Center for Jazz Studies

At the Center for Jazz Studies, jazz becomes a music without borders that provides new models for innovative teaching and scholarly inquiry in the arts, humanities, and sciences. Our themes of internationalization, technology and community encourage excellence in research, in the teaching of music and culture, and in the presentation of public events. The Center views the interdisciplinary expansion of the intellectual conversation surrounding jazz, and especially its lifeblood practice, improvisation, as tracing a path toward the development of new knowledge that illuminates the human condition.

Since its founding in 1999, the Center for Jazz Studies has been integrated into Columbia’s renowned Core Curriculum, so that the College’s students gain exposure to the study of jazz. The Center’s faculty offer at least four major courses per year on jazz, attracting about 500 students, and support a jazz studies special concentration.

Learn more.