19th Darmstadt Jazzforum (September 25 to 28, 2025)
Jazz, spirituality and the Blues of good life – Call for Proposals
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.
Call for participation to the Darmstadt Jazzforum 2025
We invite musicians, scientists, promoters, journalists, music teachers, and all beyond who are interested, to submit their contributions. Beside the traditional lectures, all kind of alternative formats of presentation and interdisciplinary methods to approach 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.
Ways to submit
- Written proposals: Please submit a one-page abstract, which presents the objective and the reference to the topic of the Jazzforum.
- Sound and/or video contributions: Alternatively, other forms are conceivable (max five minutes). Contribution must highlight concisely the content reference and the integration of the contribution in the Jazzforums subject.
Details of submission
- deadline: January 15, 2025
- Submissions via email to jazzforum@jazzinstitut.de
Questions or need for support, please address:
Bettina Bohle, E-Mail: bohle@jazzinstitut.de oder
Arndt Weidler, ph. +49 6151 963744, e-mail: weidler@jazzinstitut.de
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
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