Library Guides: Contemporary Music: Jazz and Improvisation

Tips for finding articles

Do you know which search terms to use to find great articles on your topic?
Experiment with your keywords in one of these broad search options before diving into more specialised search locations.

Discovery searches across a large number of databases. Use Advanced Search and subject filters for the best results.
Proquest Central is similar to Discovery, searching across multiple databases
Google Scholar is a convenient search tool, but you'll need to set up Find it @ Unimelb links to effectively use Google Scholar for library research.

Once you've found a few good resources, explore some subject-specific databases and journals.

Why are there so many places to search?

Visit the Comparing Search Pathways guide for a quick explainer.

Journals and Magazines - Jazz and Improvisation

Our collections include many journals and magazines relevant to the study of Jazz and Improvisation. They range from popular magazines, to trade publications, and scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. While scholarly, peer-reviewed journals are preferred in University research, popular magazines often feature useful content like interviews, and reviews.

The list below is in no way exhaustive, and more can be found by searching in our catalogue, or databases. For comprehensive tips on searching for journal articles, please visit the R esearch Essentials guide

Black Music Research Journal
A peer reviewed journal that features articles about the philosophy, aesthetics, history, and criticism of black music, including significant research in Jazz, Blues, and Improvisation.
Cadence : the American review of jazz and blues.
Cadence is a popular American magazine in the fields of Jazz and Improvisation. It is not peer reviewed, but features interviews, oral histories, news and coverage of record scenes.
Critical Studies in Improvisation
Critical Studies in Improvisation is an open-access, peer-reviewed, electronic, academic journal on improvisation, community, and social practice housed at the University of Guelph.
Down Beat (Jazz, Blues and Beyond)
Available in hard copy (at Southbank Library). Downbeat is a popular, American magazine focussed on Jazz music and musicians.
Jazz Perspectives
A peer reviewed, scholarly journal that aims to bridge the jazz-as-music and jazz-as-culture divide of contemporary jazz studies, as well as to promote broader international perspectives on the jazz tradition and its legacy.
Popular Music History
A scholarly journal that features original historical and historiographical research that draws on the wide range of disciplines and intellectual trajectories that have contributed to popular music studies.
Popular Music
A scholarly journal that provides multidisciplinary coverage of all aspects of popular music: musicology, literary studies, sociology, and economic and social history.
Popular Music and Society
This journal encompasses all genres of music that have been dubbed popular in any geographic region. In addition to mainstream genres such as rock, hip hop, EDM, punk, or country, it explores popular forms ranging from broadsides to Broadway to Bollywood film music. It aims to present popular music scholarship from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, sociology, musicology, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and communication.

Useful Subject Headings

Subject Headings are used in our Catalogue to group similarly themed material, like tags. It can be useful to search for Subject Headings to find multiple results grouped by topic. Below are some useful headings, but more can be found by searching the catalogue, using a Subject Search. The Subject Headings listed below can be modified or truncated to include other types of resources, not just periodicals.