BYU musicologist receives NEH grant to study Louis Armstrong - BYU News Skip to main content
Intellect

BYU musicologist receives NEH grant to study Louis Armstrong

Brigham Young University School of Music faculty member Brian Harker received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities which will allow him to research jazz legend Louis Armstrong for three months in New York next fall.

Harker started researching Armstrong's early music career while attending Columbia University for his doctorate. He wrote his dissertation on Armstrong's career in the 1920s.

He had always wanted to turn his dissertation into a book on Armstrong. Since he is able to take a sabbatical next fall semester, he decided he would use the opportunity to finish the research for his book.

Even though many books have been written on Armstrong, little research has been conducted or written on Armstrong's early career in the 1920s, Harker said.

"The NEH grant is a great thing to receive, and I am delighted to get it," Harker said.

Harker plans to do most of his research at Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark, N.J., and the New York Public Library.

Harker is currently teaching music history and theory in the School of Music.

He received his bachelor's degree in music and master's degree in musicology from BYU.

Writer: Rebekah Hanson

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Student inventors help BYU rank as a top U.S. university for newly-issued patents

May 12, 2025
Brigham Young University was just ranked as one of the Top 100 universities in the nation for most issued patents. But the new ranking from the National Academy of Inventors isn’t the story for BYU; it’s who holds the patents.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU research: Your beliefs about money may reveal clues about your relationship

May 07, 2025
Everyone holds their own beliefs about money – what it’s for, how much we need and how to use it. But a new study from researchers at BYU says personal beliefs about money also shape the health of your relationship.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU business professors find ‘margins of error’ in workplace correlate with unethical behavior outside workplace

April 29, 2025
Tolerance standards may lead to better outcomes in the workplace, but researchers from the BYU Marriott School of Business recently published a study in the Journal of Business Ethics showing a paradoxical effect in other ethical domains.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=