Rate My Professor Vincent Pelote

Vincent Pelote is the Senior Archivist and Digital Preservation Strategist at the Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) in Rutgers University Libraries at the Newark campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he also serves as a Librarian at the John Cotton Dana Library and as library faculty. He earned a B.A. in Music Education and an M.L.S. from Rutgers University, beginning his Rutgers journey as a student in 1972. Throughout his career, Pelote has held key positions at the IJS, including Head of Collection Services and Sound Archivist in 2009 and Director of Operations in 2015. He is actively engaged with the Music Library Association and the Association of Recorded Sound Collections, having served as President of the latter. As a leader in jazz archival preservation, Pelote oversees efforts to digitize and safeguard the world's largest collection of jazz materials, including the Jazz from the Archives Radio Program, supported by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Pelote has contributed substantially to jazz scholarship through his editorial and authorial work. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Jazz Studies, where he published 'Remembering Dan Morgenstern (1929-2024)' in volume 15, number 2. His discographies cover Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton—featured in Hampton's autobiography—and the Commodore Records label. Pelote contributed to the Oxford Companion to Jazz and has written liner notes for albums by Lee Konitz, Johnny Smith, Mary Lou Williams, Benny Carter, Curtis Fuller, and others. His book and sound recording reviews appear in the ARSC Journal and Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. He has presented papers at national and international conferences. Through these endeavors in arts and culture, Pelote enhances access to jazz history for scholars, performers, and enthusiasts worldwide.