(aus dem Jazzinstitut Darmstadt)

1 – 12 January 2022 | Ausgabe 01/2022 (English)

We read the morning paper for you!

Dear jazz friends,

The Jazzinstitut's JazzNews keeps you up-to-date with news of the jazz world, which we collect, summarize, and issue via e-mail about once a week. This service can also be accessed on our website (www.jazzinstitut.de), where it is updated on a daily basis.

If you need bibliographies of the musicians named in our JazzNews, please click on our website’s Jazz Index page. This is a bibliographical reference to jazz-related books, magazines, journals and other sources that you can access without charge. If you don't find the name(s) you’re looking for, feel free to e-mail us! We will send you Jazz Index digests of articles about musicians as they make the news.

Now, have fun reading about the jazz week that was!

... brief news ...

Eric Schultz produced a TV portrait of jazz advocate (and Rahsaan Roland Kirk's widow) Dorthaan Kirk (Thirteen). --- Ted Gioia remembers seeing pianist Bill Evans in concert at San Francisco's Keystone Korner about a week before his death in September 1980, and he reads a new book about the last years of the Evans trio written by drummer Joe LaBarbera (The Honest Broker).

Dean Budnick talks to bassist Christian McBride about meeting the late pianist and festival impresario George Wein for the first time, about the conversation in which Wein offered him the position of artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival which Wein had founded in and directed since 1954, as well as about the advice he still got even after Wein had stepped down (Relix). --- Barry Davis talks to producer and promoter Danny Kapilian about George Wein in whose company Festival Productions he had started his career, about a memorable encounter with singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, as well as about what he learned from some of his favorite musicians (The Jerusalem Post).

Robin Lloyd talks to pianist Orrin Evans about his new task as artist-in-residence for the DC Jazz Festival for the next two years, as well as about other current projects (KNKX). --- Ron Scott talks to vibraphonist Warren Wolf about his "History of the Vibes" project, about starting out playing straight-ahead jazz after Berklee College, then opening up to other genres, as well as about his latest album "Reincarnation" which draws inspiration from exactly those diverse influences (New York Amsterdam News).

Martin Vögele talks to German bassist Shana Moehrke about her musical upbringing, about her decision to study jazz, as well as about some of her current projects around the Mannheim area (Mannheimer Morgen). --- On the occasion of the death of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Robin Lloyd tells the story of Miles Davis' tribute to the late humanitarian in his album "Tutu" from 1986 (KNKX).

Wolfgang Sandner celebrates guitarist John Scofield on the occasion of his 70^th birthday (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). --- Andrian Kreye lists some of the jazz albums that impressed him in 2021 (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Henry Altmann lists his favorites of 2021 as well (NDR). So do Nate Chinen, Greg Bryant, and Jordannah Elizabeth (WBGO). --- Sharon Brooks talks to bassist Esperanza Spalding and saxophonist Wayne Shorter about their opera "Iphigenia" (The Undefeated).

Prague Morning tells the story of Reduta, the famous jazz club in Prague which opened in 1957 and saw President Clinton join a jam session in 1994 (Prague Morning). --- Robert C. Lopez talks to guitarist James Gilmore (Greensboro News & Record). --- Reinhard Köchl talks to John McLaughlin on the occasion of his 80^th birthday (Augsburger Allgemeine). Wolfgang Sandner celebrates John McLaughlin as well (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

Wolfgang Sandner listens to German pianist Christoph Spendel's latest album (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). --- Richard Brody listens to newly discovered private solo recordings by pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali (The New Yorker). --- Hosts Phil Klay and Jacob Siegel invite pianist and writer Ethan Iverson on their podcast Manifesto! to discuss Wynton Marsalis' essay "What Jazz Is – and Isn't" from 1988 as well as his 1985 album "J Mood" (The Manifesto).

Ethan Iverson also listens closely to drummer Barry Altschul's 1977 album "You Can't Name Your Own Tune" (Do the Math). --- Judith Dietermann remembers the history of Die Brotfabrik, a jazz and world music venue in Frankfurt, Germany, the future of which is in danger as the property is about to be sold (Frankfurter Neue Presse). --- Chris Boyette & Keith Allen report about the New Orleans city council's decision to rename Robert E. Lee Blvd for legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint (CNN).

