On-Line Jazz Archive Database | About the Archive | New Collections | Contact the Archive
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Photo by Justin Nicholson |
We are pleased to offer a complete and fully searchable on-line database. As this cataloging procedure is new for our collection, titles are made available on an ongoing basis. Generally speaking, this database offers the user a chance to either browse the entire collection or find the results of specific criteria searches. The results for a search will come in the form of two different display options: form view or table view. The user is advised to both browse and print in form view, as information like personnal and instrumentation will be considerably easier to use. Any record or group of records can be viewed in either form or table view, however, and in order to switch from one to the other the user has only to click the name of the desired viewing option. These options, as well as the button for a new search, are located along the left margin of every page in the database. Below are instructions for a number of different kinds of searches.
When conducting a search by artist, or any other category for that matter, make sure to use the correct spelling. If you are unsure of the spelling of an artist's name, find another category (album title, nickname) about which you are certain. If you are able to find at least one listing from your desired artist, it should give you a good indication as to how you could most efficiently enter that person's name. (EX: Unsure about how to spell Bix Beiderbecke? Try entering "Bix" in either the "First Name" or "Nickname" categories. Also, you might want to try "Bix" in the "Album Title" category since, more than likely, at least one album in the collection will have his name in its title.)
In many cases, an artist's nickname is more commonly known than his/her real name. In these cases it is best to enter whichever part of their name is more likely their real name. (EX: If you run a search of Count Basie and only get four or five titles this is because he is listed under his real name, Bill Basie. Count is his nickname. Again, a brief trial-and-error run will give you a good idea about how best to enter an artist's name.)
Many artists are credited by more than one name. Be mindful of this situation when performing a search. If your results include listings in which the artist in question is credited by more than one name on different records, a combined search would make your results more accurate. In the case of an artist like the drummer, Art Taylor, some of the records upon which he performed credit him as "Art," others as "Arthur." Attempts have been made to combine these names on the database so that both will come up simultaneously (EX: Arthur (Art) Taylor). Still, and rather like nicknames, if you run across a record upon which the artist was credited by a different name, it might be a good idea to perform a search for that name as well.
It is also important to keep in mind that this search will only find results for sessions in which the artist in question was a leader. To find all records in the archive upon which a given artist is featured you will need to perform a "Personnel / Instrumentation" search.
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Photo by Justin Nicholson |
Every effort has been made to consolidate each artist's holdings in a manner that is consistent and easy to understand. Still, it you may run across, for example, a Zoot Sims record in which "Zoot" is listed as his first name. In cases such as these, it is best to perform a search for Zoot both in the "First Name" and "Nickname" categories. You may want to do this either as separate searches or combined and in the same search. Be careful, however, because a combined "First Name" and "Nickname" search might only find results for records in which the artists nickname is listed in both categories at the same time. Consequently, it might be a good idea to utilize the options on the search page that allow for specific search criteria. By utilizing these options, one has the ability to perform searches using key terms like and, or, either, etc. This may significantly increase the accuracy of your search.
Group names are listed only when the individual record credits a particular group either on the jacket sleeve cover, the back cover or the inner label. (EX: Not every Art Blakey record is credited to his group, The Jazz Messengers. As a result, a search for The Jazz Messengers will not pull up every record upon which Art Blakey was either a leader or co-leader.)
A search in this category will produce all titles featuring a particular artist or instrument. For example, if you were to search for any record upon which Eric Dolphy was a performer, you would enter his entire name in quotation marks (EX: "Eric Dolphy"). Failure to use quotation marks will produce results featuring every record that includes every combination of the words "Eric" and/or "Dolphy" in the "Personnel / Instr." category. By entering the exact search in quotation marks ("Eric Dolphy"), you can be assured that the results will only include those records containing exactly what is within said quotations marks.
A search for a particular instrument will function in this same manner. In order to perform a search for records featuring a bass clarinet, for example, one would include both "bass" and "clarinet" within the same set of quotations marks (EX: "bass clarinet"). Otherwise, and again like a personnel search, your results will include all records with the terms "bass", "clarinet", "clarinet bass" and "bass clarinet".
