…
international research and
information center on jazz
The
Jazzinstitut Darmstadt bridges scholarly and practical
demands, regional and multi-cultural activities, as well
as transnational scholarly discourses in order to support
the music and the many people who keep it alive. The Jazzinstitut
has also earned a reputation in the jazz world for its
reliable services answering inquiries of any kind.
Archives
and special collections
The Jazzinstitut Darmstadt holds Europe’s largest
public research archive on jazz. Among its holdings are
substantial donations and acquisitions from private collectors
such as Joachim Ernst Berendt, Gerhard Conrad, Erwin Glier,
Hanns E. Haehl, Arne Hauptmann, Hans Otto Jung, Evert
„Ted“ Kaleveld, Peter Köhler, Wilhelm
Liefland, Lukas M. Lindenmayer, Hans-Henning Rabe, Dietrich
von Staden, the record label Free Music Production (FMP)
and others.
Today
we hold thousands of books and more than 80,000 items
of recorded music which include approximately 45,000 LPs,
more than 15,000 CDs, an equivalent number of vinyl and
schellack recordings (78 RPM records, EPs, and 10 inch
records), as well as tapes, videos and DVDs. The periodical
collection is one of the highlights of the archive. The
collection is comprised of more than 1,000 periodical
titles, which equal out to more than 55,000 individual
issues of periodical material. It includes jazz periodicals
from all over the world, some dated as far back as the
early 1920’s. About 70 percent of the printed material
has been entered into Jazz-Index, a computer based bibliographical
tool used by researchers from all over the world. This
service is available through the Jazzinstitut free-of-charge
per e-mail request. The sheet music collection of the
Jazzinstitut contains musical transcriptions, fake books,
instrumental methods as well as some band
and orchestra scores.
Exhibitions
During recent years we have been able to organize exhibitions
making use of the many historical photographs, posters,
rare private correspondence and notes found in our collection.
„Jazz Changes“ exhibits the development of
jazz from its origins to the present on eleven large sized
panels. Other historical exhibitions and book projects
document various local scenes like the one in Darmstadt
or the development of jazz in the city of Frankfurt. The
Jazzinstitut has also participated in an exhibition on
record cover art in Valencia, Spain, an exhibition focusing
on the electric guitar in modern music at the Kunsthalle
in Vienna, Austria, and an exhibition on the cover art
of Blue Note Records in Aalen, Germany.
...
a meeting place for discoveries and musical exchange
Research
Besides
being a documentation center, the Jazzinstitut undertakes
research projects of its own as well as in collaboration
with other institutions. The Jazzinstitut initiated an
oral history project on German jazz, and, together with
Hessischer Rundfunk and the city of Frankfurt published
an extensive book on the development of jazz in Frankfurt
(„Der Frankfurt Sound – Eine Stadt und ihre
Jazzgeschichte[n]“) [Frankfurt Sound. A city and
its jazz histories]. The Jazzinstitut is represented in
international and national advisory boards, among them:
the International Voting Panel for Jazz at Lincoln Center‘s
Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame (New York), the Smithonian Institution‘s
CD series "Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz“
(Washington, D.C.), the editors‘ board of University
of Michigan Press‘ jazz book series, and the music
advisory council of Goethe-Institut (for the German Ministery
of Foreign Affairs). Together with several partners, the
Jazzinstitut Darmstadt initiated a research project on
European jazz history, which will lead to an English language
book publication.
Darmstadt
Jazzforum
The
Darmstadt Jazzforum is a regular conference on jazz taking
place every other year. A symposium brings together jazz
researchers and musicians from all over the world to exchange
opinions, experiences and papers and act as a forum for
the public. An accompanying concert series explores the
more musical aspects of the conference‘s topic.
Since 1989 all conference papers are published in the
book series „Darmstädter Beiträge zur
Jazzforschung“.
Information
center, events,
other activities …
The
Jazzinstitut Darmstadt is not just a center for scholarly
research; anybody interested in the music is welcome.Today,
our most important means of communication is the internet.
Our website www.jazzinstitut.de provides one of the most
extensive and comprehensive compilations of national and
international jazz addresses to be found on the World
Wide Web. Every other year the Jazzinstitut publishes
„Wegweiser Jazz” [The Jazz Pathfinder], a
directory of jazz clubs, venues, festivals, record labels,
agencies, and media in Germany. The Jazzinstitut can be
contacted for answers to all sorts of questions and inquiries
from musicians, concert promoters, agents, researchers
or just plain old music lovers. Our mission is to provide
contacts, give information about public funding, answer
„jazzological” inquiries and be active participants
in the ongoing international discourses about the music,
its mystic and its impact. Our staff always provides the
most current and accurately researched information to
the public.
