(aus dem Jazzinstitut Darmstadt)
8 – 21 December 2022 | Ausgabe 22/2022 (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 ...

Saxophonist Jon Raskin sent a questionnaire to all members of Rova Saxophone Quartet. In his response, Steve Adams talks about improvisation, about his approach to sound, about music as language, about the development of improvisation over the years, about the difference between structured improvisation and free jazz, about current challenges for him with the music, about his thoughts regarding community, practice, and inspiration, as well as about his relationship to Rova and what musical ideas he contributed to the group's repertoire (RovaScope). --- Andrew Dansby talks to drummer Stix Hooper about his latest album "Orchestrally Speaking", about his youth in Houston where he met other musicians who later made up the Jazz Crusaders, about his move to the West Coast in the early 1960s and how Los Angeles shaped his musical career, as well as about his other love, fishing (Houston Chronicle).

Jeff Gordinier explains how he "learned to love jazz fusion, the worst music in the world". His readers point out that the music he actually talks about is smooth jazz, though, not jazz fusion, which may be because Gordinier is Esquire's Food & Drinks, not their music editor (Esquire). --- Pianist Aaron Parks recently canceled a European tour and explains how a manic episode as a result of bipolar disorder caused him to make that decision. He remembers how he was diagnosed with the illness 14 years ago, how for a while he tried to act as if he didn't have it, how he dealt with depression and different medications, and how in summer 2021 his mania accelerated to a degree that he had to do something. One of the main triggers with him was a lack of sleep, he explains, and then asks what that means for his own future life and career. He also addresses the stigma mental illness has in society (Medium).

In the second installment of "Every film clip of Charlie Parker" Lewis Porter discusses an appearance of Bird behind tap dancer Teddy Hale in February 1949, as well as a performance with Miles Davis and Max Roach from March 1949 that was recorded for television but does only survive as audio (Playback with Lewis Porter). --- Greg Buium publishes an excerpt from an on-going biography he writes of pianist Paul Bley (Point of Departure).

Ted Gioia learns of a highly problematic door deal policy of a Brooklyn club through pianist and organist Mike LeDonne (The Honest Broker). --- Giovanni Russonello asks musicians and experts for their recommendations re: jazz singers. The results: Billie Holiday (recommended by Luciana Souza); Louis Armstrong (Cécile McLorin Salvant); Betty Carter (Kurt Elling); Ella Fitzgerald (Tammy Kernodle); Maxine Sullivan (Aaron Diehl); Urszula Dusziak (Dee Alexander); Angela Bofill (Melissa Weber); Nat King Cole (Will Friedwald); Nancy Wilson (Catherine Russell); Andy Bey (Giovanni Russonello); Esperanza Spalding (Roxana Amed) (New York Times).

Nate Chinen selects his "favorite music of 2022" (NPR). --- Noah Schaffer talks to trumpeter Mark Morganelli about how being a runner helps him with playing his instrument, about his different experiences as a musician, a club owner, an impresario, about the Jazz Forum, a club that once was in the heart of New York City but then moved to the suburbs because of high rents, about his love for Brazilian music, as well as about the inspiration he gets from listening to other musicians (Arts Fuse).

Lee Mergner talks to trumpeter Chris Botti about his one-month residency at the Blue Note, New York, about changing the approach to a song from performance to performance, about a jazz cruise he is booked on regularly and that he curates this year, as well as about the challenges of his instrument, the trumpet (WBGO). --- Elysa Gardner talks to vocalist Samara Joy about her two Grammy nominations (for best jazz vocal album and best new artist), about being surprised by her fast success, about her own road to jazz via old-school R&B and gospel, about her approach to songwriting, as well as about what she learned studying jazz greats such as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter or Carmen McRae (New York Times). Shaun Brady talks to Samara Joy as well about a current holiday tour with Dianne Reeves and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, as well as about the Christmas song traditions in her own family (WRTI).

Timothy Cox talks to violinist Regina Carter about a distinct message within her current musical program focusing on gentrification, especially in Black neighborhoods of big US cities (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). --- Nate Chinen talks to saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins about touring after the pandemic ("I only know post-COVID touring"), as well as about the energy he gets from the audience (NPR).

Lewis Porter leads us through a Lester Young solo on "After You've Gone", recorded in 1938 by collector Bill Savory from a radio broadcast (Playback with Lewis Porter). While Porter clearly prefers the early Lester Young to the later one, Ted Gioia enjoys listening to a live recording from December 1956 (The Honest Broker). --- Ralf Dorschel  hosts a short radio series about gay, lesbian, and trans musicians in jazz, mentioning and playing music of Chris Connor, Ma Rainey, George Hannah, Tiny Davis, Billy Tipton (NDR part 1), Stephane Grappelli, Billy Strayhorn, Ralph Burns, Mark Murphy, Andy Bey (NDR part 2), Fred Hersch, Gary Burton, Patricia Barber, Theo Bleckman, and Terri Lyne Carrington (NDR part 3).

