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| 9th Darmstadt Jazzforum, September 29th to October 2nd 2005 Jazz always resisted being pigeonholed: Some thought it to be the popular music of the 1930s and basis for many later styles in popular music, for others it was art music and as thus an alternative to the commercial aspects of popular music. Jazz musicians always had to live with this split identity of their music, they had to reflect it, but they also could make use of it for their own purposes. At the 9th Darmstadt Jazzforum we want to look at different aspects of this relationship between jazz and popular music. We will discuss some basic questions (What makes music popular?), we will look at historical facts (Where and when did jazz and popular music split and how did the relationship between the two develop thereafter?), we will ask about the economic situation jazz is being played and produced in (for instance about the influence of record labels), we will discuss current tendencies (young jazz musicians who consciously make use of popular music idioms) and aesthetic questions (Jazz as art music, the suspicious sides of commercial success). As always at our Darmstadt Jazzforum we have invited historians, musicologists, sociologists, as well as musicians to approach the topic from different sides. Among the speakers are: Diedrich Diederichsen, Andreas Felber, Fabian Holt, Andrew Hurley, Peter Kemper, Wolfram Knauer, Paul W. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky), Martin Pfleiderer, Jürgen Schwab, Frithjof Strauß, Colin Towns and others. All papers will be given either in German or English, no simultaneous translation is being provided. If you want to attend, thus, you should have a general knowledge of the German language. The conference from September 29th to October 1st, 2005 is public and free and can be attended without prior registration. The conference is held at the conference hall of the Darmstadt Literaturhaus, the former John-F.-Kennedy-Haus (Kasinostrasse 3). Part of the conference will be a panel discussion with colleagues from jazz business — agents, media people, producers. They will discuss their own experiences in producing and marketing jazz and the problems with the term “jazz” as a sales factor, with the tendencies of (especially German) listeners to pidgenhole musical tastes. The Darmstadt Jazzforum will also feature an ensemble workshop with legendary bassist Henry Grimes at the jazz lounge “dasStella”. And it will present an exhibition with drawings and paintings by Tony Munzlinger at three locations: Centralstation (during the evening concerts), Literaturhaus (during the conference) and the newly established “Galerie im Jazzinstitut” (from October 4th). No jazz conference would be complete without live music. And thus we will deal with the topic of the Jazzforum in musical terms during three evening concerts at Centralstation and Bessunger Knabenschule, featuring, among others the NDR Big Band under the direction of Colin Towns featuring british singer Norma Winstone, the Henry Grimes Trio with David Murray and Hamid Drake, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, as well as the Dutch band Palinckx and AUTOFAB from Germany. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |