Some further thoughts on the topic of the 17th Darmstadt Jazzforum
12 August 2020:
As if he read our call for papers, Ethan Iverson has devoted one of his latest blog entries to a discussion of Eurocentric perspectives in music and has linked to some of his own earlier posts relevant to the subject (Do the Math). Iverson gives one aspect of what we are interested in to discuss at our conference in the fall of 2021. Norman Lebrecht highlights another aspect, explaining details of a current debate regarding the music theorist Heinrich Schenker and music theory “historically rooted in white supremacy” (Slipped Disc). Jacqueline Warwick discusses how music education in the USA is dominated by a focus on Western European art music, summarizes the Schenker discussion, and asks for music programs that are relevant to actual musicians wanting a higher education (The Conversation). Finally, we read Howard Reich’s tribute to Charlie Parker’s upcoming centennial in which the author uses a number of cliches, first comparing Bird’s impact on music to Mozart, Chopin and Gershwin, then referring to him (and the others named) as “revolutionaries” (Chicago Tribune).
At our conference, we might ask whether such cliches informed by a “genius” aesthetic the roots of which can be found in 19th century Europe do the music any justice. These, though, are just some of the topics we might talk about at the Darmstadt Jazzforum next year, and in the next editions of JazzNews we will provide further examples of where Eurocentric perspectives shape our view of jazz. In all of this, we are interested in a leveled discussion about the subject, not in a demonization of the European perspective. We are looking to discuss the reality, then, in which power structures, both within the industry and the aesthetic discourse, have favored a specific worldview, and how artists, scholars, critics and fans have developed different levels of awareness for this reality. We have issued a Call for Papers (deadline: 31 December 2020) and are looking forward to diverse approaches, perspectives and proposals.
26 August 2020:
“Eurocentrism in Jazz”? … some more thoughts
At the Jazzinstitut, we continue to discuss the topic of our next Darmstadt Jazzforum conference, while the first proposals for papers, panels and artistic interventions are already arriving. One of the subjects about “Eurocentism” we discuss, for instance, is how the Goethe-Institut has been using jazz as an example of German musical discourse since the early 1960s, and how that official seal of approval has changed the self-image of many musicians who partook in Goethe tours over the years. We like to speak of jazz as (Afro-)America’s biggest gift to the world, precisely because it is so inclusive, asking musicians from everywhere to add their own personal influences to the mix. Yet, what if the acception of this invitation is overdone to the extent that the African American origins of the music are being neglected? Do we, then, need a constant reminder of the roots of jazz? Isn’t it enough that jazz as a musical language to this day inspires so many young musicians in their creativity? Might this be a question of respect vs freedom of the arts, freedom from the need to refer to traditions, that is. Or, to get back to the Goethe example: If there is a form of jazz that is being sold as a German art form, do we meet our responsibility of respecting the musical idiom as an originally African American art form? Are we at all aware of the appropriation process that happened during the global spread of jazz?
While we invite historical papers for our Jazzforum conference that look at how jazz has earned the status it holds today, we also hope for panel discussions and musical interventions offering artists’ perspectives on the subject. Let us know what you think. We are happy for any suggestions! The deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020.
9 September 2020
“Eurocentrism in Jazz?”(!)
It’s a bit like when you buy a new car and suddenly see the same model or color everywhere even though you never noticed it before. Since we started announcing the subject of next year’s Darmstadt Jazzforum conference, “Eurocentrism in Jazz”, we realize the many different perspectives this topic involves. One recent reminder was an exhibition shown at Frankfurt’s Museum for Applied Arts, called “German Museum for Black Entertainment and Black Music”. Kurt Cordsen talks to Anta Helena Recke, one of the curators, about the idea behind the exhibition which focuses on stereotypes about black people in the German entertainment industry and the narrative they informed (BR, DMfSUuBM).
Giovanni Russonello’s New York Times essay about jazz as protest music, on the other hand, is an example of how political jazz (music? the arts?) may have become once more in the current political climate in the United States. However, after reading Russonello’s piece, Michael Rüsenberg points out that there are other perspectives on what jazz stands for. We summarized all of this in our entry on “protest music” above (6 September).
Like the (short-lived, so far) German Museum for Black Entertainment and Black Music, the focus on jazz as a political tool has implications that are both based in the music’s history as an African American art form and a European understanding of art pointing to something beyond what can be seen, heard, read, an ulterior purpose, motive, or goal. The differences are deep, and they are far from just being cultural. “Community building”, for instance, has far more importance in a country that depends on market and self-responsibility when it comes to the wellbeing of its citizens than is the case in a social welfare system. Art reflects reality: thus, let us analyze, not judge (!) what influence the manifold Eurocentric perspectives have had on the reception and the development of jazz both in its understanding as an African-American and a creative world music.
If you’ve followed our short introductions to what the Darmstadt Jazzforum might be about, you already recognize the diversity of possible topics. But it’s up to you, as well:
— Call for papers —
We invite you to send us proposals for papers, panels, artistic interventions that look at any of these (or other) topics from your perspective. We also ask you to share our Call for Papers with others interested, colleagues, artists, journalists, activists. We will (within limits) be able to help with travel expenses. The deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020.
