Visit the Marr Sound Archives Online

I hear it from jazz fans all the time. “I'm gonna stop by the sound archives sometime and see what you have.” Those, like Arch Martin and Dean Hampton, who visit the sound archive leave impressed by the breadth and depth of the collection. More often than not, good intentions do not translate into action and those who intend to stop by the sound archives never get around to it. Those procrastinators no longer have an excuse. They can visit the archives and peruse the collection online at http://www.umkc.edu/lib/

At the library home page, select Marr Sound Archives for information about the archives services and digital library projects. To search the collection select MERLIN. Over 63,000 LPS including 26,000 jazz recordings in the Marr Sound Archives have been cataloged by Technical Services, according to accepted national cataloging standards. This may not seem like such a big deal until you try and locate all the different versions of Jerome Kern's “All the Things You Are” in the collection using print discographies. What once took hours can now be accomplished in a few minutes, thanks to the good work of Wendy Sistrunk and our cataloging staff.

When searching the collection it is best to cut to the chase and go directly to the MERLIN Library Catalog – UMKC. At the library homepage umkc.edu/lib select MERLIN, then MERLIN – UMKC on the next page. This will narrow your search to the catalog of the Miller Nichols Library at UMKC. Otherwise, the search will include the holdings of all of the libraries in the University of Missouri system.

Items can be searched by a number of fields including keyword, author and title. Keyword searching allows users to search by word or phrase and limit the search to sound recordings. For example, when searching the collection for Stan Kenton's Creative World label, enter stan and kenton and creative. It is necessary to insert the word “and” between search terms because the database searches for individual words rather than a string of words. This search brings up all 66 recordings on the Creative World label.

Since the sidemen and composers are included in most catalog records, author searches bring up recordings of musicians as leaders, sidemen and composers. The results of an author search of “Mingus, Charles” includes his recording dates as a leader, a sideman and the tribute band Mingus Dynasty performing his compositions.

Title searches can yield an embarrassment of riches. A title search of “All the Things You Are” results in 509 hits.

Labels in the collection can also be searched in the other call number field by entering the name of the label. For example Blue Note will call up all of the archives' LP recordings on the Blue Note label.

Stop by umkc.edu/lib and visit the sound archives and explore MERLIN, the online catalog of the University of Missouri . You'll be surprised what you find. As Bobby Watson advises, “Check it out. It's the bomb.”

For information about the Marr Sound Archives and the Warren Bowman Collection contact Chuck Haddix, Marr Sound Archives, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 800 E. 51 St, Kansas City, MO 64110, (816) 235-2798, haddixc@umkc.edu.






	Search our site:		Visit the Marr Sound Archives Online I hear it from jazz fans all the time. “I'm gonna stop by the sound archives sometime and see what you have.” Those, like Arch Martin and Dean Hampton, who visit the sound archive leave impressed by the breadth and depth of the collection. More often than not, good intentions do not translate into action and those who intend to stop by the sound archives never get around to it. Those procrastinators no longer have an excuse. They can visit the archives and peruse the collection online at http://www.umkc.edu/lib/ At the library home page, select Marr Sound Archives for information about the archives services and digital library projects. To search the collection select MERLIN. Over 63,000 LPS including 26,000 jazz recordings in the Marr Sound Archives have been cataloged by Technical Services, according to accepted national cataloging standards. This may not seem like such a big deal until you try and locate all the different versions of Jerome Kern's “All the Things You Are” in the collection using print discographies. What once took hours can now be accomplished in a few minutes, thanks to the good work of Wendy Sistrunk and our cataloging staff. When searching the collection it is best to cut to the chase and go directly to the MERLIN Library Catalog – UMKC. At the library homepage umkc.edu/lib select MERLIN, then MERLIN – UMKC on the next page. This will narrow your search to the catalog of the Miller Nichols Library at UMKC. Otherwise, the search will include the holdings of all of the libraries in the University of Missouri system. Items can be searched by a number of fields including keyword, author and title. Keyword searching allows users to search by word or phrase and limit the search to sound recordings. For example, when searching the collection for Stan Kenton's Creative World label, enter stan and kenton and creative. It is necessary to insert the word “and” between search terms because the database searches for individual words rather than a string of words. This search brings up all 66 recordings on the Creative World label. Since the sidemen and composers are included in most catalog records, author searches bring up recordings of musicians as leaders, sidemen and composers. The results of an author search of “Mingus, Charles” includes his recording dates as a leader, a sideman and the tribute band Mingus Dynasty performing his compositions. Title searches can yield an embarrassment of riches. A title search of “All the Things You Are” results in 509 hits. Labels in the collection can also be searched in the other call number field by entering the name of the label. For example Blue Note will call up all of the archives' LP recordings on the Blue Note label. Stop by umkc.edu/lib and visit the sound archives and explore MERLIN, the online catalog of the University of Missouri . You'll be surprised what you find. As Bobby Watson advises, “Check it out. It's the bomb.” For information about the Marr Sound Archives and the Warren Bowman Collection contact Chuck Haddix, Marr Sound Archives, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 800 E. 51 St, Kansas City, MO 64110, (816) 235-2798, haddixc@umkc.edu. RETURN TO DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005 MAIN INDEX © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2004. All rights reserved.