In Conversation: Michael Cuscuna

Date: Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Regulator Bookshop
Contact Information: Jeremy Smith, 919-660-5839 or jeremy.smith(at)duke.edu

Grammy Award winning record producer Michael Cuscuna (Blue Note Records, Mosaic Records) will discuss his work producing the recordings of jazz pianist Horace Silver.

Silver was one of the leading composers and pianists of the hard bop era of jazz, and his music will be the focus of a concert by the SFJAZZ Collective the following evening at Page Auditorium.

SFJAZZ Collective

This event is co-sponsored by Duke Performances and the Jazz Archive.

Duke Jazz Ensemble Celebrates Frank Foster

Date: Friday, 1 October 2010
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Baldwin Auditorium (map and directions)
Contact Information: Jeremy Smith, 919-660-5839 or jas5(at)notes.duke.edu

Frank Foster, ca. 1970s. From the Frank Foster Papers.

The Duke University Jazz Ensemble, led by John Brown, presents a concert celebrating living jazz legend Frank Foster.

This concert will include Foster's new arrangements of compositions by North Carolina musicians, completed to commemorate his association with Duke University. Duke Jazz Studies Program alums and past guest artists will join the performance with the Duke Jazz Ensemble.

Foster's papers were recently acquired by the RBMSCL's Jazz Archive. A Grammy Award-winning composer and saxophonist, Foster was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra,  and lead the group from 1986 to 1995. In 2002, he was presented with a Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more details, including information about purchasing tickets, visit the Duke Department of Music's event webpage.

A Jazz Master's Papers Come to Duke

Frank Foster, ca. 1970s.
From the Frank Foster Papers.

The Jazz Archive at Duke University announces the recent arrival of the Frank Foster Papers. Foster is one of the leading jazz saxophonists, big band leaders, and composer/arrangers of the post-World War II era. While serving as the primary arranger for the Count Basie Orchestra since the 1950s, Foster continued to compose and arrange for a variety of ensembles, receiving two Grammy Awards in the 1980s for his work. In 2002, Foster received the Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The papers (which range from 1927 to 2009) reveal Foster's personal and professional lives. Scores and parts composed or arranged by Foster for jazz big bands, as well as business records, publicity, reviews, and news clippings documenting Foster's career, are complemented by personal correspondence, photographs, and a variety of Foster's own prose writings. There are also roughly fifty hours of concert recordings featuring various bands Foster performed in.

While portions of the papers are currently open for research, the entire collection should be processed and available for use by the fall of 2010. If you'd like to arrange a visit to view the collection, or if you have any questions, please e-mail us at special-collections(at)duke.edu.

Post contributed by Jeremy Smith, Jazz Archivist.

Sam Stephenson and The Jazz Loft Project

Date: Monday, 12 April 2010
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Rare Book Room
Contact Information: Jeremy Smith, 919-660-5839 or jas5(at)notes.duke.edu

Join us as the Jazz Archive hosts Sam Stephenson, director of the Jazz Loft Project.

Sam will discuss the history of his work on this fascinating audio and photographic archive and will highlight some of the recent project results, including a new book, radio series, and traveling photography exhibition. The Gothic Bookshop will provide copies of The Jazz Loft Project at a 20% discount and Sam will be available to sign copies.

Guests are invited to bring their own lunches, but dessert and drinks will be provided.

Visit the Jazz Archive on Flickr!

The Jazz Archive now has its very own Flickr photostream! Stop by to view images and other documents from the collection (including digitized liner notes from Rosetta Reitz's Rosetta Records, which released this album from movie star Mae West), as well as photos of Jazz Archive events and exhibits.

Jazz Archive on Duke Today

Stop by Duke Today for a look at the RBMSCL's Jazz Archive and jazz archivist Jeremy Smith's efforts to "shine a light on North Carolina’s and Duke’s contribution to jazz." Read the full article here.

For more on jazz at Duke, watch "Duke University's Big Band and Jazz Tradition," a narrated slideshow produced by the Jazz Archive.

Jazz Conversations with John Brown and Vincent Gardner

Date: Thursday, 22 October, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Rare Book Room
Contact Information: Jeremy Smith, 919-660-5839 or jas5(at)notes.duke.edu

Join us as the Jazz Archive hosts this fall's second installment of John Brown's "Jazz Conversations." Brown, Associate Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Duke Jazz Program, will discuss jazz history and contemporary developments in jazz with Vincent Gardner of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Guests are invited to bring their own lunches—but dessert and drinks are on us!