Jazz & The International

[zachwave]

It is without any doubt that Jazz started within the United States, but how did jazz take shape beyond America?

This thread is to discuss all things Jazz, outside the United States, including artists, history, general discussion and scenes that came, went and are still on-going. As jazz landed on the shores of different continents and countrys, it took its own form and found its own culture and style. Is there a particular part of the world which jazz is prominent that you enjoy specifically?

---

I always love the story of jazz coming to Japan, and Jazz in Phillipines, both stemmming from American influence via travel (soldiers, broad american pop culture, touring bands etc). Though Fumio Nanri is quite popular and a good story to share with Jazz in Japan, I think I quite enjoy Hajime Hana, who Nanri collaborated with early on, and later formed the Crazy Cats and also had a prominent role in film. Crazy Cats went on to do some pretty cool songs and weird stuff, mostly light hearted and with comedy in mind.

Similarly how Jazz was so prominent during the Weimar republic years of post WW1 Germany.

Another fun little story was James Reese Europe was known as a famous orchestra leader, became the first black officer that lead troops (the 369th Hell Fighters) in direct combat in World War One, who, when not commanding his troops, also organized and lead the 369th's Regimental Band which performed jazz shows in France. This gained fans and interest from European musicians and help spread its influence in continental Europe

 

[charlie]

Two places I’ve seen a lot of jazz outside of the US are France and Japan.

Most Japanese jazz I’ve heard has been more recent, and largely “jazz-fusion”y so I haven’t really listened to too much of it, but there’s one jazz pianist that my father told me about, Kei Akagi. I believe he used to play with Miles Davis, but my father once saw one of his later, Solo, performances (I think). My introduction to him was simply my father talking about how fluid his music sounded, and kei has said that he mostly learned to play by playing along to records. The album of his I’ve heard the most is Aqua Puzzle (but now it’s a bit more modern than anything I’d regularly listen to, though I really liked it at one point):

As far as France goes, I’m not too sure about specific French musicians, as much as I’m familiar with their reception of American musicians (among other literaries and political figures) in the 60’s, and because of that, there’s tons of great (and live) recordings of bill Evan’s and bud Powell, thelonius monk, etc in France.

But of the French musicians, Django Reinhardt has got to be my favorite. I just googled him and he’s Romani-Belgian/French and died in 1953. I know him for his Gypsy jazz guitar playing, which must’ve been in France before the bebop era so I’d be curious to know how Gypsy jazz became so popular in France. I was able to see a French Jazz String-Quartet play live awhile back at the Playboy Jazz Festival and it was hands down the best set of the night.

I also heard he had 3 fingers.

 

[zachwave]

Two places I’ve seen a lot of jazz outside of the US are France and Japan.

Most Japanese jazz I’ve heard has been more recent, and largely “jazz-fusion”y so I haven’t really listened to too much of it, but there’s one jazz pianist that my father told me about, Kei Akagi. I believe he used to play with Miles Davis, but my father once saw one of his later, Solo, performances (I think). My introduction to him was simply my father talking about how fluid his music sounded, and kei has said that he mostly learned to play by playing along to records. The album of his I’ve heard the most is Aqua Puzzle (but now it’s a bit more modern than anything I’d regularly listen to, though I really liked it at one point):

As far as France goes, I’m not too sure about specific French musicians, as much as I’m familiar with their reception of American musicians (among other literaries and political figures) in the 60’s, and because of that, there’s tons of great (and live) recordings of bill Evan’s and bud Powell, thelonius monk, etc in France.

But of the French musicians, Django Reinhardt has got to be my favorite. I just googled him and he’s Romani-Belgian/French and died in 1953. I know him for his Gypsy jazz guitar playing, which must’ve been in France before the bebop era so I’d be curious to know how Gypsy jazz became so popular in France. I was able to see a French Jazz String-Quartet play live awhile back at the Playboy Jazz Festival and it was hands down the best set of the night.

I also heard he had 3 fingers.

