The Jazz.com Blog
June 25, 2009 · 3 comments
Why France Pays for a Jazz Festival in Germany
American jazz fans, who are mourning the loss of so many jazz institutions, can only marvel at the situation in France. This country not only supports hundreds of its own festivals, but the government even sponsors a festival in Germany to provide a international platform for its home-grown jazz talent. Hey, why not recognize that music can boost the economy as one of a nation's most distinctive exports? Thierry Quénum reports below on proceedings at Jazzdor Berlin, now in its third year. T.G.
Eric Watson & Christof Lauer
It is well known that in Europe, jazz is not only considered as an art form (rather than some type of entertainment) but that governments tend to support it both at home and as a show window of the national culture. Hence, most European nations have found their own way of promoting their jazz artists.
France, arguably the European nation with the biggest institutional support for jazz, has always favored the exportation of its musicians abroad. In Berlin, the capital city of neighboring Germany, France has a Bureau Export de la Musique Française (French Music Export Office) that takes care of the interests of French labels and musicians East of the Rhine.
For three years, this government sponsored institution has asked Philippe Ochem, the director of the Jazzdor Festival in Strasbourg (a city that is not only at the border between France and Germany but that hosts the seat of the European Parliament�see my account of the last Jazzdor festival here) to supervise another festival in Berlin to promote French jazz artists and French/German encounters. Ochem definitely was the best choice for the job, since his festival has a long tradition of border crossing and of being open to musicians from neighboring countries, including Germany.
For this third edition of the Jazzdor Berlin festival, he put together a well balanced program of younger and elder musicians playing various styles, from modern mainstream to outright adventurous. Housed by the Babylon, a 400 seats venue set on the Rosa-Luxemburg Platz, close to Alexanderplatz�the most famous square of former East Berlin, now a major shopping center of the reunited German capital, close to the huge television tower�most of the festival�s concerts were broadcast nationwide by the German Cultural Radio, and they were attended by hundreds of curious Berliners.
One of the youngest band was the trio of G�raldine Laurent, an alto sax player who reached fame when her debut album was released on the Dreyfus Jazz label two years ago. [Editor�s note: Laurent was featured here recently as one of �Ten Hot Young Altoists.�] With her sharp, raw sound and delivery, and an unpredictable phrasing with strong Parkerian roots, Laurent brought a whiff of fresh air to the French scene, where newcomers are often brought up in prestigious conservatories. In Berlin, it appeared that she may have to take a turn and get a more professional rhythm section if she wants to evolve. What sounded young and fresh two years ago (and may still have sounded so to the German audience) on a repertoire of old and modern standards didn�t quite meet the hopes of listeners who expect a lot from this gifted energetic soloist.
The duet of French baritone player Fran�ois Corneloup and veteran British drummer Paul Lovens was a premiere, hence had no risk of sounding repetitious. Its approach to sound is built on a partnership within which each player deeply stimulates the other melodically, rhythmically and also with regard to the timbre of their instruments. Corneloup�arguably one of the top baritone players in Europe�digs deep in the low register and explores the high one without resorting to the clich�s that can be attached to his horn. Lovens, on the other end, searches for unheard of groove licks and rare, sometimes hilarious sounds all over his minimal drum kit. The inventiveness of this duet could bring back faith in the improvisational process to the most depressed or blas� jazz buff!
The European-TV-Brass-Trio is Matthias Schriefl (trumpet), Daniel Casimir (trombone)�both German�and French tuba player Fran�ois Thuillier. The sound they produce is dense, brassy and they mold it according to their moods and humor. Vocalizing on their instruments is one of their favorite techniques and it broadens the spectrum of these virtuosos, who each have their own solo career besides playing in various ensembles. As instrumentalists, they have reached far beyond mere pyrotechnics on their horns to obtain a trio sound that can be pastoral as well as full of groove, and is a sheer delight to the ears.
That�s what another virtuoso failed to propose. Baptiste Trotignon was the young star of French jazz piano some 10 years ago, and his reputation is still high after the recent issue of his last CD recorded in NYC with a US quintet featuring Tom Harrell and Mark Turner. With his usual French trio, though, he displayed his brilliant instrumental technique with strong classical roots and a stifling tendency to mannerism. This rather typically French �intellectual� approach to jazz all but prevented the interaction between the members of the trio from being convincing and from lighting the fire of swing both on standards and original compositions. The music came across like a beautiful looking, well proportioned statue, but cold and devoid of primal vibration.
Trombonist Yves Robert�s trio was just the opposite. With bassist Bruno Chevillon�one of the stars of the upright bass in the last 20 years�and younger, ever inventive drummer Franck Vaillant, Robert not only showed that he�s one of the greatest stylists of his instrument on the European scene, but that he also is a highly original composer and leader. His long lasting complicity with Chevillon allows them both to invent new ways of combining their low key instruments. Vaillant, between his two virtuoso elders, produces a continuous array of ever surprising percussive sounds and micro-rhythmic cells. They are a wonder per se, and give the triangle a greatly original, catchy edge.
Vaillant was to play again right after�and to show the diversity of his stylistic ability�with Print, a tenor/alto/bass/drums quartet that has an even more experimental conception of interaction. It has searched in diverse directions (Steve Coleman, The Belgian Aka Moon trio, West African percussion ensembles�) to broaden its musical scope and its approach to improvisation. The result is a dense set where the horns� solos alternate or intertwine while looking more for intensity than for formal perfection. Meanwhile the drums and bass knit a tight, efficient polyrhythmic support, mostly on uneven meters. Print�s quest for challenging musical settings is definitely as stimulating for its players as it is for the listeners who are looking for something new.
