Institute of Jazz Studies To Receive Literary Landmarks Designation from the New Jersey Center for the Book
On October 23, the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies will be honored as the New Jersey Center for the Book’s fifth Literary Landmark. The Institute, the world’s largest jazz archive, joins Newark Public Library, Paterson Public Library, the Walt Whitman Center and the Joyce Kilmer Tree site as a Literary Landmark designee. The award will be presented by Renee Swartz, chair and director of the New Jersey Center for the Book, which seeks to “celebrate books, libraries and the diverse literary heritage of New Jersey” and is affiliated with the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. The national Literary Landmarks Program was developed to bring recognition to a unique resource by a larger audience.
The 1:30 p.m. ceremony will be followed by a concert featuring pianist and vocalist Daryl Sherman, a highly accomplished jazz musician who is well known for her 14- year engagement at the Waldorf Astoria, her annual tours of the United Kingdom, her numerous appearances at jazz festivals and her frequent guest spots on NPR’s Jazz Piano. Selections from Daryl Sherman’s 14 recordings are aired routinely on Cable TV’s Music Choice, Sirius/XM Radio, BBC Radio, and Jazz FM Berlin. The concert will include a question and answer session with Sherman and her accompanying musicians, a standard feature of the concerts offered by the Institute.
The Institute of Jazz Studies, located on Dana Library’s fourth floor, houses collections of personal papers, oral histories, and records of recording companies and jazz-related organizations as well as traditional library materials such as books, periodicals, scores, and sound recordings. Founded in 1952 by Marshall Sterns, an early jazz scholar, the collections were moved to Rutgers in 1966 and to their present location in 1994. The facility offers a welcoming space for visitors to examine print materials, seek guidance from the staff and listen to recordings. Recorded music from the studio and the performance stage are the fundamental means of learning about a musical form based heavily on improvisation and these recordings represent the major portion of the Institute’s collections.
To promote an appreciation of the jazz musical form, the Institute sponsors an annual concert series and a monthly Jazz Research Roundtable which includes performance and discussion. Staff members develop and present shows for Jazz from the Archives, a weekly program broadcast by Newark’s jazz radio station, WBGO. Materials from the collections have been selected to enhance exhibits about jazz sponsored by the Institute and others. Some of those items will be on display in an exhibit in the fourth floor Gallery to illustrate the Institute’s history. Users of the collections include musicians, authors, scholars from around the world, students in the Rutgers-Newark Masters’ Program in Jazz History and Research, students in jazz programs at nearby colleges and universities, and jazz aficionados.
The Institute is open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, although an appointment is suggested (973/353-5955). This will enable the staff to make sure the information visitors want is readily available. Please go to http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/IJS/index1.html to learn more about the Institute.
The ceremony and concert will take place Oct. 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the Dana Room of the John Cotton Dana Library, 185 University Avenue, Newark, NJ. For directions and parking information, please go to http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/maps-and-directions
For more information, please contact Ann Watkins at 973-353-3809 or ann.watkins@rutgers.edu.
