Some time ago my final thesis from my studies at the Musikhochschule Köln (Cologne University of Music) came into my hands again. I read through it and found that its content is still interesting, and that it opens an exciting window onto the jazz of the 1960s. But it also says a good deal about European jazz in the 1980s, when many young musicians were interested in a creative and professional engagement with the concepts of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and above all the Miles Davis Quintet of the 1960s. For the first time, the American jazz of that period was perceived as an equal: not merely copied, but seen as an inspiration for creative approaches of one’s own.
I have therefore decided to publish this thesis on my website. As it does not exist as a file (in 1989 people generally did not yet work with computers and word processors …), I have scanned it and uploaded it as a PDF. Further down you will find a download link and the table of contents, which gives a more detailed idea of the structure and content of the thesis.