Obituaries 

We learned of the passing of pianist John Alaimo at age 81 (Vineyard Gazette), the British producer and founder of Spotlite Records Tony Williams at age 80 (The Guardian), the Argentinian guitarist Oscar López Ruiz at age 83 (Oicanadian), the jazz advocate Edith Rothman at age 102 (The Boston Globe), the jazz promoter Sandra Jaffe at age 83 (New Orleans Times-Picayune, New York Times), the promoter (and former manager of Thelonious Monk) Harry Colomby at age 92 (Yahoo! Entertainment, New York Times), the guitarist Rohn Lawrence at age 61 (New Haven Independent), the critic Fradley Garner at age 95 (Jersey Jazz), the guitarist Nick Colionne (USA Today), the promoter and booking agent Andy Kaufman at age 76 (info by Richard Seidel), the pianist Clive 'Zanda' Alexander at age 82 (Trinidad and Tobago Newsday), the bassist Paul Warburton at age 79 (Westword), the pianist Graciela 'Grace' Valdez at age 72 (The Monitor), the actor Sidney Poitier at age 94 (New York Times [1], New York Times [2], CNN), the concert promoter Michael Lang at age 77 (Rolling Stone), the percussionist and singer/songwriter James Mtume at age 75 (New York Amsterdam News, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Philly Voice), the pianist and composer Stephen Lawrence at age 82 (New York Times), the saxophonist Charles Brackeen at age 81 (Do the Math), the German blues guitarist and singer Jürgen Queissner, as well as the Japanese pianist Ayako Shirasaki at age 52 (Ayako Shirasaki Facebook page).

Last Week at the Jazzinstitut 

Heimat @ Jazzinstitut (@ dazz Festival)
We know, we are still in a pandemic, however creativity does not pause. And thus, next week we will start a new series of short residences at the Jazzinstitut allowing artists to use our space, archive and knowledge for a number of days, ideally leading to a concert at the Jazzinstitut's intimate performance space or other venues in town fitted for whatever project the artists are working at. The new residence program called "heimat@jazzinstitut" will support quite diverse projects such as the young Quartertone quartet from Frankfurt and Darmstadt (in April), the Cologne-based saxophonist Angelika Niescier with her quartet and the percussion ensemble Orang Orang Dance Theatre from Malaysia (in May), or the Nürnberg-based saxophonist Sandrine Ramamonjisoa and her band Appaloosa (August).

We will start the series next week with an unusual "duo-log" of guitarist Ronny Graupe (Berlin) and graphic artist Nicole Schneider (Darmstadt). Their focus will be simultaneous improvisation in different media. Using digital drawing technology and electric sound, Graupe and Schneider will engage in an audio-visual dialogue, exploring the question of what forms of artistic interaction are possible - call-and-response with pen and instrument. Our local newspaper just printed Nicole Schneider's expectations of the event (Darmstädter Echo). "Duo-Log" is part of dazz, a ten-day festival highlighting the many different venues for jazz and improvised music in Darmstadt (dazz). The evening will be streamed live from the Jazzinstitut's concert space (Friday, 21 January 2022, 7:30pm, at YouTube). If you plan to attend in person: At the moment 2G+ regulations apply (2G plus compulsory testing unless you received your 3^rd booster shot); however, make sure to check the dazz Festival's website closer to the event.

"Duo-log" will lead to an exhibition at the Jazzinstitut's gallery from mid-February through the end of April, showing some of results from the residency and highlighting technical experiences from the encounter.

Current opening hours of the Jazzinstitut
The Jazzinstitut is open to the public by appointment. Research slots will be given out with exact time slots for one visitor at a time. We ask our visitors to be either fully vaccinated,  recovered or officially tested (3G regulation). At the same time we continue our offer for research help by phone, e-mail or video-call. If you would like to schedule a video call, please send an e-mail to make an appointment and give us an idea what you want to talk about. We will then reply with a link for a Webex video session for your meeting.