streaming
services. While these services still need
to figure out a way to get musicians
adequately compensated for their work,
they provide an incredible resource to
aspiring musicians and educators. No
discussion about a figure in jazz his-
tory should occur without some time
spent listening to the recordings. After
all, that is the reason we are studying
them in the first place! Teachers should
use these services not only to explore
the iconic recordings of the jazz canon
but also broaden the number of artists
studied. Increasing the number of art-
ists that students are exposed to helps
to improve context because the students
are allowed to see what more musicians
were doing during that era. For example,
studying the music of Louis Armstrong is
an unquestionably important part of an
education in jazz history. However, to
gain a clear picture of jazz in the 1920s
and 1930s, it is also necessary to explore
the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory,
the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Bes-
sie Smith, and Jack Teagarden. Access
to a broader wealth of recorded history
facilitates this by providing the same
collection of recordings to all teachers.
Helping students learn why jazz
happened helps foster greater
curiosity and the need to explore
further . . .
In addition to broadening the histori-
cal context of an artist study, educators
can draw direct connections between
the records and performance prac-
tices of their students. Teachers should
encourage their students to partake in
directed and focused listening exercises.
Directed listening can help students to
60
understand better the role that different
artists, or instruments, played in perfor-
mances. For example, the class could
listen to Ella Fitzgerald’s 1947 recording
of “Lover Man.” Teachers can instruct
students to pay particular attention to
bassist Ray Brown’s performance, lead-
ing to a discussion about the role of a
bassist in a jazz ensemble and the ways
in which he constructed bass lines.
Additionally, teachers can note that
shortly after the recording, Fitzgerald
and Brown were married.
Online listening also empowers
teachers to use technology to add addi-
tional interactive possibilities to their
classes. Using Spotify, teachers can
share interactive music playlists with
their students. Students can freely add
tracks to the playlist from home and
come prepared to discuss the tracks in
class or through writing assignments.
The Value of a Picture
Online resources allow the opportunity
to put a face to the music. Accessing
such treasures as the William P. Gott-
lieb Collection at the Library of Congress
gives access to thousands of photo-
graphs of jazz luminaries. The photos
brilliantly capture musicians onstage, in
practice, and candidly show them both
professionally and personally. A simple
search on Google Images will often
return many valuable images of these
same artists. In addition to photos of
musicians, using images that depict the
cityscapes, clothing, clubs, dancing, and
transportation of the time helps to paint
a better picture of the environment that
framed the music and the artists. Pho-
tos portray musicians in situations rang-
ing from the heat of live performance
to candidly interacting with fans and
colleagues. Performance photos can be
used by educators and students alike to
examine instrument technique. Teach-
ers may encourage their alto saxophone
students to compare and contrast the
embouchures of Charlie Parker, Paul
Desmond, and Johnny Hodges. How
may those differences have contributed
to their individual sounds? Is it possible
that any similarities found indicate one
artist influenced by another? Why or
why not?
Perhaps even more poignant than
the action shots are the shots of musi-
cians being regular people. The quiet
before going on stage. The smile, or lack
thereof, on an artist’s face when inter-
acting with members of their audience.
Count Basie and his band playing base-
ball outside their bus to kill time before
a show. Louis Armstrong as a child was
entirely unaware that he would some-
day become a celebrity. Teachers should
encourage discussion of these photo-
graphs surrounding not only the musi-
cians but also the venues and audiences.
Teachers can help to shed further light
on the context by leading discussions
about photos of the main jazz hubs in
America: New Orleans, New York, and
Chicago. Examining pictures of these cit-
ies during the Great Depression inspires
questions; for example, how did the
Depression affect musicians during the
1930s? Exploring images of Chicago dur-
ing the 1920s can lead to a discussion
of how prohibition may have affected
the evolution of jazz. Where was jazz
mostly performed during this era? How
was Prohibition related to the women’s