Richard Williams attends a three-club benefit in London for British saxophonist Jason Yarde who had suffered a stroke in October (The Blue Moment). --- We learned about a new jazzclub ... by Lego. Who plays: "Live Music All Night and Magic Show" (Promobricks).

Lewis Porter listens to a radio interview with Miles Davis from 1955 (Playback with Lewis Porter). --- Andrew Gilbert remembers singers Ernie Andrews and Barbara Morrison who died earlier this year (San Francisco Classical Voice).

In her series on "mothers in jazz", Nicky Schrire talks to Canadian pianist Kate Wyatt (London Jazz News) and Portuguese singer Sara Serpa (London Jazz News). --- Ethan Iverson shares an anecdote about spending time with Ornette Coleman (Transitional Technology).

Ken Abrams talks to guitarist John Pizzarelli (What's Up Newp). --- Saxophonist John Lurie turns 70 and Wolfgang Sandner sends his best wishes (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

Larry Blumenfeld looks back at a creative year for drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey (NPR). --- Alexander Schnackenburg talks to Peter Schulze and Elisabeth Champollion about changes in the artistic leadership of Sendesaal Bremen, originally built as a radio studio, now used both as a recording studio and popular concert venue (Buten un Binnen).

Vinnie Sperrazza looks at the musical legacy of drummer Freddie Waits (Chronicles). --- Lewis Porter shares some more information about John Coltrane, Big Nick Nicholas and the tune "Big Nick" (Playback with Lewis Porter).

Larry Blumenfeld talks to poet Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) (Tidal). --- Lynne MacDonald talks to ethnomusicologist Christi Jay Wells about the Kealiinohomoku Award they received by the Society for Ethnomusicology for their monograph "Between Beats: The Jazz Tradition and Black Vernacular Dance" (Arizona State University News).

Jeremy Reynolds talks to pianist Craig Davis about his fascination with Dodo Marmarosa whose music he features on his latest album (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). --- Julia Lehmann reports about the current state of the House of Jazz, rather the historic Alte Münze building in Berlin, Germany, and critical voices from local politics (Berliner Morgenpost).

Obituaries

We learned of the passing of Dutch pianist Jack van Poll at age 88 (GVA), British jazz advocate Brian Blain at age 92 (The Guardian), Romanian bassist Wolfgang Güttler at age 77 (Siebenbürgische Zeitung), producer Mark Feldman at age 82 (Daily Freeman), Keiko Okuya Jones, widow of drummer Elvin Jones, at age 85 (Jazz Times), trumpeter Eddie Bayard at age 88 (New Orleans Times-Picayune, Northern Kentucky Tribune), drummer Dino Danelli at age 79 (New York Times), as well as singer Joyce Bryant at age 95 (New York Times).

From the World of Jazz Research

Destination Unknown: The Future of Jazz

The next Darmstadt Jazzforum is taking shape. The concert program is already in place and we are getting an idea what might be discussed in papers and panels during the conference part of the event. The date: 28-30 September 2023. The Jazzforum's title is inspired by Hartmut Geerken's Sun Ra Archive housed at the Jazzinstitut: "Destination Unknown. The Future of Jazz".

Our Call for Papers can be found on our website (Destination Unknown) together with a corresponding blog that outlines some of our own thoughts on the subject.

Current entries: (1) The devil you (don't) know; (2) Soothsaying; (3) If you have visions; (4) infinite vastness; (5) just go ahead ... (women in jazz); (6) Jazz: the most political of all art forms... really?

Paper suggestions can be in either German or English. Please note: We have extended the deadline for our Call for Papers until 31 January 2023. If you want to be part of the conference as an active or passive participant, let us know. If you have any ideas for a paper or a panel, write to us. If you want to know what happened at the Jazzforum conferences over the years, browse the website of our publisher (Wolke Verlag, Jazz).

Piano and pianists in jazz today: overview, heritage and research perspectives

(conference in Tours and Toulouse in the fall of 2023)

We listed this conference four weeks ago but with the wrong year. It is in 2023. Deadline for proposals: 15 January 2023. (Jazz Piano conference).

Last Week at the Jazzinstitut

(New) books we read

Among the books on our desk the last couple of weeks were "The Routledge Companion to Jazz and Gender", edited by James Reddan, Monika Herzig, and Michael Kahr; as well as "Mein Gorilla hat 'ne Villa im Zoo. Die Weintraubs Syncopators zwischen Berlin und Australien", by Albrecht Dümling (see the Jazzinstitut's book review page).

