Marshall Stearns is today primarily known for his well-researched 1956 book The Story of Jazz, one with provocative yet usually insightful opinions. Stearns, who played drums in his college days, contributed articles to Down Beat starting in the 1940s and had a dual career as a jazz writer and an English literature professor. In 1952 he founded the Institute of Jazz Studies which in 1966 after his death was transferred to Rutgers where Dan Morgernstern has been the director since 1976. During the 1950s Stearns was a consultant to Voice of America. His book Jazz Dance was published posthumously in 1968. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi