Tag Archives: Jazzforschung

UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS

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19th Darmstadt Jazzforum (24th to 28th September, 2025)

Jazz, spirituality, and the Blues of good life

A music that is open to change, like jazz, most certainly reflects global societal developments. These aspects had been already discussed in previous editions of the Darmstadt Jazzforum. But how does social change influence artistic outcome and the so called jazz scene? How do individual musicians or collectives react to historical strains? Do they actively shape them or do they withdraw? The 2025 Jazzforum deals with the artistic and the spiritual exploration in jazz – in history and present – and investigates related artistic and social practices.

Music has always played a central role in spiritual and ritual contexts. Call-and-response structures, found in many musical traditions, foster dialogue and community, often symbolizing spiritual connectedness. Music acts as a medium of inspiration and communication and can become a physical experience through dance and movement.

Many African-American musicians have used spiritual musical forms – from spirituals and gospel to free jazz – as a means of resistance against racism and discrimination. This spiritual resilience has profoundly shaped jazz's development. As an open and improvisational genre with a strong live performance element, jazz continues to provide a space for diverse spiritual and reflective quests.

Inspired by the song "Universal Conciousness" of Alice Coltrane, our Jazzforum 2025, which takes place from 25th to 28th of September in Darmstadt, will try to illuminate historic and current (artistic) reflections.

Read on: In our Blog for the Jazzforum, we gather scattered thoughts on the theme of spirituality and jazz, pose potential questions related to the topic, and regularly update readers on the event’s progress and special formats planned for the 19th Darmstadt Jazzforum.

Feel invited of being part of the Darmstadt Jazzforum 2025

For the 19th Darmstadt Jazzforum, musicians, scholars, organizers, journalists, music educators, and other interested parties were invited to submit contributions through a public call.

We encourage universities to include the Jazzforum as a credit-bearing course in their semester planning. Student contributions can be integrated by arrangement, and we offer support for course preparation to the extent possible.

  • If you are interested in taking part in the conference as a visitor please write an e-mail to jazzforum@jazzinstitut.de.

Questions or need for support, please address:
Bettina Bohle, Tel. +49 6151 963740
or
Arndt Weidler, Tel. +49 6151 963744

Accessibility

We strive for all venues and formats to be accessible to all. If you require support for participation, please contact us.

Our publications

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Batch_JazzinstitutOur „Darmstädter Beiträge zur Jazzforschung“ erscheinen alle zwei Jahre beim Wolke-Verlag. Sie fassen jeweils die Beiträge des zurückliegenden Darmstädter Jazzforums im Vorjahr zusammen und befassen sich mit unterschiedlichen thematischen Schwerpunkten (z.B. „Jazz in Europa“, „Improvisation“, „Duke Ellington und die Folgen“ oder „Jazz.Schule.Medien.“).

However, the Jazzinstitut is regularly involved in a in separate publication, named Publications from other editors or writers In the past we did also advance the documentation of our exhibition series in an independent book series, named:  „Deutsche Jazzfotografen„.

Das Adressverzeichnis zum Jazzleben in Deutschland, der „Wegweiser Jazz“ erschien 2010 letztmalig als Druckversion. Seit 2012 bieten wir unter www.wegweiserjazz.de eine Online-Datenbank mit Adressen zu Jazzaktivitäten in der ganzen Welt an, die fast täglich wächst. Nutzer können dort Einträge selbst anlegen und verwalten. Ein überwachtes Redaktionssystem sorgt für die Sicherheit und die Zuverlässigkeit der Daten.

Early issues of the Jazznewsletter are still available at the Jazzinstitut. The print series ended with No. 10. Since then, information about activities of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt can be found online in the „Jazzbrief“.

Neben wissenschaftlichen oder Service-Publikationen veröffentlicht das Jazzinstitut den Darmstädter Jazzkalender, der über die musikalischen Aktivitäten der lokalen Jazzszene informiert. Hier finden sich kurze Hinweise auf Jazzkonzerte, die in nächster Zeit im Darmstädter Stadtgebiet geplant sind. Der Darmstädter Jazzkalender lag bis 2020 in Darmstädter Kneipen und Hotels aus. Inzwischen ist er komplett ins Internet umgezogen und kann von der Hauptseite unserer Homepage aus angesteuert werden: „Darmstädter Jazzkalender Online„.

Darmstadt Jazzforum

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The Darmstadt Jazzforum is an international conference taking place every other year since 1989 and focuses on different topics in each edition. It is an unique mix featuring an international conference, concerts, workshops or exhibitions. Each Jazzforum has been documented in our book series “Darmstädter Beiträge zur Jazzforschung” (“Darmstadt Contributions to Jazz Research” published by Wolke, Berlin), a book series of eighteen volumes up-to-now which focuses on jazz scholarship and documentation.

The 19th Darmstadt Jazzforums (UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS – Jazz, Spiritualität und der Blues des guten Lebens) takes place from September 24 to 28, 2025 The offical Call for Proposals ended January 31, 2025.

Previous Darmstadt Jazzforums dealt with subjects as “Darmstädter Jazzforum 89” (1989), “Jazz und Komposition” (1991), “Jazz in Europa” (1993), “Jazz in Deutschland” (1995), “Jazz und Sprache” (jazz and language; 1997), “Duke Ellington und die Folgen” (Duke Ellington and what next; 1999), “Jazz und Gesellschaft” (Jazz and Society; 2001), “Improvisieren…” (2003), “Verrat!!… oder Chance. Der Jazz und sein gespaltenes Verhälnis zur Popmusik” (Treason !!! … or Opportunity? Jazz and its ambivalent relationship(s) with popular music; 2005), „Begegnungen… The World meets Jazz“ (2007), „Spannung | Tension. Albert Mangelsdorff“ (2009), „Jazz.Schule.Medien.“ (2011), „Jazzdebatten / jazz debates“ (2013), „Gender and Identity in Jazz“ (2015), „Jazz@100“ (2017), „Positionen! Jazz und Politik“ (2019), „Roots | Heimat. Wie offen ist der Jazz?“ (2021), „Destination Unknown – Die Zukunft des Jazz“ (2023)