About
The National Jazz Archive holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1920s to the present day. Founded in 1988 by trumpeter Digby Fairweather, the Archive’s vision is to ensure that the rich tangible cultural heritage of jazz is safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers.
In 2011 the Archive received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to conserve and catalogue the collection. As a result, many photographs, journals, documents and learning resources have been made available on this site.
Collections
The National Jazz Archive holds more than 4,000 reference books, specialist periodicals and journals, which alongside photographs, memorabilia, artworks and personal papers, tell the story of jazz and blues in the UK.
The collections include:
– runs of all major jazz periodicals past and present
– an extensive collection of rare British journals
– concert posters and programmes, interviews, photographs, letters, artefacts and memorabilia.
– personal papers donated by leading musicians and writers, including Mike Westbrook, Ian Carr, Charles Fox, Ken Colyer, Johnny Simmen and John Cumming of Serious Music.