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.
Das Jazzforum 2025, das vom 24. bis 28. September in Darmstadt stattfindet, wird unter dem von Alice Coltrane inspirierten Titel „Universal Consciousness – Jazz, Spiritualität und der Blues des guten Lebens“ historische und aktuelle (künstlerische) Reflexionen beleuchten.
Read more: In our Jazzforum blog, we collect loose thoughts on spirituality, jazz and possible questions on the subject, but also try to write regularly about the progress of the event and special formats planned during the 19th Darmstadt Jazzforum.
Feel invited of being part of the Darmstadt Jazzforum 2025
Musicians, academics, event organizers, journalists, music educators and other interested parties were invited to submit contributions to the 19th Darmstadt Jazz Forum until Januar 25, 2025. In addition to traditional lectures, alternative formats such as lecture performances, interactive discussion rounds (e.g. World Cafés, Fish Bowl) and interdisciplinary approaches are welcome.
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 visiting 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
Diversity
We would like to encourage specifically people from underrepresented groups in jazz and improvised music to submit. These proposals are given special priority.
No barriers
We strive for all venues and formats to be accessible to all. If you require support for submission or participation, please contact us.
Potential subjects and questions of the conference:
- Escapism vs inwardness: Music as a withdrawal or universal conciousness?
- spirituality and self-discovery: Do jazz musicians use spiritual concepts to self-discovery as withdrawal or to express themselves?
- utopia and spirituality - afrofuturism and beyond: Sun Ra's visions and their proceedings today. What's the "new thinking" in jazz today?
- Music and spirituality in different religions
- religious musical practices in jazz: The influence of spirituals, gospel, and their modern forms.
- jazz as a transcultural bridge
- what means spirituality for non-religious musicians?
- Improvisation and the presence of "NOW"
- flow, interaction and collective creation
- "band-spirit" and the meaning of rituals in improvisation
- Streaming and alternative ways of encounter
- creativity and new formats
- isolation and its consequences
- rituals in jazz and new ways of self-care