The Institute of Jazz Studies ( IJS ) is the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. It is located on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University–Newark in Newark, New Jersey , United States. The archival collection contains more than 100,000 sound recordings on CDs, LPs, EPs, 78- and 75-rpm disks, and 6,000 books. It also houses more than 30 instruments used by prominent jazz musicians.
29-924: The Jazz Studies academic program at Rutgers for music students is separate from the library and is part of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at the university. In 2013, the Institute was designated a Literary Landmark by New Jersey's Center for the Book in the National Registry of the Library of Congress . It is the fifth place in New Jersey to be given this designation, after the Newark Public Library , Paterson Public Library ,
58-894: A BFA in Dance with Master's Degree options in Dance Education and Pedagogy. Mason Gross collaborates with Rutgers at large in exploring the role of the arts in analyzing and explaining facts and ideas. Mason Gross has three research centers dedicated to arts-integrated research and pedagogy: the Documentary Film Lab, the Integrated Dance Collaboratory, and the Rutgers Printmaking Collaborative. The Blanche and Irving Laurie Music Library houses approximately 15,000 recordings and 30,000 monographs and scores, serving as
87-516: A continuation of JJS. Today, the Journal of Jazz Studies is an open-access online journal. The online journal continues and expands upon the tradition of the original JJS/ARJS as the longest running English-language scholarly jazz journal. It is open-access and peer-reviewed. Studies in Jazz , a monograph series with Scarecrow Press , publishes books related to jazz. In addition to its publications,
116-536: A dancer and a chorus girl. She danced at the Cotton Club , performed with Cab Calloway and Ethel Waters , and toured the eastern United States in various productions. In 1929 she appeared in an early short musical film, On the Levee , with singer Jules Bledsoe . She left her performing career in 1932; she remembered later, "I got tired of being away from home and was disgusted with fighting guys off." She became
145-463: A jazz scholar, literature professor, and author. Stearns had a plan for a jazz institute as early as 1949, which he thought to call the "Institute of Modern American Music". It was originally located at his apartment at 108 Waverly Place in New York City . Marshall Stearns described the Institute of Jazz Studies' mission in 1953 as the following: The general aim of the Institute of Jazz Studies
174-584: A nurse at Lincoln Hospital , where she worked until 1962. In retirement, she supported her son's musical career, and maintained a collection of photographs and memorabilia that became useful to jazz scholars. Ismay Blakely married Jamaican-born World War I army medic Leon Vincent Duvivier in 1920; they had a son, George Duvivier , born later that year. She lived with her son, a noted jazz musician, arranger and composer, until he died from cancer in 1985. She died in 2004, aged 100 years, in New York. She donated
203-416: A research and reference library at all levels. The school is highly selective. Only 9 percent of drama applicants are admitted. Mason Gross's overall acceptance rate is in the 18-21% range. MGSA has more than 500 events taking place annually on campus, alongside classes, rehearsals and numerous recreational activities. Mason Gross is home to a wide variety of performing choirs and ensembles. Rutgers Day
232-594: A separate degree-granting institution from the other undergraduate colleges. Drama teacher William Esper founded and led the professional training in acting from 1977 to 2004. All fine arts departments at the other Rutgers colleges were merged into Mason Gross in 1981. Theater actor, director, and playwright Jack Bettenbender served as first dean of the school, from 1976 until his death in 1988. As of 2005, MGSA had expanded to more than 20 buildings, mainly within Rutgers ' Douglass College campus and including studios at
261-662: A sociologist, worked part-time as its administrator. It was first located in the Dana Library (1972), then moved to Bradley Hall (1975). The Institute was formally affiliated with the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers in 1984. The current expanded facilities in the library opened in 1994. Over its 70 years of existence, the Institute has acquired significant collections of periodicals as well as books, records, and archival materials from several musicians, photographers, and journalists. Major collections include
290-406: Is also funded by private funds. In 2014, the fellows focused on the collection of Ismay Duvivier , a dancer, and her son George Duvivier , a bass player. In 1987, the institute began funding up to ten grants of $ 1,000 each year. The fund was started by musician Benny Carter in memory of Morroe Berger. Berger was a professor of sociology at Princeton University until his death in 1981. Half of
319-459: Is an annual festival. 40°29′34″N 74°26′42″W / 40.49276°N 74.44488°W / 40.49276; -74.44488 Ismay Duvivier Ismay Blakely Duvivier (August 27, 1903 – February 6, 2004) was an American dancer and nurse, born in Saint Croix . Her collection of Harlem Renaissance and later jazz memorabilia and photographs, from her own and her son's careers,
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#1732779494641348-652: Is named for Mason W. Gross , the sixteenth president of Rutgers . In 1960, during the Fluxus movement at the university, Rutgers established the Rutgers MFA in visual arts as the first non-displicinary-specific fine arts graduate program in the United States. Mason Gross was founded in 1976 as a school of the fine and performing arts within Rutgers University . That year, Mason Gross became
377-746: Is now held in the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University . Ismay Blakely was born in Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands , then a part of the Danish West Indies . She moved to the United States as a child with her parents, George Alexander Blakely and Beatrice Peebles Blakely, and was raised in New York City. She graduated from high school in 1919. After 1929, to support her son and widowed mother, Duvivier worked
406-445: Is to foster an understanding and appreciation of the nature and significance of jazz in our society. More specifically, the Institute proposes to work toward this goal by pooling the knowledge and skills of authors and musicians, who have pioneered in the field of jazz, with those of social scientists and other experts whose techniques and studies may be brought to bear on the subject. In this manner, jazz and related subjects will be given
