Jazz Roots and Relevance

Posted on June 27, 2011 by koojchuhan

Jazz Roots and Relevance by Lifting The Lid
6.15pm (90 mins), Monday 25th July, Manchester Jazz Festival’s Pavilion Teepee, Albert Square, Manchester
A lively and provocative discussion session about the roots of jazz – what resonance does it still have today for the issues which shaped its emergence – namely Black consciousness? – what exactly is its relevance today for both players and audiences from a multitude of backgrounds across the globe?

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6 Responses to Jazz Roots and Relevance

  1. Tony says:
    July 25, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    I’ve just got back from the stimulating discussion, and would like to thank all for making it happen. One thing we didn’t get time to talk about though was what was supposed to be one of the main themes, namely the relevance of Black consciousness to jazz musicians and fans today, and the wider relevance of jazz to today’s society.

    Maybe we could discuss these topics here?

    Reply
    • koojchuhan says:
      July 26, 2011 at 11:57 am

      Hi Tony,
      Thanks for the comment. You’re right to an extent, that and a number of other areas just did did not have time to get aired properly and there was a feeling among many I spoke to that we need a set of linked discussions to take place – and any suggestions towards this would be welcome. That said, I think a lot of what was said continually nudged on the key theme in that each member of the panel had varying takes of their own current relationship to the original black consciousness of jazz. The wider relevance of jazz in its generality was not stated as the topic and I think its a worthwhile can of worms to open up, but one of the things emerging from the talk was also what do we actually mean by “Jazz” and its stylistic, conceptual, social and cultural variants and this in itself may be worthy of discussion before a question about wider relevance can be usefully thrown about.

      Reply
  2. win says:
    July 27, 2011 at 3:43 am

    Thanks again: it was a very powerful idea to make this happen and a lot came out of it. It far exceeded my already high expectations. It was particularly good to structure the panel’s contributions around specific tracks ‘cos after all it is the music that’s central.
    Racism is such a hot and difficult topic, like sexism, and it was brilliant that discussions were started on both in such a generous and tolerant way on Monday. But as you say this is just the start.

    I agree with both Kooj and Tony that there are lots of separate but related discussions to be had. My fear about online forums is that in the absence of face-to-face presence they do seem to get extreme and even sometimes vicious, so I’d love to see some more live events. Ideally with music.

    Reply

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