Jazz in Europe: Networking and Negotiating Identities

Description

Should we talk of European jazz or jazz in Europe? What kinds of networks link those who make it happen 'on the ground'? What challenges do they have to face? Jazz is a part of the cultural fabric of many of the European countries. Jazz in Europe: Networking and Negotiating Identities presents jazz in Europe as a complex arena, where the very notions of cultural identity, jazz practices and Europe are continually being negotiated against an ever changing social, cultural, political and economic environment. The book gives voice to musicians, promoters, festival directors, educators and researchers regarding the challenges they are faced with in their everyday practices. Jazz identities in Europe result from the negotiation between discourse and practice and in the interstices between the formal and informal networks that support them, as if 'Jazz' and 'Europe' were blank canvases where diversified notions of what jazz and Europe should or could be are projected.

Jose Dias is Senior Lecturer in Music at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, and a jazz researcher, documentarist, composer and musician. He has developed research on European jazz and music for screen and has scored music for theatre, contemporary dance and film.

In its focus on networks of musicians and supporting institutions in Europe, Jose Dias's book is a unique contribution to jazz studies. Using ethnographic methods and drawing on his own extensive connections forged as a musician and researcher, Dias touches some of the central themes of 'The European Project,' such as whether there exists a European cultural identity. At the same time, the book offers a skillful critique of received narratives that have tended to view jazz as an American import. Supported by engaged dialogue with interlocutors, it is a timely intervention into broadly relevant debates. * Frederick Moehn, Senior Lecturer of Music, King's College London, UK * This remarkable work offers a great deal to consider for students of jazz, of musical scenes and of the culture at large in the context of late capitalism. It is theoretically savvy at the same time as it documents peripheral - but in every sense important - music making in contemporary Europe. Highly recommended. * Gabriel Solis, Chair and Professor of Musicology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA *