The Annual Review of Jazz Studies is dedicated to scholarly research on jazz and its related musical forms. It recognizes the growing awareness of jazz as a cultural phenomenon. All volumes include numerous examples, a book review section, a portfolio of jazz photographs, and bibliographic surveys.

This twelfth volume covers the year 2002, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute of Jazz Studies. The photo gallery in this issue illustrates some of the persons and locations in its history, both in New York and at the Institute's present home at the Newark campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Information is provided on major jazz figures from widely separated eras including, Gil Evans, Django Reinhardt, Lucky Thompson, and Paul Bley. Other articles include an analysis of John Coltrane's harmonics and its impact on later compositions, and a survey of recordings based on Charlie Green's classic 1924 trombone solo on "The Gouge of Armour Avenue." A memorial salutes the contributions of a notable Danish scholar, Erik Wiedemann.