Boris Vian asked jazz lovers to make a will of their collections, stressing the urgency of saving their heritage.
A casket of the Jazz House, the Library was born with this goal in mind. In fact, it collects historical vintages of magazines, rare Italian and foreign publications, hard-to-find trade books, audio-video material (which can be consulted from two audio hi-fi stations and a 42” plasma TV station), and whatever else comes from donations from private individuals.
The audiovisual archive is not just a virtual museum of jazz, created solely for the celebration of the past, as much as a vault of new treasures so that one day current events may be remembered as history. With this in mind, many concerts and events held at the House of Jazz have been recorded and guarded with the utmost care. Accessible via multimedia stations, it collects material made available by Teche Rai and musicians: Chet Baker at “International Doc,” Gegè Telesforo’s interview with Miles Davis, Enrico Rava’s quartet radio recordings for “A Certain Speech,” and more.