435-894: The Walt Whitman House and the Joyce Kilmer Tree, which is located at Rutgers University–New Brunswick . Major collections housed in the Institute include the Jazz Oral History Project, the Mary Lou Williams collection, the Women In Jazz collection, the Benny Carter Audio collection, and the Benny Goodman Audio collection. In 1952, the Institute of Jazz Studies was founded by Marshall Stearns ,
464-589: The neoclassical skyscraper at 15 Washington Street in Newark. It is home to jazz jam sessions and listening parties. It is named for the late historian and jazz enthusiast Clement Price . The Institute presents the AAPI Jazz Fest in Newark every May at the Express Newark arts center on Halsey Street , recognizing the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans and the pan-Asian jazz community to
493-808: The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater and the Master of Fine Arts in Theater. Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe in London provides Mason Gross drama students with the opportunity for classical conservatory study abroad. The drama training at MGSA is built in part upon the Meisner technique . MGSA established the Rutgers Filmmaking Center in 2011. Though it is a relatively new program, Rutgers' BFA film program has been ranked highly among
522-500: The Livingston campus. The Bettenbender Plaza outdoor space was dedicated in 2002 to honor founding dean John Bettenbender. The square is a gathering spot for students between classes, the site of impromptu performances and an outdoor setting for evening events. Actor and director Avery Brooks gave the dedication eulogy. Bettenbender Plaza sits in front of Nicholas Music Center, a 704-seat music hall designed by Pietro Belluschi , and
551-601: The Mason Gross Performing Arts Center, which is home to more than 300 performances and exhibitions a year. Slightly up river from the primary MGSA campus and south of the train station is the City of New Brunswick 's downtown Civic Square . This arts and theater district is home to off-campus Mason Gross studios, galleries, and stages. The Civic Square Building at 33 Livingston Avenue contains studio facilities and classrooms. It stands next to
580-530: The awards are designated for students in the Rutgers–Newark Master's Program in Jazz History and Research and half are awarded to scholars from other institutions. The awards are for visiting the Institute and performing independent jazz-related research. To date, more than 70 awards have been granted. In 2016, the Institute of Jazz Studies opened Clement's Place, a jazz lounge open to the public in
609-488: The early 1950s, artist Allan Kaprow taught at Rutgers University and helped start the Fluxus group alongside professors Robert Watts , Geoffrey Hendricks , and Roy Lichtenstein ; artists George Brecht and George Segal ; and students Lucas Samaras and Robert Whitman . Al Hansen also taught at the university. The department has alumni like Joan Snyder , Clifford Owens , and Pope.L and students exhibit their thesis work in New York City annually The school offers
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#1732779494641638-759: The former silent film movie palace which is now the State Theatre for performing arts. The newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center opened in Civic Square in 2019. It hosts theater performances at Mason Gross alongside professional companies American Repertory Ballet , Crossroads Theatre , and George Street Playhouse . George Street Playhouse and Crossroads are Actors' Equity companies which can provide theater students with professional opportunities in order to obtain their Equity card . Mason Gross Galleries at Civic Square shows graduate and undergraduate student work. Mason Gross offers
667-722: The institute also hosts Jazz from the Archives , a radio show on WBGO radio that airs every Sunday and a Jazz Research Roundtable. Since 2012, the Institute has also hosted an annual Jazz Archives Fellowship. The fellowship is open to graduate students of library science or recent graduates with an interest in jazz or African American studies . It is supported by the Morroe Berger–Benny Carter Jazz Research Fund, an endowment established by musician Benny Carter in 1987 to provide grants to facilitate jazz research by students and scholars. The Fellowship Program
696-540: The musical artform. Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts ("Mason Gross" or "MGSA") is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey . Mason Gross offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, dance, filmmaking, music, and theater. Mason Gross is highly selective in terms of admissions, with a low admission rate. It
725-477: The nation's film schools. Variety named it “one of the top programs in the United States." The Documentary Film Lab, led by Academy Award -winner Thomas Lennon , and intensive production classes and advanced technical workshops are among the notable features of the program. The conservatory-style model has a low student-teacher ratio of around 12-to-1. Graduates of the program have gained admission to top-tier graduate programs, and notable visiting filmmakers to
754-492: The personal papers of Mary Lou Williams , Victoria Spivey , Abbey Lincoln , Annie Ross , Benny Carter , and James P. Johnson . A special column in The Record Changer jazz magazine was the initial, temporary place of publication for the Institute of Jazz Studies scholarship. The Journal of Jazz Studies (JJS) was published from 1973 to 1979. Annual Review of Jazz Studies (ARJS) publication began in 1981 as
783-799: The program have included filmmaker Robert Eggers . The first film graduating class at Mason Gross was in May 2019. The Rutgers Filmmaking Center, alongside other Rutgers organizations such as the Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center and the Cinema Studies program, presents a number of film festivals . MGSA offers the Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, Doctor of Musical Arts, Artist Diploma in Music, and MA and Ph.D. in composition, theory, and musicology. Modernist composer Robert Moevs taught at
812-507: The range and depth of scholarly study which they so richly deserve, and a vital but neglected area in American civilization will be illuminated. Stearns negotiated transfer of IJS to Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, in 1966. He died before the final transfer took place. In 1967 the Institute materials were moved to the Newark campus of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Charles Nanry,
841-540: The school. A number of notable New Brunswick bands have formed over the years at the university and in the city at large. MGSA offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design and in Visual Arts and Master of Fine Arts in Design and in Visual Arts. Kara Walker currently serves as an endowed chair. Visual artist Didier William , photographer Mark McKnight and conceptual artist Park McArthur are among faculty. In
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