The Jazz.com Blog
August 28, 2008 · 0 comments
Watch Out Wikipedia . . . Here We Come!
The jazz.com team continues to work behind-the-scenes on our on-line Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Under the leadership of editor Tim Wilkins, this web-based reference is expanding every month. This is a work-in-progress, and there are still many gaps. But the jazz.com encyclopedia already covers more than 1,600 musicians – hundreds of them not found in Wikipedia or Grove or other jazz reference works.
The encyclopedia was founded by Dr. Lewis Porter, who created a unique guide to currently active jazz musicians. Unlike most other jazz references, Porter’s work was based on information collected from the musicians themselves. This gave him access to data not publicly available from any other source.
When the encyclopedia moved to jazz.com last December, we made the decision to expand its focus beyond currently active musicians to encompass a more complete universe of jazz artists. Our goal now is to cover the full history of jazz, from its origins to the present day. A team of outside scholars and experts is working to fill the gaps, adding entries on important historical figures as well as current day artists who, for one reason or another, have not previously provided biographical info for inclusion.
One of our key goals is to integrate the content from the rest of the site into the encyclopedia. So, for example, an entry on Eric Dolphy will include artwork featuring this musician from our Visual Jazz galleries -- such as the portrait by Michael Symonds featured here. Or the mention of a specific recording in an encyclopedia entry might link to one of the thousands of track reviews of historic performances published on the jazz site.
This allows us to provide quick access to background information and related materials that would simply not be possible in a printed reference work. The encyclopedia entries will thus provide both an introduction to a specific musician, but also an entry point into a more complete and detailed perspective on how that artist relates to key recordings, milestones and events in the history of the music.
Below are links to a small sampling of the recently published additions to the Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Each of these articles is new content commissioned by jazz.com and added to the site during the last few weeks.
Feel free to send your comments or queries about this on-going project to Tim Wilkins at reference@jazz.com. Tim is also continuing to recruit contributors to the encyclopedia, so if you have expertise to share, drop him an email. We are happy to have people point out the gaps in our encyclopedia, but even happier when they help us find ways of filling these gaps.
Eric Dolphy by Jared Pauley
Ben Webster by Frank Büchmann-Møller
King Oliver by Peter Gerler
Gerry Mulligan by Eric Wendell
Jo Jones by Tim Wilkins
Oliver Nelson by Jared Pauley
Gary McFarland by Doug Payne
Paul Desmond by Eric Wendell
Norma Winstone by Stuart Nicholson
Jabbo Smith by Matt Leskovic
Frank Zappa by Jared Pauley
Nat Adderley by Dave Krikorian
Esbjörn Svensson by David Tenenholtz
Arturo Sandoval by Mark Lomanno
Pee Wee Russell by Frank Murphy
Miroslav Vitous by Jared Pauley
Clifford Jarvis by Eric Novod
Charles Lloyd by Matt Leskovic
Red Norvo by Jared Pauley
Mildred Bailey by Sue Russell
Lionel Hampton by Jared Pauley
Mary Lou Williams by Jared Pauley
Chano Dominguez by Juan Zagalaz
Rahsaan Roland Kirk by Jared Pauley
Ed Blackwell by Eric Novod
Maxine Sullivan by Sue Russell
Bobby Hutcherson by Jared Pauley
Joshua Redman by Jared Pauley
Houston Person by Bill Carbone
Chet Baker by Dave Krikorian
Sarah Vaughan by Sue Russell
Quincy Jones by Jared Pauley
Warne Marsh by Jacob Teichroew
Joe Henderson by Jared Pauley
This blog entry posted by Ted Gioia
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