And the Twitter hashtag conference is #salfordjazz13. Join the conversation!

In 2012, Rhythm Changes commissioned Paul Floyd Blake to produce a photography exhibition based on his experiences and impressions of three leading European jazz festivals. As the 2009 Taylor-Wessing National Portrait Photography Prizewinner, Floyd Blake has gained critical acclaim for his unique studies of identity and place, and his work often seeks to challenge existing photographic practice.

The brief from the Rhythm Changes team was simple: Floyd Blake was to present an impression of music and its relationship to place in three international festival settings and to capture aspects of festival life that were either unique, counterintuitive or which captured a sense of social ambience. Rather than capturing shots of musicians on stage, we invited Floyd Blake to explore jazz from different perspectives, from the views of audiences to examinations of festival settings.

The resulting collection of 30 images on display at CUBE encourages the viewer to rethink their relationship to jazz and consider the role music plays in very different festival, and social, contexts. Click here for more images and to read Floyd Blake”s reaction to the commission.

Paul Floyd Blake’s “Rethinking Jazz” runs from 5 – 14 April at CUBE Gallery in Manchester.

Some RC-ers will be interested in this call for papers for both a conference and a special issue of the journal The Soundtrack, on the theme of jazz and cinema.

Call for Papers

The conference will gather academic scholars and others with an interest in the relationship between jazz and cinema from across a range of disciplines.

Possible themes could include:

• • Analysis of the use of pre-existing jazz recordings to soundtrack films
  • Analysis of purpose-made jazz soundtracks
  • The social implications of the use of jazz in cinema
  • The historical development of jazz in cinema
  • Jazz musicians on the screen, an exploration of jazz musicians appearances in film

Other topics around the broader theme of Jazz & Cinema are also invited for submission.

We are delighted to confirm our keynote speaker will be Dr Nicolas Pillai from Warwick University. Dr Pillai is currently researching jazz in British film and television, as well as teaching more widely on music and visual culture. He has given papers on European jazz culture as an invited speaker at the National Jazz Archive and at Rollins College, Florida.

Selected papers from the conference will be published in The Soundtrack special issue on jazz and cinema in 2014.

Please send an abstract of 300 words and a short bio to jazzandcinema@gmail.com.

Deadline for abstract submission: 1st June 2013.

Successful submissions will be notified no later than 1st July 2013.

Further information about the conference is available here.

On July 2, 2012, the Institute for Jazz Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Franz Kerschbaumer organized a one-day symposium, in cooperation with the Music Information Center Austria (MICA) through their representative Helge Hinteregger and held on MICA’s premises as part of Jazz Fest Wien. Entitled “Jazz in the Austrian Cultural Landscape”, the symposium dealt with the role and importance of jazz in Austria, with jazz experts from different fields of the current jazz scene presenting their views on the topic. A round table discussion concluded the event.

The symposium was opened by Rhythm Changes project associate Christa Bruckner-Haring (KUG), who presented an overview of the research project, including its main aims and contents. Michael Kahr (KUG) talked about the Graz research project Jazz & the City: Identität einer Jazz(haupt)stadt [Identity of a jazz capital], also anchored at the KUG Institute for Jazz Research. Fritz Thom, a concert and festival organizer since decades and founder of the agency Live Performance Service (LPS), in his talk “Entwicklung der Jazzfestivals in Österreich und Positionierung im internationalen Kontext” [Development of jazz festivals in Austria and positioning within an international context] offered insight into the organization of jazz events and successful jazz festivals such as “Jazzfest Wiesen”, “Jazzfestival Hollabrunn” and “Jazz Fest Wien”. The next speaker, Ines Dominik – a vocalist and teacher at the Konservatorium Wien University and KUG, as well as a freelance journalist – discussed her view of the current role of jazz and the situation of jazz musicians (principally of the younger generation), including personal experiences, in her lecture “Stimmiger Jazz” [Harmonious jazz]. Researcher and music journalist Andreas Felber covered jazz in the media, claiming “Und sie existiert doch: Mediale Berichterstattung über Jazz in Österreich” [And still it exists: media coverage of jazz in Austria]. Although Felber sees a decline in jazz coverage in traditional media (television, radio, and print media) in recent years, he emphasized the importance of recognizing the quality reportage on jazz in radio and newspapers that does still exist. The second lecture session started with musician, composer and label owner Christoph Pepe Auer, who told the story of “Session Work Records: Ein Jazzlabel aus Österreich” [A jazz label from Austria] – why he began his own label and how he managed to build it into a successful company in a rather short period of time. Musician and university professor Heinrich von Kalnein (KUG) focussed in his presentation”Universal Codes: Zur Situation des österreichischen Jazz aus universitärer Sicht” [The situation of Austrian jazz from an academic point of view] on Austrian jazz education, specifically university teachers and students.

The final round table discussion included Christoph Pepe Auer, Ines Dominik, Andreas Felber, Heinrich von Kalnein, and Paul Zauner, a musician, jazz promoter and label owner, and was dedicated to the question: Does an Austrian identity in jazz exist? In the debate with the audience it became clear that very different opinions exist in this matter: Some believed that Austrian jazz does indeed have its own identity, defined by the playing style(s) of Austrian musicians and useful for promotional purposes. Some, on the other hand, saw no evidence for such an identity, and still others saw no musical or promotional advantage in the idea of a national identity, considering the country’s shadowed past and the problematic nature of nationalistic ideas.

The different perspectives of the invited jazz experts helped frame an overall picture of the role and position of jazz in Austria during the one-day symposium; when the subject of national identity arose, the very different viewpoints of Austrian jazz experts and jazz enthusiasts came to light. Altogether, the results of the symposium are important not only for the Austrian project results, but also form a significant part of the overall Rhythm Changes project outcomes and comparisons with the partner countries.

Rhythm Changers Tony Whyton, George McKay, and Walter van de Leur, joined by Tony Higgins and Tim Wall will take care of two days of jazz and pop film viewings at the POPID Conference, January 29-February 2. See the programme here and register here.