A clarinetist whose playing experience ranged from classical solo and chamber concerts to jazz-rock at the Filmore East in New York City, Martin Krivin joined the William Paterson faculty in 1960. Six years later, he organized the first student jazz ensemble on campus. That group marked the beginning of what in 1973 would become the University’s internationally known Jazz Studies Program. In 1979, when Krivin hired the great jazz trumpet player Thad Jones for the full-time faculty, William Paterson became the first college or university to bring a major jazz performer onto the tenured faculty, which is now the model for numerous other schools. William Paterson’s program, which offers a bachelor of music degree in jazz studies and performance, today continues to attract students from across the country and around the world.

In addition to serving as coordinator of the Jazz Studies Program, Krivin also founded William Paterson’s Jazz Room Series, now in its 45^th season. Launched in 1978, the series, which is the longest-running program of its kind in the United States, has welcomed more than 500 jazz legends to campus, from Sonny Rollins and Wynton Marsalis to Joe Lovano, Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Michael and Randy Brecker, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Vanguard Orchestra, and more. Concerts have encompassed the entire spectrum of jazz, from early jazz and swing to avant garde, and from intimate solo performances to big bands. He was also instrumental in establishing “Jazz It Up!”, a weeklong jazz festival at Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, which has evolved into the University’s Summer Jazz Room, which celebrates its 30^th anniversary in 2023.

During his tenure on campus, Krivin also served as artistic advisor and later executive director of the Wayne Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of professionals, faculty, and students which was in residence on campus. From 1990 to 1992, he was project director of an innovative two-year jazz residency project, “The Jazz Journey of Benny Golson, funded by a grant from the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Arts Partners Program, which brought the renowned saxophonist to campus for several performances.

Krivin received numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council for the Arts, and the Passaic County Cultural and Heritage Council. He also developed and produced a professional classical chamber music series, and served as executive producer of several jazz video programs for New Jersey Network.

Following his retirement in 1992 after 32 years of service to the University, he returned to playing the clarinet in chamber groups, indulged a long-time passion for painting, and served on the board of the Catskill Symphony Orchestra. He died in 2011 at the age of 81.

His wife, the late JoAnn Krivin, who died in 2012, photographed the numerous jazz artists who came to campus to work with students and perform on the Jazz Room Series. In 2013, William Paterson’s Living Jazz Archive received an invaluable gift from her estate: her entire jazz photo collection, which documents more than three decades of the Jazz Studies Program’s history. The collection includes more than 1,000 archival prints and thousands more photographs, as well as negatives, of jazz artists, many of which appeared in her books 25 Years of the Jazz Room at William Paterson University (2003) and Jazz Studies (2009). In addition, the gift included Martin Krivin’s personal book collection, including the original draft of his doctoral dissertation, A Century of Wind Instrument Manufacturing in the U.S., which continues to be cited by music scholars conducting research in this area.

A graduate of Indiana State University in Pennsylvania, Krivin served in the Air Force during the Korean War; he was assigned to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, where he was assistant director of the band and a disc jockey on the base’s radio station. He earned a master’s degree in education from New York University on the G.I. Bill, and a doctorate in music from Iowa State University. A noted authority on the American wind instrument industry, he wrote articles for Grove’s Dictionary of Music, The Journal of Band Research, and The National Jazz Educators Journal.

His legacy lives on at William Paterson through the Martin and JoAnn Krivin Endowed Scholarship, established in 2013 through the efforts of Martin Krivin’s late nephew, Roger Staum, and his wife Paulette Staum. The scholarship is awarded annually to a University music student.