suffrage movement?
Teachers can initiate a valuable les-
son about race and class by examining
photos of Harlem’s Cotton Club and
the Savoy Ballroom. Only blocks apart,
the two clubs catered to different audi-
ences. The Cotton Club, a segregated
establishment that featured bands such
as Fletcher Henderson and Ellington,15
attracted members of the upper class. In
contrast, the Savoy had a “no discrimina-
tion” policy, accepting members of all
races, genders, and classes.16 How might
this distinction have affected the musi-
cians that performed at each club?
A Video Is Worth a Million
The next best thing to time travel,
YouTube is full of videos taken of jazz
artists at work. It is increasingly easy
to find videos of Charlie Parker, Duke
Ellington, Miles Davis, and John Col-
trane performing live. Students can
view and analyze the performances and
Music Educators Journal  June 2017
discussions can be made surrounding
the videos. Students can witness the
performers’ demeanor on stage to gain
insight into their personalities—some-
thing not easily deciphered by listening
to recordings. Similar to the inclusion of
photography in jazz history studies, vid-
eos allow teachers to appeal to the visual
senses when discussing music. The same
approaches to discussion can be used
with videos. However, since many stu-
dents have access to YouTube or can
access it at a public library, teachers may
offer exploration assignments to students
asking them to find videos and post to a
discussion forum similar to Blackboard.
For example, the class might be study-
ing Harry Warren’s “There Will Never
Be Another You.” The teacher could
then assign the class to search YouTube
and post the video performance of
the piece that each student likes best.
(Often students will post performances
on their individual instruments as their
favorites.) Ask that students accompany
their posted video with a short written
excerpt describing why they chose that
video. Encourage them to use music ter-
minology in their assessment. In addi-
tion to their post, students should view
and comment on at least one other stu-
dent’s posting. However, these discus-
sion boards must be strictly mediated to
avoid inappropriate behavior.
In addition to videos of musicians
performing, lessons can be learned
from videos that demonstrate the way
that society viewed jazz music. The 1943
film Cabin in the Sky features many
prominent black jazz musicians of the
era, including Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Lena Horne, and Ethel Waters
in acting roles. In Armstrong’s scene, he
is a trumpet-playing minion of the devil
who conceives of a plan to tempt the
movie’s protagonist, Little Joe Jackson.
The climactic final scene comes in a jazz
club where the Duke Ellington Orches-
tra provides the visuals and soundtrack
for Jackson’s ultimate temptation. 17
Even though the film features a brilliant
jazz-inspired score by Vernon Duke
and Harold Arlen, the scenes featuring
onscreen jazz musicians are always full
of turmoil. What does this say about the
www.nafme.org
way audiences may view jazz music and
those who perform it?
In Their Own Words
The historical accuracy surrounding
most musicians’ autobiographies is
disputable. However, there are valu-
able lessons to be learned from hearing
the story told in their own words. At
the very least, we can see how history
occurred through their eyes, accurate
or not. At best, we can see how they
viewed their legacy and their peers. We
can learn about the places they visited
and lessons that they learned. All of this
can help to humanize the protagonist
and offer some insight into the way they
thought. We can also get ideas about the
way that person viewed the world by
the type of narration they offer. There
are three primary forms of autobiogra-
phy—epic, mythic, and labyrinth:18
•• Epic: An epic autobiography attempts
to follow a chronological account of
the author’s life. These accounts use
storytelling as a means to give mean-
ing to their lives, effectively contribut-
ing a final testimony toward their own
legacy.19 Examples include the Ray
Charles and David Ritz’s book Brother
Ray: Ray Charles’s Own Story and
Duke Ellington’s Music Is My Mistress.
•• Mythic: A mythic autobiography
does not follow a specific chronol-
ogy but instead offers a collection of
asides and anecdotes. These stories
embrace the idea of a myth that sur-
rounds the artist and offer a com-
plex, artistic view of the way the
narrator viewed life.20 Examples in
this category include Sidney Bechet’s
Treat It Gentle: An Autobiography
and Charles Mingus’s Beneath the
Underdog: His World as Composed by
Charles Mingus.
•• Labyrinth: A labyrinth autobiogra-
phy presents the story in a way that
shows the narrator following through