The younger quartet of soprano sax newcomer Emile Parisien has a more traditional�be it only because the piano anchors it in the harmonic field�but not less interesting approach. It is still in an experimental phase and the leader�s solos sometime have an overly expressionist feel that time will calm down. Still the group�s sound identity and interaction show an impressive maturity. Andr� Minvielle was the veteran and sole vocalist of the Jazzdor Berlin Festival. He�s used to being alone on stage with a few small percussions and some electronic effects, but he mainly sings in French, Spanish and Gascon (a Southwestern French dialect). So, fronting a mostly German and English speaking audience was something of a challenge. But musicians rooted in a Southern local tradition like him have a way with people that goes beyond the language barrier. With his stupendous vocal and rhythmic technique, humorous or poetic scatting and �south of the�German�border� storytelling routine, Minvielle put the Babylon audience under his spell and left them stunned.
Pianist Eric Watson is usually considered as a French resident since he�s been living in Paris for decades, speaks an exquisitely refined French an has even been artistic director of the La Villette festival in Paris for a couple of years. Lately he�s shied away from stages, concentrating mainly on composing and on his new job as a teacher at the Strasbourg Conservatory. Jazzdor Berlin had the good idea of offering him a double bill: a group of his students was to play some of his older charts that they had worked on during the last semester, then Watson was to present some of his new compositions that he would play in duo with his long time companion Christof Lauer, one of Germany�s greatest stars of the tenor and soprano saxes. The student concert was interesting in that it showed a sextet of piano/sax/guitar/vibes + rhythm section in the making, with its strengths and weaknesses. Some of these young players already have a personality. Others need to work more and to play outside of their peer group, but all of them benefited from working on the challenging scores of a rooted yet non-conformist musician such as Watson.
Watson himself was a bit tense at the perspective of stepping onstage again for the first time in a year to tackle brand new material. But his compositions were so stimulating that he and his partner were soon immersed in the music and created an atmosphere that oscillated between darkness and light in an utterly romantic way, daring strong contrasts of dynamics on the piano, making apt use of the registers of the soprano and tenor, conjuring up memories of Monk and Trane, two of the long time influences of Watson and Lauer. It takes seasoned musicians in their fifties like them, though, to be able to carve their own art in the present time without copying past masters, and the audience was spellbound by the intensity of this beautiful performance.
Jazzdor Berlin may then well be said to have fulfilled its mission. As far as diversity and quality are concerned, it displayed a good panel of the French jazz scene and showed that its musical relationships with its big neighbor are well on their way. No wonder, then, that the Berlin and national German press who were present at the festival showed their appreciation and considered that Jazzdor Berlin fully deserves its place in the cultural landscape of the the German capital city.
This blog entry posted by Thierry Qu�num
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Well it's a tragedy that America treats its greatest contribution to 20th Century art with such disdain. As someone who lives in Ireland I know how much Ireland trades on its distinct cultural heritage - especially its music. Irish traditional music is exported all over the world and is trumpeted (no pun intended) by the Irish government and cultural organisations at every opportunity. It's the same with Spain and Flamenco, India with its classical music, Japan with its Taiko Drummers, Italy with its Opera, Germany with its classical music etc. etc. etc. Any other country would make SUCH a big deal if jazz had originated in their country. And yet the music is more highly celebrated, valued and supported in Europe than it ever is in the US. I think the question as to why that is goes beyond the music and goes into the way culture is viewed in the US in general. When a country as wealthy as America cannot support an indigenous music that changed the world of music globally, then it needs to really ask itself some questions as to why this is.
Ronan, I have to agree with you. Certainly the numbers don't lie. Jazz receives less financial support in the land of its origin than it gets overseas.
I wish someone would do a confidential survey to determine what percentage of the income of the leading US jazz players comes from gigs in Europe and Japan. I think US fans would be very surprised at how much jazz musicians depend on these overseas engagements to pay their bills.
Ted, yes that's true. I know I work a lot with American musicians over here. And the reason it can financially work to bring an American musician, (or musicians) to Ireland is because even here - with a much smaller budget than Germany or France - there is support for the arts. To give you a couple of examples of the kind of support we're talking about, even in recession-hit Ireland - There is a non-profit organisation here whose remit is the promotion (through concerts, recordings, education) of jazz and improvised music. This organisation gets the equivalent of half a million dollars a year from the Irish Government through the Arts Council - the total population of Ireland is less than 4.2 million people - smaller than NYC, yet it has this kind of financial support for jazz alone. I myself am the artistic director of a quintet called Mtier (www.myspacemusic.com/dlrcoco) which is financially supported by my local town council. This money allows us to rehearse perform, commission and record new music, and has been going on for the last three years. I know that when I tell my American colleagues about these kinds of things their reaction goes beyond envy and into the realms of disbelief. Yet Ireland would be one of the smaller players in this kind of support in Europe. It's a frightening thing to say, but without the support of the European taxpayer, (and to a lesser extent the Japanese taxpayer) many American jazz musicians - even famous ones - would find themselves in severe financial difficulty, and it's likely that many would find it financially untenable to remain in the art form of jazz. I'm glad Michelle Obama did that recent jazz showcase at the Whitehouse - America needs to recognise and support this great art form before it's too late.