Phil Schaap Jazz Collection

Philip van Noorden Schaap (1951 – 2021) was an American jazz broadcaster, historian, archivist, producer, and educator. Born in Queens, New York, and raised in the Hollis neighborhood, Schaap was immersed in jazz from an early age through his parents. His father, Walter Schaap (1917–2007), was a jazz historian and discographer, and his mother, Marjorie Wood Schaap, was a librarian and pianist. Schaap began broadcasting jazz while attending Columbia University on WKCR-FM, and continued his association with the station for decades, hosting programs such as Bird Flight (1981–2020) and Traditions in Swing (1981–2020). Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of jazz history, Schaap developed close relationships with musicians from a young age and became a central figure in New York’s jazz community. In the late 1980s, he worked with Mosaic Records to recover and produce The Complete Dean Benedetti Recordings of Charlie Parker (1990), restoring hundreds of previously unissued recordings. In addition to his broadcasting work, Schaap served as archivist for Savoy Jazz from 1984 to 1991 and contributed to numerous historical reissues of recordings by artists including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington. His work as a producer, engineer, and liner notes author earned him multiple Grammy Awards between 1990 and 2001. As an educator, Schaap held teaching positions at Columbia University, Rutgers University, Princeton University, and The Juilliard School, and later served as curator at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Throughout his career, he remained committed to the preservation and interpretation of jazz history through broadcasting, teaching, and archival work. In October 2020, he was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, an honor recognizing his lifetime contributions to the field.