Thanks for sharing - I was fairly unaware of Akagi's works. Spent the morning listening to it while doing work related tasks.

Django Reinhardt, not only has quite the cool name and history has some really sick tunes. Gypsy jazz guitar, that's something I'll have to further explore.

Envious of your expeirence, Jazz nowadays here where I live is either hit or miss.. I'll have to share my experiences in a separate post down the line.

 

[zachwave]

Pinoy Jazz - Jazz in the Phillipines

Jazz seems to have a similar genesis in a lot of countries, and the Phillpines was no different. The influence started during and stuck around throughout the American Colonization and occupation of the Phillipines from the last decade of the 1800s through the mid 1940s.

American military bands were the ones that introduced the sounds, but the roots took hold with the Fillipino people with musicians such as Luis Borromeo, who had the nickname the "King of Jazz" who performed back in the States as Borromeo Loui and also carved out a niche in Manila, the largest and capital of the Philippines during his tenure.

Luis Borromeo played a local version of the baudeville stiyle known as "bodabil" (I like how it sounds like it haha). Similar to Japanese start (which was also in part influenced with the Fillipino Jazz community, and Americans), there was jazz music intergrated with comedy, dance and club scenes. It got so popular that Manila transformed into a vibrant Jazz hub, an eastern Mecca of sorts, where artists would pivot and tour in British India & British Hong Kong, Shanghai and other international communities in the "Far East". Amusingly, the Filipino artists were often called "The Italians of the East" for their ability to master the musics they played and there overall versatility.

Few examples of big artists in Pinoy Jazz were:

Luis Borromeo
Bobby Enriquez (80s)
Ping Joaquin
Federico Elizalde
Angel Peña, who helped pioneer later modern Pinoy Jazz which incorporated more Spanish, and Fillipino flavors to the music.

Links:

Fillipino Jazz Playlist
Bodabil
Angel Peña Music example


Books:




For me, I am a BIIIG Bobby Enriquez fan. There's a few copycats in our local Fillipino community that play his music, and seen his sounds in some local jazzfests, and real awesome stuff.

 

[zachwave]

Jazz & The Soviet Union (USSR)



The Jazz inroads in the Soviet Union point from it all starting by one man: Valentin Parankh. An emigrant from Russia who returned to Russia (now that it was the Communist government) after he felt disconnected with where he travelled and lived, and alienated by his fellow emigrants. Mr. Parankh, who although wasn't really known for his music talents, brought back jazz scores, instruments and was influential enough to start the "First Eccentric Orchestra of the Russian Federated Socialist Republic - Valentin Paranakh's Jazz Band, and debuted at the Russian Academy of THeatre Arts in Moscow in 1922.

The music was seen as avante-garde, exciting and modern to the Russian urbanites of the socialist elite in Moscow and St. Petersburg. As it got popular, they would play state sponsored expos, very different from the image of Jazz in the west, it seemed as if the Government decided Jazz was music for the people. Yet it seemed short lived in Valentin's reins as he fell out with the government, inevitable censorship under a Soviet regime, and against he migrated to France, though returning to Russia later on - but focused on writing and other duties before dying in the 50s.

In parallel to the rise of Jazz, and Valentin's Jazz band, the creation of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) was formed in 1923, and immediately they opposed jazz music and its influence. Whereas the resistance of Jazz seemed racial (at the very least in the United States), in the Soviet union the resistance came from seeing it as a western creation for the bourgeoise and capitalists. The RAPM was disbanded jsut under a decade later in the early 30s, and the restrictions of Jazz relaxed, but it never really got anywhere large like we saw in the 20s in the Soviet Union or as big as it did in other countries. The height of the censorship was in the 1940s, where many state sponsored bands were forced to disband.

