The origin of jazz in African and European sources has shaped not only its stylistic features but also the way the musicians see themselves. As in European musical culture, they regard themselves as autonomous artists, while at the same time, because of the African tradition, they need contact with the audience and often attune their music to the place where they are playing.
Thanks to this broad range of self-understanding, jazz has been able to hold its own in very different social situations. In America, until the middle of the century, it was part of the entertainment business. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong or Count Basie saw themselves that way all their lives and made music in that context. When, after the Second World War, jazz came increasingly to be regarded in Europe as a serious art form, this influenced the self-image of the musicians of the bebop and cool jazz era. They shaped jazz as a new kind of art form, following the European ideal of culture. From there an avant-garde arose, above all in Europe, that sought contact with so-called “New Music” and the other modern arts. The audience for this music was, and is, above all the educated art scene of the big cities. Finally, since the 1970s, with fusion, there has also been a broad current in jazz that tries to find its place in the context of pop music and youth culture, and so once again emphasises that jazz belongs to “entertaining” music.
For a long time European jazz musicians strove for the ideal of “l’art pour l’art” and took their cue from the avant-garde in New Music and the visual arts. Undeniably this led to an independent European variant of jazz and to a great deal of music well worth hearing. But in the process, contact with the audience was almost abandoned, and the principle of African culture that music should always have its effect within the community was neglected. It would be important to bring both ways of understanding music back into balance. Music that put more emphasis on the rhythmic and communicative element of jazz would surely also have a chance of reaching a larger audience and of being noticed more by the media in the long run. After all, you can only make exciting and professional music if you have enough opportunities to perform.
Such newly oriented music need not, however, address itself only to the big-city subcultures in which many musicians live. Through the music schools, where jazz and jazz musicians have gained a foothold almost everywhere, with little notice, it can also reach a liberal middle class with a more small-town outlook. For many jazz musicians it is a reality that they earn their living by teaching. But that is not necessarily a stopgap for the less successful; it offers many opportunities to make exciting music and to open up new living spaces for jazz.
My own projects Pangäa and Psalmen und Lobgesänge came about in just such a situation. Premieres and CD recordings took place with groups that mixed amateurs and professionals. In Pangäa, part of the line-up came from the big band of the Brühl music school, while the solo and lead parts were played by professionals. In Psalmen und Lobgesänge (Psalms and Songs of Praise), the band of professionals worked together with a church choir. Both works are composed so that this kind of collaboration works and can lead to good results musically too. Thanks to this mix, both events were of interest to the town’s cultural life as a whole and drew many listeners who would otherwise never go to a jazz concert.
It is part of the tradition of jazz to take the audience seriously and to include it in shaping one’s own musical concepts. If jazz musicians do not just complain about their difficult situation, but consistently make use of the opportunities open to them, then one can certainly expect an improvement – one that concerns the quality of the music, its public perception and the securing of a decent living, all at once.