Big Noise From Notre Dame
A History of the Collegiate Jazz Festival
The Collegiate Jazz Festival, held each spring at the University of Notre Dame, is the oldest ongoing collegiate jazz festival. A potent force in the jazz education world for nearly three decades, the festival has provided a spawning ground for countless musicians who have gone on to successful professional careers. Big Noise From Notre Dame celebrates this extraordinary student-run event as it delves into the festival’s history and examines jazz education at the college and high school level — an area of music scholarship that has, until now, remained largely neglected.
222 pages (including 69 superb black and white photos and a complete discography of 250 collegiate jazz albums); published in 1986 by the University of Notre Dame Press.
Joseph Kuhn Carey, a former chairman of the festival, brings the event to life by providing readers with an in-depth look at each festival year, including recaps of winning bands and individual musicians; analyses of controversial groups and judging decisions; and colorful anecdotes abou the professional jazz musicians who attended the festival as judges, including among others, Stan Kenton, Quincy Jones, Clark Terry, Cannonball Adderley, and Wynton Marsalis.
“The book should prove of interest not only to readers involved in or familiar with jazz education in particular and jazz in general, but also to sociologists, historians, and anyone interested in the definitive history of an important cultural institution.”
— Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University
“Big Noise From Notre Dame brings back that memory and many other happy memories. It also tells me much I hadn’t known. What a joy! And what evidence that the future of American music has greater promise than the popularity of too many ‘hits’ today would suggest!”
— Willis Conover, legendary Voice of America radio broadcaster, jazz producer and emissary for jazz around the world
“…painstakingly detailed and illustrated… the [jazz education] achievements of the past, and the dedicated spirit of the thousands of performers and teachers, is carefully preserved here, along with a surprisingly lengthy discography of albums — hundreds of them — recorded by college jazz bands.”
— Leanard Feather, jazz critic, Los Angeles Times
“With his finger placed firmly on the pulse of America’s oldest intercollegiate jazz event, Joseph Carey has effectively documented every nuance of the Notre Dame Jazz Festival. Big Noise From Notre Dame contains 68 rare pictures that reflect every year from 1959 to 1985 in a vignette identifying the ensembles, judges, and outstanding performers. This book would be an outstanding resource for classes in jazz history, especially to help students develop historical perspectives.”
— The Instrumentalist