Janice Leslie Hochstat Greenberg is senior librarian at the Technical Services Department of the Jersey City Free Public Library. She is a contributor of the volume Library Services to Youth of Hispanic Heritage, Immroth, McCook, Jasper eds. (2000).
You might not think there were so many books devoted to jazz, but
this bibliography lists 700 adult nonfiction books published on the
topic in just a single decade. It was prompted by a visit the
author paid to the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University,
where she discovered that 'no comprehensive, reasonably current
jazz bibliography existed.' Why the focus on the 1990s? Because it
seemed like a good place to start. The bibliography is organized by
type of publication (biographies, discographies, etc.), and entries
are annotated. Subject, author, and title indexes facilitate
access.
*Booklist*
This annotated bibliography of recent jazz monographs documents an
important period in jazz historiography; during the 1990s an
explosion of publications, particularly by academics, documented
performers, venues, recordings, genres, instruments, and so
forth....This book by Greenberg (Jersey City Free Public Library)
does what it sets out to do, and quite thoroughly. The 700
annotations are descriptive (and often cursory) rather than
critical. Classifying the entries by type (e.g., biographies,
discographies) and then by subtype makes for a convenient look at
related items, and the three indexes collocate books on or by
individuals. With the availability of online databases such as
WorldCat (CH, Nov'07, 45-1183), one questions the need for a
bibliography that documents such relatively recent literature,
especially when so much documentation needs to be done for earlier
eras. However, this is the first of a planned series of such
bibliographies covering several decades. Recommended.
*CHOICE*
Greenberg (librarian, Jersey City Free P.L.) brings together
complete bibliographic records and content exegeses of adult
nonfiction, jazz-related titles. But this is no mere alphabetized
list—to reduce the time required to locate research material, the
700 entries are broken into six chapter themes, including history,
instruments, criticism, and musicology. Following this are five
additional content categories, for example, discographies,
pictorials, and conference proceedings, as well as three indexes
organizing texts by subject, author, or title. A valuable reference
for music scholars and jazz aficionados.
*Library Journal*
The citations are well crafted, giving full bibliographic
information including volume subtitles and number of pages.
*Book Reviews*
Jazz Books in the 1990s will be a highly useful resource for anyone
interested in jazz scholarship in the last decade of the twentieth
century or in the study of jazz generally. As a first volume in a
projected ongoing bibliography, it sets a high standard.
*American Reference Books Annual*
Greenberg has done a terrific job in compiling a full,
well-organized bibliography of books in jazz.
*Book News, Inc.*
“Janice Greenberg’s annotated bibliography is a welcome addition to
the burgeoning world of jazz scholarship.”
*Fontes Artis Musicae*
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