Jazz & the City: Identity of a Capital of Jazz

The notion of a Capital of Jazz is often derived from past achievements, used for present commercial purposes. The proposed project aims to reveal the current identity of Graz, the so-called capital of jazz in Austria, by means of arts-based research methods. The project involves the design of speculative jazz theories for the creation of new works, which are able to express authenticity and identity in relation to the local communities in Graz and other cities. The project is based on the experience in arts-based research at the institute for jazz at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz and current thought in new jazz studies at the institute for jazz research concerning the European trend towards glocalization in jazz, a concept that describes the formation of local identities by means of transformations and acculturations of the globalized language of jazz. The project represents a specialized study in the field of arts-based research in relation to the cultural identity of Graz and will add new knowledge regarding the international scientific project Rhythm Changes: Jazz Cultures and European Identities, which is financed by the European Union (HERA). The institute for jazz research serves as one of the principal investigators of this large research project. The city of Graz appears as the ideal location for the proposed project due to the high quality and quantity regarding jazz activities and due to its reasonable size and population. Arts-based research has traditionally played a vital role at the institutes for jazz and jazz research, which offer the necessary expertise and infrastructure. Jazz has been recognized as a primary area within the university, which will contribute towards the international visibility of the project. The Artist in Residence Program at the institute for jazz, which is unique in Europe, will offer the collaboration with international high-profile jazz artists. The personal connections of the institute`s faculty members will contribute towards the input by local and international concert promoters and their audience. The internationally active research team comprises one practice-based researcher, one research-based artist and one artist. They will design and conduct a series of arts-based activities that will be documented and analysed. One of the main goals of the project involves the creation of a speculative jazz theory that is capable of conveying the `sound` of the jazz capital of Graz regarding musical and context-based aspects. In relation to the HERA-project, which focuses on national comparisons, the proposed activities will allow conclusions regarding concepts of local identities, stereotypes and representations of culture. The methodical background is formed by a combination of analytical techniques in music, which have been developed at the institute for jazz research; qualitative methods in social sciences, such as interviews and questionnaires; composition and improvisation workshops; performance series and a jazz composition competition. All research results including the final report will be published in the internationally well-established journals Jazzforschung/ Jazz Research and Jazz Research News, at national and international jazz conferences and at public talks and discussions as part of the performance series.

The arts-based research project Jazz & the City: Identity of a Capital of Jazz focussed on the investigation of the current identity of Graz as a city of jazz by means of a mix of artistic and scientific research methods. The methodic framework was formed through the combination of the artistic expertise at the Institute for Jazz and the scientific competences at the Institute for Jazz Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (KUG). This collaboration has enhanced the significance of jazz for the local cultural life and signifies the academic focus on jazz in the city of Graz to an international community of music researchers and artists. In the course of 20 workshops and 288 local as well as international concert performances partly in collaboration with international visiting artists in residence various traditions in jazz were connected to the individual artistic identities of members of the Graz jazz scene and artistically developed in a large number of new compositions and improvisational concepts. Selected case studies and the theorization of the newly developed artistic methods regarding the expression of identity are published (or currently in preparation for publication) in various journals in the field of jazz studies and artistic research. A large monograph on the history of jazz in Graz from 1965 (the year of the academic implementation of jazz in Graz) up to the current date depicts the historical and socio-cultural background of most jazz activities in Graz. This book will be published in 2015 in the well known series Beiträge zur Jazzforschung / Studies in Jazz Research. Further research results were disseminated on CD recordings and national and international conferences. Moreover, the wider, non-specialist public was addressed through presentations at events supported by the Austrian Ministery for Science and Research such as 'Lange Nacht der Forschung' and 'Science Talk', and in public media outlets such as Austria's national radio Ö1 and the magazine Grazetta.The project was designed as a case study with a focus on local developments in order to complement the large HERA-funded initiative Rhythm Changes, which compared various international jazz scenes. The exchange of methodical concepts and research results between these two projects was facilitated in international conferences and joint publications.