In order to perform a search for the combination of an artist and a particular instrument, you will need to include the artist's name in quotation marks followed by a comma and then the instrument in a different set of quotation marks. (EX: "Eric Dolphy", "bass clarinet"). Keep in mind that this search will pull every record featuring the occurrence of "Eric Dolphy" and "bass clarinet". It is entirely possible that a record could feature Dolphy and an altogether different artist on bass clarinet, so long as both search criteria appear within that category.
Like a search for an artist's name, some instruments are listed in the database by names perhaps unforeseen by the user. In an attempt to preserve space and avoid unnecessary information, instruments are listed in one way only. If you performed a search for the appearance of the tenor saxophone in the Archive you might be surprised to find no records at all. This is because tenor saxophone is listed as "tenor sax" on the database. If you run into this problem you have only to look up an artist or album title that you are certain contains, in this case, the tenor saxophone. Finding this record will give you an indication as to how the tenor saxophone is listed in the database.
It is not uncommon for an album title to have either more than one title, a subtitle or a somewhat ambiguous combination of the two. In these cases, the title options are separated by either a comma, a colon or a semi-colon. Commas are used when a record may or may not have more than one title or when differing sources have used different titles. An example is a record that is sometimes credited as a self-titled LP and other times by another title. (EX: Bud Powell, "Bud", "The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol.3".) A colon is used in the case of a record that clearly has either two titles or a subtitle. (EX: Dave Brubeck, "The Art of Dave Brubeck: The Fantasy Years".) Finally, a semi-colon is used to separate differing issues of the same material that were released at different times. This is most often the case with reissues. (EX: Art Blakey, "Art Blakey; the Jazz Messengers; Mirage".)
The search for a specific label's catalog in the database will need to correspond with how the label is recognized by the database itself. If you are experiencing difficulty finding a specific label it would be a good idea to look up the title of a release that you are certain is on that label and try entering the name of the label into the "label" search category in accordance with the way that it is listed in the database. (EX: "Impulse!" is recognized by the database as "Impulse".)
A search by catalog number, while at times difficult, is an option on this database. Keep in mind that many catalog numbers can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. In such cases, as many of the projected understandings of a specific catalog number as possible have been entered. If you are still having trouble, attempt a broader search (label, artist, title) and try to narrow it down from there.
While many jacket sleeves feature extensive liner notes, others have next to none. If available, this information had been entered into the database. In other cases, these dates are simply unavailable.
Not unlike the "Year Recorded" category, the year that an individual record was issued is sometimes available and at other times it is not. Every attempt has been made to provide as much information regarding issue dates as possible.
Every record in the database is either monophonic (M) or in stereo (S). In some cases, particularly during the advent of stereo mixing, stereo records were placed in older mono sleeves that would have otherwise gone to waste. As a result, some records are issued in a jacket sleeve that does not match its fidelity. While these jacket sleeves were often marked with a stereo decal, the original catalog number on the sleeve's spine (indicative of its mono sound) would remain unchanged. For this reason, the decision was made to use the records' inner labels as the source for information regarding their fidelity. Depending on the number of copies in the Archive, listings appear as such: M, S, M1/S1, M1/S2, M2/S1, M2/S2, etc. Search by Format:
The criteria for the "Format" search are the specific media in which a particular session was issued. The formats recognized by the database are as follows: 10" EP (78), 10" LP (33), 10" (Set), 12" EP, 12" LP, 12" (Set), Cassette, 1/4" Reel. A search in this category will produce, for example, all holdings in the Archive on 12" LP.
A search for records according to the number of copies in the Archive will produce, for example, all titles of which the Archive has one copy, two copies, three copies and so on. It is expected that the user will enter this information using numeric symbols (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) as opposed to text.
The "Disks" category simply lists how many pieces of playable material are included in an issued release. Accordingly, a two-record set has two (2) disks. Like a "Copies" search, it is expected that the user will enter this information using numeric symbols (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) as opposed to text.
The Archive is the result of a number of significant donations. Whenever possible, the database lists from whom a particular title was donated. The database recognizes the following names and combinations thereof: (Chuck) Berg, (Bob) Hammond, KANU, (Richard M.) Wright and Zoller.
Any further questions or comments regarding the database can be directed to Roberta Schwatrtz at rfschwar@ku.edu or Joshua Powers at jcpowers@ku.edu.
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The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Lawrence, KS 66045 785/864-3421 |
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