Jazzverband Hessen + Hessischer Jazzpreis

The inaugural meeting of the new Jazzverband Hessen (Jazz Federation Hesse) brought more than 50 people, musicians, promoters, activists together to found an interest group for jazz in our home state of Hesse. It aims at networking, exchanging information, developing visions for an even more vivid jazz scene within the region (Jazzverband Hessen). The foundation meeting took place as part of the annual Hesse Jazz Podium festival, on the same day that vibraphonist Christopher Dell, born in Darmstadt, was awarded the Hessischer Jazzpreis (Hesse Jazz Award). Once again we were struck by the density of interaction of his trio with bassist Jonas Westergaard and drummer Christian Lillinger. Wolfgang Sandner listened as well (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

The New Jazz Listener

We experienced the lure of "social radio", a radio show on the Clubhouse app that allows its listeners to actively participate in the conversation. Wolfram Knauer was one of three guests for the 2nd anniversary show on 10 December, together with singer Lily Dahab and pianist Bene Appendannier. The music played during the show came from Lonnie Smith, Lily Dahab, Lars Danielsson & Leszek Możdżer, Duke Ellington with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, Christopher Dell with Jonas Westergaard and Christian Lillinger, as well as Etta James (New Jazz Listener). Each track was commented on by the guests as well as by some of the listeners. Bene Appendannier contacted us after the show reminding us of how he visited the Jazzinstitut more than 25 years ago to do research for his thesis on Bill Evans. All jazz is family...

DAzz festival

Arndt Weidler is involved in the coordination of DAzz, an annual festival of all jazz venues in our city. The Jazzinstitut will start the festival with The Clarinet Trio on 13 January 2023 and thus re-start its popular JazzTalk series which we paused for nearly three years due to the pandemic. The Jazzinstitut's concert space will also be the venue for trumpeter Richard Koch and the Kancha Lanka Koalition on 20 January 2023, while the Jazzinstitut invited the Knarf Röllem Archestra and the Woog Riots for "An Evening for Sun Ra" on 22 January 2023 in a cooperation with and at HoffART Theater, Darmstadt (DAzz Festival). Meanwhile our new colleague Marie Härtling is preparing a video installation at the Jazzinstitut's gallery about visions for the future of the different Darmstadt venues. The topic of "future" will be her focus for a whole year of exhibitions, framing the Darmstadt Jazzforum in late September which asks about "The Future of Jazz".

Website

Most of our website is functional again by now. Our Wegweiser Jazz database, however can be used again as well: www.wegweiserjazz.de (however, at the moment the search is in German only).

Current opening hours of the Jazzinstitut

The Jazzinstitut is open to the public by appointment. We also offer 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.

Happy Holidays + plans for 2023

The Jazzinstitut will be closed "between the years". You can reach us again from 2 January 2023.

In case you wonder about our plans for next year:

We will take up our popular JazzTalk concert series after a long pause with The Clarinet Trio in January; with Hank Roberts, Aruan Ortiz, Matt Wilson in March; and with the trio of Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid, Savannah Harris in December; more dates to follow.

We will take part in the Darmstadt-wide DAzz festival from 13-22 January 2023 (see above).

Our exhibitions in 2023 will focus on the topic of future and jazz (see above).

Bassist Robert Lucacio will be in town for the week of 15-20 May for a residency. Lucacio is the winner of the Kathrin Preis which he will receive on 20 May.

The 32nd edition of the Darmstadt Jazz Conceptions workshop will take place from 24-29 July 2022. 

From 27-30 September our 18th Darmstadt Jazzforum conference and festival will discuss "the future of jazz" under the headline "Destination Unknown" (see above).

Our local initiative Förderverein Jazz plans regular concerts from January as well – we eventually will be back to our "concerts every Friday" program at the Jazzinstitut's concert space. The Förderverein Jazz will also revive its Bessunger Jam Session, every last Friday of the month. This will no longer be an open jam session, though, but a moderated one: If you want to be part of the evening, contact the Förderverein directly.

We will stay busy, then. But we are never too busy to find time for you, our customers, for researchers, musicians, fans. Any query you have for us supports us in supporting you!

Now, though, we wish you wonderful holidays, a great new year, happiness, health and – most important these days - peace in 2023. Keep the flame of jazz burning!

Wolfram, Marie, Arndt
the team of the Jazzinstitut

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Jazzinstitut Darmstadt
Bessunger Strasse 88d | 64285 Darmstadt | Germany
The Jazzinstitut is an institution of the City of Sciences Darmstadt | Das Jazzinstitut ist eine Einrichtung der Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt