Thad Jones, Clark Terry, and James Williams:

The Living Jazz Archives in Word,
Performance, and Photographs

Sunday, December 2, 2012 •  2:00 p.m.
Cheng Library Auditorium • Admission is free

The Living Jazz Archives at William Paterson University houses the collections of three of the jazz world’s iconic peformers: Thad Jones, founding director of the University’s Jazz Studies Program; Clark Terry, legendary trumpeter and long-standing jazz faculty member; and James Williams, the late pianist, music educator, and director of the University’s Jazz Studies Program from 1999 until his untimely death in 2004. The collection features annotated scores of these and other composer-performers as well as recordings and a copious visual archive of photographs and posters.

David Demsey, coordinator of the University’s Jazz Studies Program, will bring these scores to new life, and talk about their significance for jazz history and jazz listening, providing insight into the unique contributions of each of these artists. Accompanied by a trio of students from the jazz program, Demsey will illustrate how each of these composer-performers has contributed to the richness of jazz as an idiom in the context of American culture. In addition to teaching, Demsey also curates the Living Jazz Archives.

Adding to the historical dimension of the presentation, part of the pictorial heritage of the jazz program at William Paterson University will be represented through the availability (for a modest donation) of JoAnn Krivin’s Jazz Studies, a recently published book of black-and-white portraits of performers on the Jazz Room stage—literally. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the Martin and JoAnn Krivin Scholarship Fund and students at William Paterson University.

Please plan to join us for this exploration of jazz history in word, performance, and photographs made available through the Living Jazz Archives.

Light refreshments to follow.

Sponsored by Friends of the Cheng Library of William Paterson University

For additional information about this event, please call Anne Ciliberti at 973.720.2113 or email at cilibertia@wpunj.edu.