May 12, 2005

NSU to Host Exhibit of Historically Significant Jazz Books through June 5

FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE , FL — To celebrate the Smithsonian Institutions Jazz Month, the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center at Nova Southeastern University will host a month-long exhibit of jazz books from the collection of NSU alumni Bruce Epperson, Hollywood.

"Those Frenchmen Got a Hellova Nerve: European Jazz Discography and the Making of a New Art Music, 1932-1976," will be on display on the 2 nd floor of the Alvin Sherman Library through June 5.

On Saturday, May 21 NSU law professor Michael L. Richmond will present "Storytelling, Jazz and Dance" discussing the history and cultural influence of jazz music and dance. The presentation will be held at 2:00 p.m. room 4009 of the Alvin Sherman Library, and a reception with light refreshments will follow. The event is free and open to the public.

The jazz book exhibit explains how a group of French, Belgian, and British record collectors re-wrote jazz history by documenting the time, place, date and personnel of every known jazz recording. By ignoring the group names and catalog numbers printed on the records labels and focusing on the master number microscopically engraved into the shellac itself, these collectors proved that the origins of jazz were far more rich and diverse than American critics claimed.

The books are a selection of the collection of jazz books assembled in the last decade by local attorney and author Bruce Epperson, who graduated from the Shepard Broad Law Center in 2004. The exhibit is sponsored by the law firm of Donna M. Ballman, P.A., Fort Lauderdale.