The
Jazzinstitut established its own concert series in its
intimate concert space built in the cave underneath its
current residence. For a series entitled „JazzTalk“
we invite musicians for a regular concert followed by
a public interview onstage highlighting their aesthetic
ideals, influences, the troubles of working musicians
and the directions in which they see the music moving.
An annual workshop called „Jazz Conceptions“,
organized together with the cultural center Bessunger
Knabenschule, brings young musicians to Darmstadt for
a week in order to work together with renowned teachers.
On the last Friday of every month, musicians from all
over the Frankfurt- Wiesbaden-Darmstadt region meet in
the cozy arched brick cellar underneath the Institut‘s
historical building for the Bessunger Jam Session.
History
In 1983 the city of Darmstadt acquired the private collection
of well known German jazz critic and producer Joachim
Ernst Berendt’s records, books, periodicals, photographs
and much more. This and further material led to the exhibition
„That’s Jazz. Der Sound des 20. Jahrhunderts“
[That‘s Jazz. The sound of the 20th Century] shown
in 1988 at Darmstadt‘s Museum Mathildenhöhe
and documented in an extensive catalogue which to this
day is regarded as one of the most thorough and comprehensive
books on the history of jazz. As the collection continued
to grow, the city founded the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt to
become an archive, a research center as well as a place
to promote and enrich the German jazz scene with its own
projects and regular events.
Noble
location
The
Jazzinstitut, founded in September 1990, was at first
situated in three narrow rooms on the third floor of the
„John-F.-Kennedy-Haus“ in Darmstadt. Seven
years later, on October 3rd, 1997, the institute moved
to its present home: the historic „Bessunger Kavaliershaus“.
On three floors, the new location offers sufficient work
space for visitors. A cellar underneath the archive has
become a well utilized concert hall, and thus an ideal
and practical counterpart to the theoretical world housed
above. The „Bessunger Kavaliershaus“ has become
a meeting point for jazz enthusiasts, musicians and researchers
alike. A trumpetshaped weathervane on its roof and a sculpture
of blues-harp-virtuoso Little Walter in front of the building
make its current use visible to everyone. (if
you want to learn more about our historic building ...)
Hours
The
Jazzinstitut is a public archive, open to anybody. Hours
are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5
p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and every Tuesday
from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. During these hours visitors are
invited to glance at the latest issues of about sixty
different jazz periodicals from all over the world, listen
to records (LPs and CDs) or obtain information on jazz
events (jazz clubs, festivals, workshops) all over Germany.
Aside from jazz they will also find information about
related musical styles such as rhythm ‘n‘
blues, latin jazz, salsa as well as electronic and improvised
music.
...
staff
Dr.
Wolfram Knauer (director)
…
studied musicology, English and American literature, art
history and sociology and holds a Ph.D. from Kiel University.
Under his direction, the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt has become
a major information and research center frequented by
researchers from all over the world. He had teaching appointments
at several major German universities and is regularly
invited to international conferences in Europe as well
as the United States. He served on the international advisory
board for both editions of „The New Grove Dictionary
of Jazz“ (1988, 2001), is editor of several book
series and member of the music advisory council of the
Goethe Institut. In 2002 he was awarded the „Hessischer
Jazz Preis“ by the state of Hesse for his achievements
in establishing the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt as an internationally
acclaimed information and research center on jazz.
contact: knauer@jazzinstitut.de
Doris
Schröder (documentation and exhibitions)
…
studied art history at Frankfurt University and worked
for the cultural department of the city of Ludwigshafen
before joining the Jazzinstitut‘s staff in 1995.
She is author of several books on historical architecture,
has organized exhibitions and published responding exhibition
catalogues on jazz subjects. Her expertise includes the
graphic collection of the jazz archive, assistance in
research, book, exhibition and documentation projects
done with the help of the Jazzinstitut.
contact: schroeder@jazzinstitut.de
Arndt
Weidler (documentation, general inquiries and concert
programming)
…
studied sociology, political sciences and social psychology
at Heidelberg and Mannheim University, his master thesis
reflecting on the impact of blues and jazz on concert
audience behavior. He worked as tour guide and stagehand
for numerous American Blues bands, had his own agency
promoting blues and jazz artists, organized concerts and
festivals. Weidler has been co-founder and manager of
a well known German blues and jazz club, „Muddy‘s
Club“, and worked in off-airpromotion for several
radio stations. He joined the staff of the Jazzinstitut
in 1998, is responsible for much of the concert programming
as well as for documentation and services concerning the
current jazz and blues scene. Since 2005 Arndt Weidler
is president of the German
Jazz Meeting Association, too.
contact: weidler@jazzinstitut.de
