from jazz@jazzinstitut.de

1 April 2018

                                              

Laura Schuler / Karl Berger

Xymna Engel talks to the Swiss violinist Laura Schuler about her discovery of jazz as an experimental art form, about the many technical possibilities of her instrument, about trying to tell a story in her improvisations, as well as about the use of editing and post-production in her recordings which she sees as being part of her music ( Der Bund). --- Andrian Kreye talks to the German pianist and vibraphonist Karl Berger about having been mentored by Theodor W. Adorno during his student years who warned him not to call jazz an art form, about his friendship and collaboration with Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman, about the motivic focus of Coleman's harmolodics, about the Creative Music Studio which he founded together with his wife Ingrid Sertso in 1973, about the Studio's workshops which are still happening today, as well as about the current wave of young jazz musicians ( Süddeutsche Zeitung ).

3 April 2018

Kiyoshi Koyama / Michael Wollny

Katherine Whatley talks to the Japanese critic Kiyoshi Koyama about his fascination with jazz which started in the early 1950s, listening to jazz shows on the radio and hearing Louis Armstrong live in concert in 1953, about the press conference in 1966 at which he asked John Coltrane what he would like to be in ten years, to which Coltrane replied, "I'd like to be a Saint", about inviting Ornette Coleman to dinner in his Tokyo apartment, about his work for the Japanese periodical Swing Journal and as a producer of box sets, as well as about the current interest in jazz having to do with the fact that the music always was more than entertainment but had a message as well ( Japan Times). --- The German pianist Michael Wollny writes about improvisation as a tool for communication everybody uses every day, about the difference between improvisation and composition, about the Icelandic singer Björk who insists that her songs be incomplete until the last day of recording to keep the possibility of spontaneity, about the best music often being created when he doesn't need to prove anything, about his own approach to performing, as well as about the fact that improvisation always has to pay respect to complexity might be a reason to transfer more of that technique back into real life ( Süddeutsche Zeitung).

4 April 2018

... what else ... 

New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has been allowed to travel to South Africa for a festival performance despite facing criminal charges at home ( Channel 24). — A firefighter died battling a blaze at a film set in the former Harlem club St. Nick's ( The Independent, New York Daily News). — Harun Atmaca talks to the German producer and jazz promoter Uwe Hager ( Giessener Anzeiger). --- Tom Hörner talks to the German saxophonist and entertainer Roland Baisch ( Stuttgarter Zeitung). --- Gabriele M. Knoll talks to the German trumpeter Markus Türk ( Westdeutsche Zeitung). --- Jordannah Elizabeth talks to Heather Ireland Robinson, the first African-American leader of the Chicago Jazz Institute ( Chicago Reader). --- Danny Hakim reports about the economic problems of legendary guitar maker Gibson ( New York Times). --- Mary Jo Winter talks to the pianist Greg Hester ( The Press-Democrat). --- George Varga talks to the saxophonist Branford Marsalis ( San Diego Union-Tribune).

Obituaries

We read another obituary about the composer and musicologist Olly Wilson who had died two weeks ago at the age of 80 ( New Music USA). --- We learned of the passing of the double bassist Buell Neidlinger at the age of 82 ( The Blue Moment, 06880, New York Times, NPR), the German trombonist Dick Simon at the age of 88, the pianist Donnie Heitler at the age of 81 ( Smile Politely, The News-Gazette), the German pianist Hermann Keller at the age of 72 ( Der Tagesspiegel), as well as the Swiss author and saxophonist Jürg Laederach at the age of 72 ( Die Welt).