Reviews of RIPM Jazz Periodicals
“Like a great jazz record, RIPM Jazz Periodicals has the feel of an instant classic. I recommend that it be added to the top of want-lists everywhere.”
Carlos Peña, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association Notes, March 2020
Reviewers of RIPM Jazz Periodicals have praised the content, user interface, and research potential of the collection. Below are excerpts from these reviews.
RIPM Jazz Periodicals captures a rich and fascinating slice of history and music culture. An excellent resource to support research on 20th-century U.S. history, Black history, entertainment, and music education. This singular primary-source collection is not easily matched.
Gricel Dominguez, Library Journal, May 2025
“RIPM Jazz Periodicals stands to revolutionize this field by giving jazz researchers a huge common vocabulary of historical material.”
Carlos Peña, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association Notes, March 2020
“There is a very cool new resource for jazz researchers … an online trove of digitized jazz (and ragtime) magazines … a breakthrough for jazz research, being able to find hundreds of articles or references … with just a few keystrokes. It will greatly advance writing about jazz.”
John Edward Hasse, Curator Emeritus of American Music, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
“The RIPM Jazz Periodicals database [is an] indispensable resource."
Aidan Levy, Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins (Hachette, 2022)
“Many of the titles in RIPM Jazz are incredibly rare outside the United States. For those of us based outside of the continental US the content in RIPM Jazz opens up new possibilities of research material.”
Aleisha Ward, Jazz Perspectives, March 2021
“I imagine that almost all jazz researchers, regardless of their project, can find references in RIPM Jazz Periodicals that they did not know about.”
Carlos Peña, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association Notes, March 2020
“There is a huge project going on … right now which is called RIPM Jazz … it’s truly unbelievable.”
Lewis Porter, Professor of Music Emeritus, Rutgers University – Newark, Jazz Education Network Seminar, May 2020
“To say that this database is essential is an understatement."
Meghan Gilhespy, St. Francis Xavier University, Canadian Association of Music Libraries Review, June 2021
“Can help reconstruct, quite literally, the career paths followed by musicians.”
Carlos Peña, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association Notes, March 2020
“For a jazz researcher, the collection at RIPM is invaluable, and I don’t use that word lightly. [It] is truly astounding.”
Terry Vosbein, Professor of Music, Washington and Lee University, Curator, Stan Kenton Research Center
“All the big names [critics]—Hentoff, Morgenstern, Feather … Ulanov, Williams, etc.—are well represented.”
Carlos Peña, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association Notes, March 2020
“The content of RIPM Jazz is undeniably excellent."
Aleisha Ward, Jazz Perspectives, March 2021
“The RIPM Jazz database is extremely user-friendly, both in its design and in its content."
Meghan Gilhespy, St. Francis Xavier University, Canadian Association of Music Libraries Review, June 2021
“What a tremendous difference this will make for students and scholars of the music! I expect this unprecedented resource will boost jazz scholarship enormously.”
John Edward Hasse, Curator Emeritus of American Music, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
“The material in these periodicals is a vital trove of information regarding jazz as it was developing across the 20th and 21st century ... information about jazz that can be difficult to find in other sources.”
Aleisha Ward, Jazz Perspectives, March 2021
“Most, if not all, of this material is otherwise unavailable electronically and much of it is difficult to access in print.”
Carlos Peña, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association Notes, March 2020
“I would sincerely recommend this database to any institution that deals with music, African-American studies, or popular culture. I am sure many researchers and jazz devotees breathed a sigh of relief after RIPM Jazz's release--I know I did."
Meghan Gilhespy, St. Francis Xavier University, Canadian Association of Music Libraries Review, June 2021
“This is a fantastic resource … RIPM [Jazz Periodicals] is really for institutions, so if you’re lucky you’ll be affiliated with a college or university that subscribes. Or you’ll bug them until they do.”
Lewis Porter, Professor of Music Emeritus, Rutgers University – Newark, Jazz Education Network Seminar, May 2020
"It is an incredible resource!”
Larry Dwyer, Director of Jazz Studies, University of Notre Dame