23 September 2020
“From the New World”?
Ever heard of George Bridgetower? Chances are you haven’t. Well, he was a virtuoso violinist whom Ludwig van Beethoven originally dedicated one of his most famous pieces to which later became known as the Kreutzer Sonate. Patricia Morrisroe tells the story of Bridgetower, born in Poland to a father of African descent and a German-Polish mother, who lived in Mainz with his parents for a while, and soon, managed by his father and billed as a “young Negro of the Colonies” performed a violin concerto in Paris in 1789. In 1803 he met Beethoven in Vienna who then dedicated his “Mulatto sonata composed for the mulatto Bridgetower, great lunatic and mulatto composer”, a decication he took back after Bridgetower purportedly made a rude commend about a woman the composer admired. Beethoven later dedicated the piece to the French violinist Rudolphe Kreutzer who, though, never played it. You can read Morrisroe’s fascinating story here (New York Times).
So what does this have to do with jazz? Well, it is an early example of a different kind of Eurocentrism which we will be discussing at the 17th Darmstadt Jazzforum conference in October 2021. While Eurocentrism can easily be seen as a term describing a racist worldview, one might more easily understand it as a worldview of “I explain the world by what I see and know”. Beethoven’s decision to change the dedication of his sonata probably had nothing to do with Eurocentrism or racism. But the fact that George Bridgetower was completely forgotten, even though he had admirers in the highest circles of the classical world,has to do with a view on history that tends to write the story of the male hero, bot not his female, Black, gay, lesbian or in whatever other way “different” colleague.
Oh, and while we’re at classical music, Zachary Woolfe and Joshua Barone asked conductors, musicians and arts managers about the problems of blind auditions and talk about how difficult it is to guarantee diversity in American orchestras (New York Times). It’s a discussion also about cultural access, about extramusical meanings of music, about the need to claim quotas, but also for a diversification of the repertoire. How about a diversification of approaches, though, one might ask. The sound, the hierarchic structure, the whole concept of the classical orchestra is one deeply connected to a European concept. There are ensembles meanwhile that have tried to change those structures, string quartets playing without music in front of them, wind ensembles performing standing instead of sitting, ensembles which shift the responsibility for a conductor from a real one (in front of the orchestra) to ensemble members and much more. We are, remember, still talking about classical music. We are, though, also talking about performance practices much more connected to jazz and improvised music. Changing performance approaches might support efforts to get away from those Eurocentric conventions. Whether the result is great music… depends on the musicians. However, why not challenge traditions for a more diverse future?
— Call for papers —
We invite you to send us proposals for papers, panels, artistic interventions that look at any of these (or other) topics from your perspective. We also ask you to share our Call for Papers with others interested, colleagues, artists, journalists, activists. We will (within limits) be able to help with travel expenses. The deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020.
7 October 2020
“Eurocentrism”: a problematic term…
If jazz was a gift to the world, as is often said, and if the music literally demands of anybody playing it to “play themselves”, i.e. to add their own cultural influences to the idiom, how does such a mix of information, attitudes and approaches influence the discourse about the music? If jazz still functions as a tool for identification within the African American (arts) community, how do we deal with the fact that the music has become part of a global music industry, less controlled by community than commercial ideals, or with the fact that jazz has been adopted by many national or regional scenes around the world as a valid idiom for the local artists’ expressive needs? “Eurocentrism” is a loaded term, often linked to cultural dominance and a colonialist past. Is it possible to talk about it more neutrally, as an account of reality, of an artistic discourse that jazz has been part of since the early 20th century, not as a moral but a descriptive instance?
— Call for papers —
Those are questions we will ask at the 17th Darmstadt Jazzforum conference, to be held 30 September – 2 October 2021. We invite you to send us proposals for papers, panels, artistic interventions that look at any of these (or other) topics from your perspective. We also ask you to share our Call for Papers with others interested, colleagues, artists, journalists, activists. We will (within limits) be able to help with travel expenses. The deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020
21 October 2020:
Musical Gentrification
Kai Bartol writes about “musical gentrification” in The Michigan Daily, asking how jazz became popular with a white audience in the US while at the same time the musical innovators were never granted a proper place in their society. He talks to cultural historian Ed Sarath about differences in the reception of Black music depending on whether one is part of the African American community or not. “The Eurocentric framework”, says Sarath, “that governs how music is taught in schools works to whitewash Black music and separates it from its Black roots.”
Food for thought, and another aspect of the topic of the 17th Darmstadt Jazzforum conference, to be held 30 September – 2 October 2021. (More aspects from quite different perspectives were mentioned in our last newsletters, and you can find them all on the Jazzforum’s webpage linked to below.) We invite you to send us proposals for papers, panels, artistic interventions that look at any of these (or other) topics from your perspective. We also ask you to share our Call for Papers with others interested, colleagues, artists, journalists, activists. We will (within limits) be able to help with travel expenses. The deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020.
