In keeping with our objective to make The JAZZ
Discography as useful as possible we have prepared the following
suggestions to help subscribers get the best out of their investment in
The Jazz Discography CD-ROM.
1. Searching for a particular session
Before searching for a specific session you must first be in either the
Leader Detail or Leader Index sections.
Example: Miles Davis session of May 11, 1956
Click on “Leader Search” (or press F2) and in the
dialog box enter:
First name: miles
Last name: davis
Miles Davis will be displayed in the Leader Index. Double click on his name or press enter.
The first
session with Miles Davis as a leader will be displayed at the top of
your computer screen (i.e. August 14, 1947)
Click on “Session Date Search” (or press F4) and in the
dialog box enter:
1956 then 5 then 11
(There is no need to
leave spaces (or put a 0) before single digit dates)
Click on
“OK” (or press Enter)
The Miles Davis session detail for May 11, 1956 will be displayed
at the top of your computer screen. (To see the ‘big
picture’ for Miles Davis sessions, click on “Session
Index” or press the F5 key)
2. Carry-Forward Sessions
Sessions that have the same personnel as a preceding session generally
do not show the list of musicians repeated. They will be left blank,
show “same” or “same pers.” This allows
the viewer to see changes in personnel more easily.
Example: Session for, Duke Ellington, March 14, 1927
This is a carry-forward session with no personnel listed. To view
the full personnel list, click on the red ball in the gray bar above
the session.
Press “Page Down” 3 times (or scroll down) to the
session of April 30, 1927.
Personnel changes can be viewed on the screen (June Clark (tp)
replaces Bubber Miley, Rube Bloom (arr)). To view the full personnel
list for this session, click on the red ball.
3. Moving Around the Database between Leaders, Musicians and Tunes
When you are in Leader Detail, Musician Detail or Tune Detail sections
moving to a specific musician, tune or leader is simple:
Example: Session of Stan Getz, July 23, 1972
To research Tony Williams’ sessions from this period, click on
“Tony Williams”. The Musician Index screen appears with
this same session highlighted but now in the Tony Williams
chronological listing. To see the detail, double click on the
highlighted session (or press Enter). Then scroll up or down to see
other Tony Williams’ sessions from this period. To get back to
the original Stan Getz session, click the “Back Button”
twice.
You can do similar searches of tunes by clicking on the tune name.
Also, if you are in Musician Detail or Tune Detail sections and want
to view sessions for the leader, simply click the leader name in the
gray bar above the session.
4. Searching through the Indexes
All searches automatically go through the indexes as often there are
multiple listings of the same name and the multiple listings will appear
in the index.
Example: Bill Evans as a leader
Click on “Leader Index” then on “Leader
Search” and in the dialog box enter:
First Name – bill
Last Name – evans
“Bill Evans” (p) will appear highlighted on the screen.
Immediately underneath will be "Bill Evans" (reeds). Select
the Bill Evans required then double click (or press Enter) to go to
Leader Detail for this leader.
Example: Bill Evans as a musician
Click on “Musician Search” and in the dialog
box enter:
First Name – bill
Last Name – evans
Four different "Bill Evans" will appear listed in the
index. Select the "Bill Evans" you require then click (or
press Enter) to go to Musician Detail for this musician.
5. Multi-Search
Example: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie & "A night in Tunisia"
Click on “Multi-Search: Search” and in the dialog box enter:
charlie
parker
dizzy
gilespie
A night in Tunisia
The six recording sessions that include both these musicians and one
tune appear on the computer screen. (To see the "big
picture" for these 6 sessions, click on the "Session
Index" or press the F5 key).
Example: Gil Melle Matrix # 1219
Click on “Multi-Search: Word” and in the dialog box enter:
gil melle 1219
The session including this musician and matrix number appears on the computer screen.
If you didnt know the leader name but you wanted to find the matrix number 1219 then do the following example:
Example: Matrix # 1219
Click on “Multi-Search: Word” and in the dialog box enter:
1219
Several sessions with the number 1219 appear on the computer screen.
Scrolling down through the sessions shows 3 sessions with 1219 as matrix number. The 3rd one is the Gil Melle session.
Example: Overall date search of March 21, 1955 irrespective of the Leader name
Click on “Multi-Search: Date Search” and in the dialog box enter:
1955
3
21
The 3 sessions in the database recorded on March 21, 1955 appear on the computer screen.
Example: Search for the LP Verve MGV8271
Click on “Multi-Search: Word” and in the dialog box enter:
Verve MGV8271
The 3 sessions with this release number appear on the computer screen.