life as a quest. This presentation tends
to characterize the artist as showing
a lack of personal fulfillment, per-
petuating the image of struggle that
is commonly associated with jazz.21
Examples include Miles Davis’s Miles:
The Autobiography and Cab Callo-
way’s Of Minnie the Moocher and Me.
A Vast Digital World
The online resources available to edu-
cators are endless. Among other things,
these resources can be used to fill gaps
in historical knowledge, explore new
and unfamiliar music, and find interest-
ing anecdotes. A common shortcoming
of consuming music through Internet
services is the absence of liner notes and
complementary information about the
music. Liner notes are useful for add-
ing context by providing personnel and
stories surrounding the conception and
production of recordings. Educators can
easily find this information on websites
such as AllMusic (http://www.allmusic
.com). AllMusic contains an extensive
database of artists and recordings that
can be searched to find most of the
information included in the original liner
notes. These liner notes are interactive,
allowing users to click on song titles,
artists, and albums and follow a path
of exploration through music beginning
with the original search. Another website
offering this same level of interactivity is
the Red Hot Jazz Archive (http://www
.redhotjazz.com). This resource enables
interactive exploration of early jazz art-
ists and music from the beginning of the
twentieth century. These websites can
serve dual purposes for educators and
students. For teachers, these resources
can be used to complement the audio,
video, and photography studied in class.
Additionally, the interactive element can
be used to expand educators’ under-
standing of history and its context by
gaining familiarity with corners of the
art that may have otherwise gone unno-
ticed due to their lack of prominence or
popularity. For students, these resources
can serve as helpful springboards for
student research projects.
Uncover the “Why” of Jazz
Jazz is a highly technical and demand-
ing art form. Advancing our abilities with
61
studies in improvisation, music literacy,
composition, orchestration, arranging,
and advanced technical skills on indi-
vidual instruments are all required to be
considered even moderately proficient.
We spend exhaustive hours exploring the
“how” and “what” aspects of jazz: chords,
melodies, rhythms, substitutions. Some
jazz musicians possess fanatical views of
jazz history. However, careful consider-
ations of the context in which history hap-
pened allow us avenues to explore the
“why” aspect. Helping students learn why
jazz happened helps foster greater curios-
ity and the need to explore further the vast
lineage of jazz artists and styles.22 Find-
ing out about where these musicians are
from and who influenced them facilitates
humanizing these brilliant artists but also
exposes students to new music within the
jazz canon. Gaining this understanding
fosters further curiosity and helps guide
students to be more aware of their own
surroundings and how these can, in turn,
affect their artistic contributions.
2. Terry Teachout, Duke (New York:
Penguin, 2014), 97.
3. Lewis Porter, John Coltrane: His Life and
Music (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1999), 36.
4. Yusef Komunyakaa, Testimony: A Tribute
to Charlie Parker (Middletown, CT:
Wesleyan University Press), 61.
5. Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist (New
York: Workman Publishing, 2012), 48.
6. Brian Harker, “In Defense of Context
in Jazz History: A Response to Mark
Gridley,” College Music Symposium 48
(2008): 158.
7. Nancy Brister, “Storyville and the Birth
of Jazz,” accessed February 12, 2016,
http://www.old-new-orleans.com/NO_
Storyville.html.
8. Gunther Schuller, Early Jazz (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1968), 70.
9. Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011), 66.
Kindle edition.
10. Dick Hyman, “Jazz Piano Roots:
Thinking about the Lion,” Piano Today
29 (2009): 20–21.
tution/rare-footage-duke-ellington-high
lights-when-jazz-baseball-were-perfect-
harmony-180950303/?no-ist.
12. Teachout, Duke, 25
13. Gene H. Anderson, The Original Hot Five
Recordings of Louis Armstrong (New
York: Pendragon, 2007), 155.
14. Jeffrey E. Bush. “Bringing Music History
to Life,” Music Educators Journal, 86
(2000): 52
15. Frank Tirro, Jazz: A History. 2nd ed.
(New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
1993), 221.
16. Gioia, History of Jazz, 117.
17. Cabin in the Sky, directed by Vincente
Minnelli (1943; Burbank, CA: Warner
Home Video, 2006), DVD.
18. Holly Farrington, “Narrating the
Jazz Life: Three Approaches to Jazz
Autobiography,” Popular Music and
Society 29 (2006): 376–77.
19. Ibid., 377.
20. Ibid., 380.
21. Ibid., 383.

