Book release panel: The History of European Jazz – The Music, Musicians and Audience in Context

In the course of almost a century, European jazz musicians not only produced a corpus of work worthy of much wider appreciation, but also adopted strategies to adapt to the varied reception that the music evoked, which ranged from joyful acceptance to outright prohibition, the latter often involving survival and protest in equal measure. As the first organic overview of the history of jazz in Europe, and covering the subject from its inception to the present day, „The History of European Jazz – The Music, Musicians and Audience in Context“ (Edited by Francesco Martinelli)“ provides a unique, authoritative addition to the musicological literature.
Entries are written in a narrative style and are presented on a country-by-country basis. Each article is authored by a jazz history specialist from the specific country who contextualizes the music in the cultural landscape of that country, discussing the most influential figures of its development, and referencing the sometimes considerable literature available in the national language. This unprecedented pool of authors makes much of this information available in English for the first time. Further chapters cover related subjects: the history of African-American entertainers before jazz, the cross-national traditions of Gypsy and Jewish music, festivals, films, and avant-garde music. The book also draws on the newly available resources created by the extensive work being done nationally by various jazz archives. Chapters contain in-depth bibliographies, rare photographs and illustrations, and suggested listening lists.

The Panel:

Francesco Martinelli: Jazz Promoter, Journalist, Lecturer and Author, an Anthony-Braxton-Scholar from Pisa, in Italy, nominated for the 2019 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.

Andreas Felber: Jazz Promoter, Journalist, Editor with ÖRF and University Proofreader. Associated with Institute of Popular Music of the Vienna University of Music.

Vid Jeraj: Music Writer with HDS/Croatian Composers Society, Musician, Writer and Slam Poetry Performer. Published novelist, Lecturer on Džezologija – a synthesis of jazz and literature (dOCUMENTA, LJF). Radio Editor and Journalist.