Heyman Matthias. Historically Speaking: Creative agency in historical recreation in jazz.
This project aims to enrich our knowledge of how historical recreation in jazz impacts a performer’s creative agency through investigating how historical repertoire is used to reflect specific societal, cultural, and musical changes from the perspective of the performer, with a particular focus on cultural values such as (self-)identity, authenticity, and tradition. This will be done through a multimodal analysis of historically informed performances of repertoire by one of the most influential and historicized artists in jazz, composer and big band leader Duke Ellington (1899–1974).
The research’s interdisciplinary approach is designed to engage multiple perspectives (historical, artistic), levels (aural, visual, written), and stakeholders (professionals, students, amateurs). As research on historical recreation within jazz is virtually non-existent, this project will extend and expand our understanding of the meaning and significance of music practices by gathering and interpreting empirical, conceptual, and artistic data about the performer’s creative agency and offering innovative interpretations of the cultural values on which their historical recreations are based.
Jazz, Improvised, and Popular Music
The research group Jazz, Improvised Music, and Popular Music aims to support, encourage, and promote artistic research at KCB’s jazz department on all levels (from BA to PhD) and in all contingents (staff, students, and external applicants). We are open to all forms of jazz, (jazz-based) improvised music, and popular music with a focus on contemporary perspectives in a performance-based context. Many of our researchers work on interdisciplinary or hybrid projects and are therefore active in other research groups as well, such as Music and Technology or Collective Creation.
Currently, we have projects running with such diverse themes as spectralism, historical jazz recreation, jazz & metal drumming, and the influence of non-western or non-European music on rhythm, vocals, and double bass performance. As a research group, we (help) organise a number of public events, for example, our annual Jazz Research Day or dedicated activities during Polyphonic Performance Spaces, KCB’s research festival. In addition, we hold regular roundtable sessions on selective themes with our members and other interested under the name Circle in the Round.