Notes 11. John Edward Hasse, “Rare Footage of
Duke Ellington Highlights When Jazz
1. Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, Miles, and Baseball Were in Perfect Harmony,”
the Autobiography (London: Macmillan, accessed August 1, 2017, http://www
1997), 86. .smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-insti
22. John Barron, “Lessons from the
Bandstand: Using Jazz as a Model for
a Constructivist Approach to Music
Education,” Music Educators Journal 94
(2007): 21.

Some Jazz Resources

BOOKS

Anderson, Gene H. The Original Hot Five Recordings of Louis Myers, Marc. Why Jazz Happened. Berkeley: University of
Armstrong. New York: Pendragon, 2007. California Press, 2013.

Berliner, Paul F. Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Porter, Lewis. John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor:
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. University of Michigan Press, 1999.

Davis, Miles, and Quincy Troupe. Miles, the Autobiography. Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press,
London: Macmillan, 1997. 1968.

Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era. New York: Oxford University
2011. Kindle edition. Press, 1989.

Harker, Brian. “In Defense of Context in Jazz History: A Response to
Mark Gridley.” College Music Symposium 48 (2008): 157–59.
Kleon, Austin. Steal Like an Artist. New York: Workman Publishing,
2012.
Shapiro, Nat and Nat Hentoff. The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men
Who Made It: Talkin’ to Ya. New York: Dover Publications, Inc,
1955.
Teachout, Terry. Duke. New York: Penguin, 2014.

Komunyakaa, Yusef. Testimony: A Tribute to Charlie Parker. Tirro, Frank. Jazz: A History, 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.,
Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. 1993.

62 Music Educators Journal  June 2017

 ARTICLES
Barron, John. “Lessons from the Bandstand: Using Jazz as a Model for
a Constructivist Approach to Music Education.” Music Educators
Journal 94, no. 2 (2007): 18–21, http://search.proquest.com
.libproxy2.usc.edu/docview/1109766?accountid=14749.
Bush, Jeffrey E. “Bringing Music History to Life.” Music Educators
Journal 86, no. 6 (2000): 31, http://search.proquest.com
.libproxy2.usc .edu/docview/197184503?accountid=14749.
Farrington, Holly E. “Narrating the Jazz Life: Three Approaches
to Jazz Autobiography.” Popular Music and Society 29, no. 3
(2006): 375–86. http://search.proquest.com.libproxy2.usc
.edu/docview/208067907?accountid=14749.
Hyman, Dick. “Jazz Piano Roots: Thinking about the Lion.” Piano
Today 29, no. 1 (Winter 2009): 20–21. http://libproxy.usc.edu/
login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/
1469574?accountid=14749.
WEBSITES
All About Jazz. A great place to start exploring jazz history.
AllAboutJazz contains everything from album reviews to listings of
local upcoming jazz performances. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/
AllMusic. Resource with information on music of all genres.
Excellent for finding additional information related to specific
recordings. http://www.allmusic.com/
Brister, Nancy. “Storyville and the Birth of Jazz,” accessed
February 12, 2016, http://www.old-new-orleans.com/NO_
Storyville.html.
Classic Jazz Online. Large collection of classic jazz recordings from
the early twentieth century. http://www.jazz-on-line.com/
Hasse, John Edward. “Rare Footage of Duke Ellington Highlights
When Jazz and Baseball Where in Perfect Harmony,” accessed
August 1, 2017, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-
institution/rare-footage-duke-ellington-highlights-when-jazz-
baseball-were-perfect-harmony-180950303/?no-ist
www.nafme.org
A History of Jazz Music. Great source of information organized by
style and genre. Also includes links to historical information
about rock and pop music history. http://www.scaruffi.com/
history/jazz.html
The Jazz Education Network. Education network dedicated to
building the jazz arts community. Contains great information
on jazz education, history, and research. Sponsors annual Jazz
Education Network Conference. https://www.jazzednet.org/
Jazz History Online. Great collection of jazz history information.
http://www.jazzhistoryonline.- com/
LinkedJazz. Resource exploring connections between jazz
musicians and other members of the jazz community. https://
linkedjazz.org/
The Red Hot Jazz Archive. Great resource for important figures and
music in early jazz. http://www.redhotjazz.com/
Scholastic’s History of Jazz Teacher’s Activity Guide.
Quick reference for jazz history information organized by
decade. Connected with Ken Burns Jazz documentary.
http:// teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/history_
of_jazz.htm
William P. Gottlieb Jazz Photos. Hosted on Flickr by the Library of
Congress, the Gottlieb Collection contains a large number of
jazz photos. https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/
sets/72157624588645784/
FILM
Bird. Directed by Clint Eastwood. 1988. Burbank, CA: Warner
Home Video.
Cabin in the Sky. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. 1943. Burbank,
CA: Warner Home Video, 2006. DVD.
Jazz. Directed by Ken Burns. 2001. Public Broadcasting Service.
Round Midnight. Directed by Bertrand Tavernier. 1986. Burbank,
CA: Warner Home Video.
63