Professor Tom Perchard

Tom’s teaching and research centres on the cultural history and historiography of jazz and popular music.

Staff details

Professor Tom Perchard

Position

Professor of Music, Director of Research, Programme Convenor for BMus Popular Music

Department

Music

Email

t.perchard (@gold.ac.uk)

Website

http://www.tomperchard.org

I am Director of Research, convenor of the BMus Popular Music programme, and, with Prof. Keith Negus, co-director of the Popular Music Research Unit. My work centres on the history and historiography of jazz and popular music. My most recent book is After Django: Making Jazz in Postwar France (University of Michigan Press, 2015), and an edited anthology, From Soul to Hip Hop, was published in 2014 as part of Routledge’s Library of Essays on Popular Music. My first monograph was Lee Morgan: His Life, Music and Culture (Equinox, 2006). My research articles appear in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association, American Music, Popular Music, Jazz Perspectives, Popular Music and Society, the Journal of the Society for American Music and Popular Music History.

Teaching

Since 2008, I have designed, delivered or team-led the following modules: Popular Music History; Analytical and Contextual Studies; Approaches to Contemporary Music; Music Study Skills (Level 1); What is Jazz? (Level 2); Topics in African American Music; Music/Modernities; Research Essay; Advanced Popular Music Studies (Level 3); Encounters in African American Music; Popular Music and its Critics (Masters).

Areas of supervision

I am currently primary supervisor for three MPhil/PhD students: Jeremiah Spillane, ‘Identity, Improvisation and Influence: The Stylistic Development and Enduring Legacy of Django Reinhardt; Alex de Lacy, ‘Grime Music: Live Performance and the Creative Process’; Fiamma Mozzetta, ‘The Past in Contemporary Popular Music: Historical Meaning-Making in Creative, Institutional and Commercial Sites’. I have had one PhD completion: Jasmin Taylor, ‘Billie Holiday and the Gendered Politics of Jazz Creativity’ (2017). I have examined four PhDs. Since 2008 I have supervised over 20 Masters students’ dissertations.

 

Publications and research outputs

Book

Perchard, Tom; Graham, Stephen; Rutherford-Johnson, Tim and Rogers, Holly. 2022. Twentieth-Century Music in the West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108481984

Perchard, Tom. 2015. After Django: Making Jazz in Postwar France. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472072422

Perchard, Tom, ed. 2014. From Soul to Hip Hop (The Library of Essays on Popular Music). Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-2719-3

Edited Journal

Perchard, Tom and Powers, Devon, eds. 2017. Special Issue: The Critical Imperative, Popular Music, 36(1). 0261-1430

Book Section

Perchard, Tom. 2019. The Vocalized Tone. In: Nicholas Gebhardt; Nichole Rustin-Paschal and Tony Whyton, eds. The Routledge Companion to Jazz Studies. Routledge, pp. 197-207. ISBN 9781138231160

Perchard, Tom. 2014. 'Introduction'. In: Tom Perchard, ed. From Soul to Hip Hop. Farnham: Ashgate, xi-xxix. ISBN 978-0-7546-2950-4

Article

Perchard, Tom. 2017. Technology, Listening and Historical Method: Placing Audio in the Post-War British Home. Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 142(2), pp. 367-399. ISSN 0269-0403

Perchard, Tom. 2017. Growing Old Together: Pop Studies and Music Sociology Today. Twentieth-Century Music, 14(2), pp. 335-343. ISSN 1478-5722

Perchard, Tom. 2017. Mid-Century Modern Jazz: Music and Design in the Postwar Home. Popular Music, 36(1), pp. 55-74. ISSN 0261-1430

Conference or Workshop Item

Perchard, Tom. 2018. 'Hearing, Seeing, Talking, Touching: Pop Music Experiences in the Postwar British Home'. In: 8th William A. Kern Conference in Visual Communication. Rochester Institute of Technology, United States.

Perchard, Tom. 2018. 'Towards a History of Pop Music in the 20th-Century Home'. In: Research Symposium. Kunstuniversität Graz, Austria.

Perchard, Tom. 2017. 'Reimagining Popular Music History'. In: Research Colloquium. University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Broadcast

Perchard, Tom. 2017. Historical consultant, Rock ‘n’ Roll Guns for Hire: The Story of the Sideman. BBC Films.

Perchard, Tom. 2016. Programme guest, Jazz Now. BBC Radio 3.

Perchard, Tom. 2016. Historical consultant, Things Called Jazz that are Not Jazz. BBC Radio 4..

Professional Activity

Perchard, Tom. Advisory Council member, Institute of Musical Research.

Perchard, Tom. Editorial Board member, 'Jazz Research Journal'.

Perchard, Tom. Regular referee, 'Popular Music'.

Project

Perchard, Tom. 2020-2023 Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (£145,059): Popular Music in the British Home, 1945-90: Technology, Experience and Daily Life.

Perchard, Tom. January-October AHRC Early Career Fellowship (£64,800). Jazz in France, 1934-75: Contesting the Politics of Nation, Art and World through Music.

Perchard, Tom. 2005. AHRB/C PhD award (2002-5).

Research Interests

My research is focussed on the cultural history of jazz and popular music in the (long) 20th-century. I welcome enquiries from potential research students.