Jazz in the Archives

by Varad Sahasrabudhe, an undergraduate studying Jazz Performance Studies (Guitar) - December 10, 2024

A haven for music lovers, scholars, and historians, Special Collections & Archives at CSUN’s University Library provides a wide range of jazz musical resources, including lead sheets, etudes, scores, and VHS tapes of live performances. The Mimi Melnick Collection, which documents a rich legacy of jazz, is available for jazz enthusiasts and scholars. In addition to some original handwritten scores by artists, the collection contains numerous lead sheets and scores that have been hand transcribed by Mimi Melnick and Sam Saxe. Alternate chord changes and composer's remarks are also included in some lead sheets. Other jazz workouts and piano etudes are included in this collection, as well.

Additionally, the collection includes a variety of VHS recordings of live performances. Mimi Melnick established a series of concerts dubbed the Double M Jazz Salon, staged at her home in the Encino hills, featuring both well-known and local jazz artists. Audiences for Jazz Salons were by invitation only with limited seating, and all proceeds directly benefited the performers. VHS recording of Billy Childs’s solo piano concert from the Double M Jazz Salon at Mimi Melnick's house, Mimi Melnick Collection. These recordings provide a unique window into the unadulterated skill and dynamic energy of jazz artists performing live. Some of the most well-known jazz musicians perform live on these cassettes, which have never been released and are only available for viewing at CSUN. Many of these musicians' unreleased pieces are also available on the VHS concerts. Students and scholars can check out these VHS home concert tapes and watch them in the Special Collections & Archives reading room. Charles Owens, Horace Tapscott, Walter Norris, Billy Higgins, and Billy Childs are a few well-known performers featured on the tapes. You can watch Billy Childs Solo Piano concert with repertoire that includes some of his original tunes and standards.

Along with the Mimi Melnick Collection, a vast array of published sheet music and books from different musical eras are kept in CSUN's Special Collections and Archives department. Students can access books like Jazz Life and American Women in Jazz, as well as the works of well-known composers including Hoagy Charmichael, George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.