We are a group of KU
faculty members from different departments, whose research, writing, and teaching
interests intersect in the interdisciplinary field known
as Jazz Studies. We are committed to presenting interdisciplinary jazz
studies programming, including colloquia, speakers, films, workshops,
and concerts; developing and offering jazz-related courses across the
curriculum, and supporting interdisciplinary jazz research among KU
faculty and students. In exploring the connections between our common,
yet diverse, interests and expertise, we hope to build bridges that
will be of value to others at KU, not only for those interested in jazz,
but to all who wish to collaborate across disciplines, departments,
and communities.
Our long-term goal
is the establishment of a Jazz Studies Center at KU. The Center would
not be housed in any one department, but would operate as a cross-departmental
meeting ground, think tank, and workshop, bringing together scholars
and artists from throughout the university and beyond for colloquia,
speakers series, and curriculum development of cross-listed interdisciplinary
and team taught courses in jazz studies. Under a director, the Center
would present public lectures and concerts, and facilitate study groups
for faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and community members.
The Center would serve as a clearing house for jazz researchers in the
mid-west, as well as globally through utilizing digital library resources,
and through developing relationships with major jazz centers of jazz
research such as the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia, the Institute
for Jazz Studies at Rutgers, the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane, and the
Chicago Jazz Archive at University of Chicago. With our rich history
of jazz performance, research, and writing, not to mention our proximity
to Kansas City, KU is the historically right place for an internationally
visible Jazz Studies Center.
In establishing
the KUIJSG, we capitalize on a unique set of resources and circumstances,
including:
1) A core faculty
from across the university committed to and qualified to teach Jazz
Studies courses.
2) A strong emphasis
on jazz performance in the KU Department of Music and Dance. The KU
Jazz Ensemble I specializes in playing contemporary repertory written
for big band. Jazz Ensembles II and III tend to play music from the
Swing Era through hard bop and other styles of the late 1950s and 1960s.
There are also eight jazz combos of five to seven players each, and
most years there are also two vocal jazz combos. The KU Jazz Festival,
now in its twenty-sixth year, takes place over two to three days in
March or April and includes players of international fame. The KU Jazz
Workshop takes place for a week during the summer, including players
of high school and college age and public school teachers who also take
part in ensembles and study with visiting artists.
3) The Wright Memorial
Jazz Archive. When the cataloguing of this archive is complete, its
rare audio recordings and print materials will attract jazz scholars
nationally and internationally.
4) Proximity to
Kansas City, which along with New Orleans, Chicago and New York, was
a key incubator of jazz. Resources include the American Jazz Museum,
and the Mutual Musicians Foundation.
5) KU’s commitment
to racial/gender diversity. Given that jazz has often served as a metaphor
for freedom, and has functioned as a critical arena for contesting racial
and gender issues, the study of jazz (in its production, reception and
evaluation) is significant in terms of probing the goals and assumptions
of a society aspiring to democracy and equal opportunity.
History of KUIJSG
Members of KUIJSG