4 November 2020:
“Decolonization”
Due to Covid-19 the 2020 Summer Courses for Contemporary Music (Ferienkurse für Neue Musik) in Darmstadt had to be canceled (postponed until next year), but our colleagues have started a podcast series of dialogues between artists about a variety of subjects. The latest of them has the Chinese-born composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and performer Du Yun converse with the composer Raven Chacon about their joined opera production “Sweet Land”, but also about current discussions on “decolonizing” contemporary music a term Chacon calls “overused” in conferences or concert series because the topic is much more complex. He argues that “an indigenous artist or a minoritized artist does not want to be the text book to a group of people about their own history. What would be interesting or what could be appealing is, if one gets asked: Well, tell us your thoughts on time, tell us your thoughts on spacialization of sound, or tell us your thoughts on audible sounds, or tell us your thoughts on … whatever: frequency, light, universe” [from 49:08], to which Du Yun replies that many of these factors are still being looked upon from a Eurocentric perspective, but they who come from other traditions might not see it that way (Ferienkurse Darmstadt). All of which is a call for respect to other views of the world, a respect that should be reflected in the words we use as well, or at least in an awareness for how we use words and how they are or could be understood.
Food for thought, and another aspect of the topic of the 17th Darmstadt Jazzforum conference, to be held 30 September – 2 October 2021. (More aspects from quite different perspectives were mentioned in our last newsletters, and you can find them all on the Jazzforum’s webpage linked to below.) We invite you to send us proposals for papers, panels, artistic interventions that look at any of these (or other) topics from your perspective. We also ask you to share our Call for Papers with others interested, colleagues, artists, journalists, activists. We will (within limits) be able to help with travel expenses. The deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020.
18. November 2020:
“Afro Modernism in Contemporary Music”
The Frankfurt-based Ensemble Modern organized a symposium about “Afro-Modernism in Contemporary Music” which focused on contemporary composition. However, as that field is currently being redefined itself (as are other genres, including jazz), the conference made a lot of points that might be relevant for the Darmstadt Jazzforum as well, planned for October 2021.
The participants, among them the symposium’s initiator George E. Lewis in conversation with Harald Kisiedu, talked about the fact that just because a certain repertoire of music is not being heard, programmed, or curated doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Another aspect discussed was the labeling of music which usually tends to be exclusive, or as one of the commentators in the live-chat summarized: “The obsession with definition is an attempt to control and erase.” And yet, George Lewis explains that he continues to use a label such as “contemporary classical music”, however he will not accept that this term is only applied to a pan-European music idea. Realizing faults at programming, he suggests, can be a chance, an opportunity to get to know other music, composers or musicians, other perspectives. The Frankfurt symposium can be re-viewed online (Ensemble Modern).
During the summer, George E. Lewis also took part in a panel about “Decolonizing the Curating Discourse in Europe”, and in his opening statement he summarizes possible steps for opening up the concert and festival repertoire, emphasizing that the mental envelop of what he calls creolization might “allow contemporary music to move beyond its Eurocentric conception of musical identities towards becoming a true world music, and by Eurocentric I don’t mean ‘Eurological’ [a term coined by Lewis himself and juxtaposed to ‘afrological’] (…) The Eurocological could become a part of decolonization; Eurocentric: never. Simplistic, hegemonic, closed, and ethnically essentialist” (21:05-20:40). (Academy of Arts, complete statement from 5:30 to 23:30).
Again, watching these panels, we realize how many of such aspects might be discussed at the 17th Darmstadt Jazzforum conference as well, to be held 30 September – 2 October 2021. (Other aspects from quite different perspectives were mentioned in our last newsletters, and you can find them all on the Jazzforum’s webpage linked to below.) We invite you to send us proposals for papers, panels, artistic interventions that look at any of these (or other) topics from your perspective. We also ask you to share our Call for Papers with others interested, colleagues, artists, journalists, activists. We will (within limits) be able to help with travel expenses. The current deadline for all proposals is: 30 November 2020; there may be an extension to the deadline until the end of the year; we will report about that in our next newsletter.
2. December 2020
What about cultural appropriation?
In a recent article the German journalist Georg Spindler argues that “music does not belong to anybody, it is free” (Mannheimer Morgen). Cultural appropriation, he writes, can also be understood as progress, for which argument he cites examples from classical music to jazz. He then focuses on debates in the USA about “whites” having taken “everything but the burden” from the Black community (quoting a book title by writer Greg Tate). Using music from other cultures as a starting point for the creative process is not plagiarism, though, says Spindler, but a usual cultural practice. One aspect Spindler neglects in his argument is that any material “borrowed” from other cultures should always be used with respect to their origin, and that once we use material from other cultures, it will automatically mix with our own aesthetic approach, thus, we should be aware that our growing familiarity with such material might make us transfer our own aesthetic values back to the source material and its culture.
The Ministery for Sciences and the Arts of the State of Hesse and Darmstadt – City of Sciences support heimat@jazzinstitut 2022 
The album “Dreams To Come” comes just at the right time, countering the difficult and complex times that lie behind us with optimism and activism. “I see music at the heart of society. I believe that creativity is the means by which you can master upheavals and with which life becomes even more livable and colorful.”
Willisau is a small Swiss town in the center of Europe. It is also the place where the pioneering international jazz avant-garde has been meeting since the mid-1960s.