Still though, Jazz survived enough that there were still enough notable artists that came and went, and even became prominent in the twilight years of the Soviet Union as perestroika and other liberalization policies came into affect.
Some noticeable artists were:

Leonid Utesov - Very porminent in the Soviet Union and to the world of Jazz in the USSR
Adolph Ignatievich Rosner (who also went by Eddie Rosner) - nicknamed "The White Louis Armstrong", jazz trumpeter
Alexander Vladimirovich Varlamov - big band leader and popularized jazz. Was forced to stop in the 40s
Viatcheslav Nazarov - jazz trombonist, later immigrated to the US

Spotify Playlist - Soviet & Eastern Bloc Jazz
Soviet Jazz & Other Music Playlist on YT
(Later Soviet Jazz such as the start of the playlist, Vladimir Konovalov Jazz Orchestra are certified BANGERS)

​

Literature:

 

[zachwave]

Jazz & Iceland



Ever wondered if there's any Jazz in the small Nordic country of Iceland?

Though a modest little country of 400 thousand, Iceland has a bit of a Jazz scene, albeit contemporary. History of Jazz in Iceland is quite young. Pre WW2 Iceland was barely 150 thousand people, and Iceland was apart of the Danish Kingdom, the music tastes were that of Denmark, though Jazz didn't make its way to Iceland's shores outside of a few visits hosted by the elite, contrary to how Jazz was treated in mainland Europe prior to WW2.

During the Cold War (after the 1940s), Jazz still was in the peripheral in the small Nordic country. The United States of America had significant presence in Iceland due to its strategic spot in the northern Atlantic, and although as was with many many tales of Jazz, the military, and its impact outside of America, controversially, the young nation of Iceland had a policy of banning black soldiers from stationing in the US airbase on Iceland, which limited jazz to very infrequent performances or radio play. It was up to local enthusiasts who enjoyers of jazz, during this time as well as mingling with other fans from the states who were either working at the military installations or passing by in Reykjavik (the capital).

However, after the cold war, and well into the 90s and 2000s, with the opening up of the world and involvement of the internet is terms of cultural growth and sharing, Jazz really started to take off again in the small nordic country. Blogs started to pop up talking about contemporary jazz groups in Iceland. Groups such as Gunnar Gunnarsson were making domestic Icelandic chamber jazz.


Gunnar Gunnarsson

Gunnar finished his cantor´s degree at the The Icelandic National Church Music College 1988 and a final degree from the Department of Theory and Composition at Reykjavik College of Music in 1989. Gunnar published his researches in hymnology 1993 called “The Weyse manuscripts and Choralbog for Island” which are about the origin of the first Icelandic choral book and the manuscripts it was based on. In recent years Gunnarsson has become renowned for his performances of varied music styles. In addition to traditional church organ music he has dedicated himself to arranging and performing religious music in a modern fashion and had his part in arrangements and recordings of traditional music and jazz. Gunnarsson has released three solo piano albums, four with his own band and five with the saxophonist Sigurður Flosason. Gunnar Gunnarsson has a master’s degree in linguistics and since 2012 he has been organist at The Reykjavik Free-Church.

GG's Hrim


Pipe Dreams, an example of Icelandic Chamber Jazz

Now, today, Jazz has its own story in Iceland and is ever growing. Iceland hosts three jazz festivals, the biggest being the Reykjavik Jazz Festival. Jazz seems to be growing steady relatively for the small island nation of Iceland, and it is interesting to see how one country between such influential worlds such the States, UK, as well as it's nordic roots and still find a way to make it it's own, which is very much an Icelandic thing to do!

 

[porcy]

Cz-sk, 60s. Little note:
Blue effect / Modrý efekt , their song Má hra (My game/play?) was used as sample in song Magic Key, by One-T (ft.Cool-T) in early 2000s as its intro and chorus, in its two parts : breath section, idk the instrument, & melody (drums) from original Má hra.

Original:

Sample (One-T):

Original, remake, 30+ years later, vocals added:

 

[charlie]

i suppose this is topical

I've been hearing some middle eastern music more and I really like how their melodies sound in different genres..anyway
listening to this now