Thursday, April 21, 2016

News From Jazzinstitut Darmstadt

14 April 2016                                    
Cecil Taylor / Portland, Oregon

Steve Dollar reports about the upcoming show "Open Plan: Cecil Taylor" at the Whitney Museum in New York which will feature several collaborations between Taylor and artists from different genres, talking to Lawrence Kumpf who organized the Whitney event as well as to the filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson who is working on a documentary about Taylor ( Stamford Advocate). Ben Ratliff ( New York Times), Charles J. Gans ( Wall Street Journal) and Seth Colter Walls ( The Guardian) report about the exhibition as well. --- John Rosman and Ann McGarry report about the recently discovered photo collection by Carl J. Henniger who documented jazz musicians visiting Portland, Oregon, in the 1950s, and show some of the previously unknown photos such as one of Dizzy Gillespie playing chess, Ella Fitzgerald as well as Duke Ellington on stage, and Charlie Parker being interviewed backstage ( OPB).

15 April 2016
Steven Lugerner / Steve Holt

Andrew Gilbert talks to the saxophonist Steven Lugerner about his latest project focusing on the music of Jackie McLean, about his fascination with the late saxophonist, as well as about working with the pianist Larry Willis, who made his recording debut on McLean's 1966 album "Right Now!" ( San José Mercury News ). --- Peter Hum talks to the Canadian pianist Steve Holt about how he got into jazz, about studying music at McGill University as well as with Kenny Barron, as well as about his return to music after he had been working in the financial sector for years ( Ottawa Citizen).

16 April 2016                             
San Francisco / New Orleans

Max DeNike reports about the current jazz scene in San Francisco and talks to Pascal Bokar Thiam, the owner of the former Savannah Jazz Club in SF's Mission District, about why there are no jazz clubs left in the city and what exactly led to the closure of his own club, to the publicist Marshall Lamm about the SFJazz performance center and how it is different from the former Fillmore District jazz clubs, to the multi-instrumentalist Adam Theis about the Jazz Mafia music initiative, while also reporting about the closing of other Fillmore venues like Yoshi's, Rassela's and the Church of St. John Coltrane ( SF Weekly). --- Jessica Williams reports about proposals to redevelop five vacant buildings in Louis Armstrong Park (former Congo Square) in New Orleans, among them the partially renovated Perseverance Hall, originally built in 1820 ( The Advocate). Franziska Buhre looks at some historic New Orleans maps and quotes from studies about the city and its impact on jazz ( TAZ Blog).
 
17 April 2016
Courtney Pine / Harry Greene / Bill Ramsey

The British saxophonist Courtney Pine answers questions about inspiration, home, food, practicing, future plans and his iPad being the one gadget he can't live without ( Bury Free Press). In the same paper saxophonist Harry Greene answers questions about his inspiration, favorite leisure activities, future plans, and Stevie Wonder ( Bury Free Press). --- Hans-Jürgen Finger reports about the American-German Bill Ramsey who turns 85 these days, a singer from Cincinnati, Ohio, who came to Germany in 1952 as a GI, worked for AFN radio and as a jazz and blues singer in clubs as the Jazzkeller in Frankfurt, then started a second career recording popular songs and performing in German movies, yet never quite leaving the music he loves best, jazz ( SWR).
 
18 April 2016
Esperanza Spalding / Washington, D.C.

Tamara Best talks to the bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding about the approach to her new album "Emily's D+ Evolution", and quotes the musician on some of the songs on it ( New York Times). --- Perry Stein looks at the rich jazz history of Washington, D.C., and talks to musicians such as Aaron Meyers II, the saxophonist Herb Scott, the restaurant owner Andy Shallal, and the city officials Margaret Singleton and Arthur Espinoza about supporting and thus "saving" the US capital's jazz scene ( Washington Post).

19 April 2016
Aaron Diehl / George Shearing

Peter Tonguette talks to the pianist Aaron Diehl about growing up in Columbus, Ohio, about his teachers and his road into jazz, about the call one day by Wynton Marsalis to go on the road with him, as well as about being aware of his roots ( Columbus Monthly). --- Chris Albertson links to the audio file of an interview he did with the pianist George Shearing in 1958 ( Stomp Off).

20 April 2016
... what else ... und sonst noch ...

Tom Reney sends his regards to the pianist Randy Weston on the occasion of his 90th birthday ( NEPR). --- Anja Katzke reports about a new festival initiated by young musicians in Moers, Germany ( Rheinische Post). --- Alex Ross attended the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee ( The New Yorker). --- Nate Chinen reports about and speaks to the saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill who just was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his album "In for a Penny, In for a Pound" ( New York Times). The Pulitzer announcement can be found here ( Pulitzer). --- Charles J. Gans talks to the pianist Vijay Iyer about his collaboration with the trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and their latest album, "a cosmic rhythm with each stroke" ( The Seattle Times). --- On the eve of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Alex Woodward talks to the trumpeter Christian Scott ( Gambit), Jennifer Odell talks to the drummer Jack DeJohnette ( Gambit), and John Wirt talks to the bassist Brian Quezergue ( Gambit).

Obituaries / Nachrufe

We learned of the passing of the German photographer Erika Rabau ( Der Tagesspiegel).

Last Week at the Jazzinstitut

Last Wednesday we held the 22nd edition of our Darmstadt Music Talks at Galerie Netuschil. The conversation with classical guitarist, composer, musicologist, educator and concert promoter Tilman Hoppstock was announced as "The eight-armed guitarist" and evolved into a lively discussion with the audience ( Darmstädter Musikgespräche). Our local newspaper reports ( Darmstädter Echo).

From this Thursday you can meet us at the annual trade fair jazzahead! in Bremen, Germany. There will be a closed meeting about the project "Jazz for Kids" as well as the meeting of Bundeskonferenz Jazz. There will also be public events we participate in such as a panel discussion on Saturday (23 April 2016, 12:30-2:00pm, Conference Room 1) introducing the jazzstudie2016 which we co-initiated and which will be presented by Thomas Renz from Universität Hildesheim and discussed by Uli Kempendorff of the IG Jazz Berlin, Sebastian Scotney of LondonJazzNews and Urs Röllin of Schweizer Musik Syndikat. Should you happen to be in Bremen this week, say hello!

The 14th volume 14 of our Darmstadt Studies in Jazz Research is at the printers. We expect the 320 page book titled "Gender and Identity in Jazz" on 9 May 2016 ( Wolke Verlag).

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