Aims

In line with the current research topics in European humanities research, including the aforementioned HERA-study, the proposed project aims to represent a case study regarding the role of jazz in the formation of identity within the society of Graz. As opposed to the purely scientific approach and comparative national accounts of the larger HERA-project, the proposed project aims to provide a combination of arts-based and research-led data from Graz. Furthermore, it aims to combine the high expertise of both institutes of the jazz cluster (jazz and jazz research) in Graz within a single, collaborative project.

The project comprises five primary goals:

1               Historical investigation and documentation of jazz in Graz since its academic implementation in the 1960s, with a particular emphasis on identity by considering the balance between inherited and idiosyncratic forms of musical expression.

2               Examination of several case studies regarding contemporary forms of expressions of identity in the music of national and international jazz artists currently based in Graz.

3               Establishment of several arts-based workshops and aesthetic ‘playgrounds’ regarding the expression of inheritance and identity in new works of jazz to be created in Graz.

4               Establishment of a speculative jazz theory regarding the expression of inheritance and identity in contemporary jazz in general and of Graz in particular.

5               International visibility through the dissemination of results through research reports at international jazz conferences, and publications in leading journals such as the yearbook Jazzforschung / Jazz Research by the International Society for Jazz Research. Further presentations of results are planned through workshops at local music schools, which are to be held in collaboration with outreach activities of the institute for jazz at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.