Full Description
Jazz has had a peculiar and fascinating history in Germany. The influential but controversial German writer, broadcaster, and record producer, Joachim-Ernst Berendt (1922-2000), author of the world's best-selling jazz book, labored to legitimize jazz in West Germany after its ideological renunciation during the Nazi era. German musicians began, in a highly productive way, to question their all-too-eager adoption of American culture and how they sought to make valid artistic statements reflecting their identity as Europeans. This book explores the significance of some of Berendt's most important writings and record productions. Particular attention is given to the "Jazz Meets the World" encounters that he engineered with musicians from Japan, Tunisia, Brazil, Indonesia, and India. This proto-"world music" demonstrates how some West Germans went about creating a post-nationalist identity after the Third Reich. Berendt's powerful role as the West German "Jazz Pope" is explored, as is the groundswell of criticism directed at him in the wake of 1968.
Contents
Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I: JOACHIM-ERNST BERENDT AND THE POSTWAR LEGITIMATION OF JAZZ
Chapter 1. Jazz and the divide between serious and entertainment music
Chapter 2. Dance as escape?
Chapter 3. Jazz greetings to and from the East?
Chapter 4. Jazz, race, and colourblindness
PART II: JAZZ MEETS THE (NEW) OLD WORLD: EUROPEANIZING JAZZ
Chapter 5. The blues of German jazz
Chapter 6. Emancipation and the dilemma of Volk-jazz
Chapter 7. Globe Unity: Free jazz meets European New Music
Chapter 8. Emancipation from the Jazz Pope
Chapter 9. On the uses of European jazz
PART III: JAZZ MEETS THE OTHER WORLD
Chapter 10. The Marco Polo of jazz
Chapter 11. The Goethe Institut's jazz ambassadors strike up
Chapter 12. Japanesing jazz, or: kimono today, swing tomorrow
Chapter 13. Doing the bossa in Berlin
Chapter 14. The 1967 world-jazz encounters: An East-West jazz-divan?
Chapter 15. Finding the Blut und Boden in African roots
Conclusion: Berendt and the utopia of Weltmusik
Chronology
Discography
Bibliography
Index
