In 2018-2019 five Philadelphia jazz organizations—Jazz Bridge, Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts, Philadelphia Jazz Project, Jazz Philadelphia, and Ars Nova Workshop—engaged in a collaborative discovery process to explore how to preserve, interpret, and share Philadelphia’s expansive jazz history. Funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the one-year Discovery Project brought together leading figures in the local jazz community to develop a vision and lay the groundwork for a sustainable Philly Jazz Archives. Philadelphia has been home to many transformative figures in jazz history, including Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Sun Ra, in addition to lesser-known musicians who shaped the community and its music. The project represented the first coordinated effort to identify and preserve original source materials that tell the story of the city’s vibrant jazz tradition, including manuscripts, recordings, photographs, show programs, and oral histories.
The individuals and organizations involved in the Philadelphia Jazz Legacy Project remain committed to working together to establish a Philly Jazz Archives to collect, preserve, and share the city’s rich jazz history.
People have often asked me why I would ever leave a beautiful place like Alaska to come here to Philadelphia. The answer is simple: The Music brought me here.
”Playing with Mike Boone and Sid Simmons changed my playing and my outlook on life and music.
”I was born in the presence of Philly greats like Eddie Green, Odean Pope and Tyrone Brown. The influence of that kind of pure musicianship never leaves you.
”As part of the Documenting & Interpreting the Philly Jazz Legacy project, in winter-spring 2019 project staff and advisors conducted…
Read MoreOn April 11, 2019 we hosted a Jazz Social & Scanning Party at the Philadelphia Clef Club, in which we…
Read MoreWe visited the family of Charles R. Rice (March 1, 1920 – April 22, 2018). Rice was a jazz drummer who led…
Read MoreThe Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts was founded in 1935 by James Adams and members of Local…
Read MoreH. Alonzo Jennings, originally from Passaic NJ, is an artist, photographer, poet, and jazz aficionado. He has been photographing jazz musicians since 1976. Additionally,…
Read MoreWe are interested in photographs, manuscripts, concert programs, clippings, scrapbooks, recordings – in short, any historical materials documenting jazz in the greater Philadelphia area (including Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic City). Please fill out this form or contact project staff with any questions:
Suzanne Cloud, Project Director
(610) 745-3011
Jack McCarthy, Consulting Archivist
(610) 639-2164
Business Address:
Ars Nova Workshop
Bok Room 509
1901 South 9th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148