Examples of real jazz reference questions received at the Archive

When you contact the Chicago Jazz Archive for help with your research questions, try to include as much detail as you can; avoid general, sweeping questions. Below you will find examples of questions that couldn't be answered, and questions for which CJA was able to provide assistance.

Real, unanswerable reference questions:

• "What have you got in there? Tell me everything you have. You can't? Why not?"

• "What made Jazz music modern? In what way isn't it modern?"

• "i need help with this topic. can u give me the full range of factors responsible for producing jazz as soon as possible. thank u"

• "Do you have any books on jazz? Send me a complete list of all of them."

• "Send me everything you have on jazz. If it is in a book, please type it in and email it to me."

• "I need the name of a jazz pianist in his 40's who lives near [Chicago intersection]. Can you help?"

• "I need a discography on ______. If you have one, send it. If you don't, do one and send it to me here [Europe]."

• "I need to know if you have these stock arrangements [list of over 200 titles]. Please photocopy all the parts for me and send them, I need them right away."

• "Do you know anything about saxophones?"

• "I need pictures to cut up to make a poster for a school project. Can I borrow yours?"

• "Please Email me some stuff on the relationship between Gospel music and jazz, I have a paper due tomorrow."

These kinds of questions waste your time and ours because we can't possibly answer them. Take a look at the Scope of the Collections and Research pages, then try to formulate a detailed, answerable question. Keep in mind that we cannot email Archive materials and cannot send original materials out of the Archive.

Reference questions successfully answered:

• "I'm looking for the definition of the word copasetic/copesthetic used as in "everythin' is copesthetic and jivin' right along." are you able to help?" (it's in the Oxford English Dictionary)

• "Can you help me find piano sheet music of Jelly Roll Morton songs?" (original mss. at the Historic New Orleans Collection in its William Russell Jazz Collection ; commercially from www.jwpepper.com and other sources, try a web search)

• "I understand that Melba Liston's scores are in Chicago, do you have them?" (no, they're at the Center for Black Music Research's library in Chicago.)

• "I'm trying to find a recording of Louis Armstrong doing Heebie Jeebies and the sheet music that has the instructions for how to do the Heebie Jeebies dance." (recording was Okeh 8300, reproduced on many Armstrong CDs. CJA is one holder of the sheet music.)

• "I'm trying to find a recording of Coleman Hawkins doing "Body and Soul" from the 1959 Playboy jazz festival in Chicago." (The only recording is on LP: Playboy PB1959; I'd love to hear if it's finally been released on CD.)

• "My jazz band would like to play some 1920s jazz, do you have old music we can look at and can you recommend some recordings?"

• "We're doing a documentary on Benny Goodman and need a shot of a bunch of different Goodman album covers. Also, is there a recording of his band doing Memories of You that we can buy on CD?"

• "We're doing an article on Black & Tan cafes in Chicago in the 1920s, and we need some interior and exterior shots of clubs as well as pictures of bands from that period, such as King Oliver's. Can you help?" (A good place to start is Driggs and Lewine's "Black Beauty, White Heat: A Pictorial History of Classic Jazz 1920-1950" Da Capo, 1996 -- may be out of print)

• "My grandfather,___, played jazz in Chicago in the 20's and I'm trying to find all the information about him that I can. He played with __ and ___ and was with a band that played at the ____ in 1925 or 26, I think he said the bandleader was ___. I'd like to make an appointment to come in and show you what I've found already, and see if you can think of other places I should look."

Conclusion

Once you're sure that CJA is the right place to bring your jazz reference question, and that it's as detailed as you can possibly make it, get in touch. You can email the Archive Curator via debjazz at uchicago.edu The CJA mailing address is:

Chicago Jazz Archive
1100 E. 57th Street JRL361
Chicago IL 60637-1502.
Phone:(773)702-3721 FAX:(773)702-6623.

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