Jazz In Europe

I have been posting about jazz for some time now and I noticed that I have barely mentioned anything about the European jazz scene. Well maybe a little in my "Free Improvisation" post and by only mentioning some key European musicians who had pioneered in the development of this creative music.

European Jazz:

First things first, can we argue that the European jazz is a distinctive jazz style? Maybe yes, maybe not. I do not like to make definitive classifications especially in something as broad as jazz. And we must never forget that none of the musical genres in the world has evolved just like that out of the blue. Each and every one of them is an evolution based on a vast amount of factors.

So what about European jazz? Is it a different jazz style compared to the jazz forms coming back from the 1910s till the 1980s? Surely not. Anyhow as I have mentioned in the previous posts, starting from the 1950s, jazz styles started to become more and more intertwined and the interactive.

One can argue that the jazz in Europe has started with two great musicians. Guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli in the 1930s ruled the jazz scene in Europe and especially in Paris.

"Minor Swing" by Reinhardt & Grappelli

However jazz music became widespread and popular in Europe after the World War II. It is true that many jazz legends had toured across Europe in the 1920s and 1930s (i.e. Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Coleman Hawkins) but that was only a limited relation of American musicians coming to play for the European audience. On the other hand, with the second touring wave of the American artists just after the war, when jazz was losing its popularity due to fading swing and soaring bebop in the US, American musicians believing that they were receiving more respect than their own country decided to settle in Europe. This also created a means for Europeans to embrace jazz...

On the artistic part, real interest to jazz showed itself after the end of the war. The post-war generation exposed to bebop took the first steps in order to generate a jazz scene in Europe. First by imitating their American counterparts and then very quickly cultivating a rather different sound based on their own backgrounds, experiences and traditions. 

We can easily say that jazz is not indigenous to Europe. It is an American thing. Therefore for Europeans, it is not their own music. And in my opinion, that is why they could be so successful with it in their own ways. 

How could the European jazz musicians create such an authentic sound on their own? There are various answers to this question but most probably we could argue that;

1. they liberated themselves from the pure jazz tradition
2. they did not try to emulate the American jazz sound
3. they were genetically nourished by the classical music and repertoire
4. they were culturally creative enough not to be overwhelmed by the institutionalization of jazz...

Each culture or even country has an authentic contribution in the development of jazz in Europe. Given the rich classical tradition and musicians' trainings, one can imagine what a diverse set of characteristics jazz can embed in the old continent's jazz scene. One interesting highlight is that the missing element of African-American roots of jazz that the performer/listener takes for granted in the American jazz is never an obstacle in Europe, on the contrary maybe a factor that epitomizes the beauty of jazz in Europe. Besides in Europe, there is a richness deriving from the historical relations with Asia, Middle East and North Africa similar to the West African influences over the American sound.

Here maybe we can mention about two significant contributors of the European jazz scene. First one is Ronnie Scott, an English tenor sax player but maybe even better known by his famous London jazz club. Following his trip to New York in 1946 and after listening Charlie Parker and other bebop legends, he saw the opportunity to invite such legends to his hometown in order to popularize jazz in England. Due to financial obstacles, he only could open the world famous "Ronnie Scott's" in 1959 and since then the club is a mecca for jazz musicians from all over the world.

The second guy is a producer from Germany, Manfred Eicher. He is the founder of  the ECM records (Edition of Contemporary Music) that probably have issued the finest examples of European jazz since 1969. His non-compromising and perfectionist side combined with his vision and musical expertise allowed to foster the creativity of not only European but American jazz musicians as well.

When speaking about European jazz, I always find it difficult to make a musical generalization that covers the whole continent, therefore I prefer to talk about certain predominant cultures that have shaped the jazz sound of Europe. Even though in terms of land mass, US and Europe are similar in size, culturally Europe is much more diverse and rich. Obviously this leads to a versatility in the jazz sound.

So what I will propose is that we discuss some of the main leading jazz schools of Europe along with their notable musicians.

• Scandinavian Jazz: A distinctive sound on its own thanks to many open-minded American musicians residing in Sweden, Denmark and Norway influencing the local jazz scene. Maybe another important point to mention regarding the development of the Scandinavian sound is the famous 1974 Keith Jarrett recording "Belonging", where he was accompanied by Scandinavian musicians like Jan Garbarek on saxophones, Palle Danielsson on bass and Jon Christensen on drums. This recording is also from the ECM catalogue. This recording played a significant role in the popularization of the "Nordic" sound. I find this sound quite melancholic but interestingly at the same time rather far away from the bluesy melancholy. Maybe it emanates from long winters and dark days instead of long hours and sunny days on the cotton fields...Other main characteristics of the Scandinavian sound are the abundant usage of minor tones, influences from its folk culture and relatively longer melodies. I find the sound quite distinct and euphonic. The atmospheric components are always there but can be twisted in a pleasant way by different musicians. I also remember reading an article about the excellency of musical training especially in Sweden and the vast opportunities their governments have been providing for many years. As far as I know, only Sweden has more than 100 jazz clubs all operational. I believe the situation is very similar in other Nordic countries such as Norway, Denmark and Finland. On top of the leading Scandinavian musicians I mentioned above there are a lot of others as well; like the pianists Bobo Stenson,  Ketil Bjornstad, Jon Balke, Tord Gustavsen and Esbjörn Svensson, guitarist Terje Rypdal, bassists Arild Andersen and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, drummer Edward Vesala, trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg.

"Long As You Know You're Living Yours" by Keith Jarrett's European Quartet

Terje Rypdal & Ketil Bjornstad "Live in Istanbul"

• German Jazz: Even though having an extensive musical culture, Germany has been a relatively unlucky country for the development of jazz due to the fact that during the Third Reich (Nazi Germany) from 1933 till 1945, jazz was seen as a degenerate musical form. Furthermore circles that are close to the government went as far as to call it an American trap designed to introduce obscenities to the high German aesthetic society. Therefore there was not much jazz in Germany until the end of the war. Initially, with the impact of the allied forces, swing became popular in cities like Berlin and Frankfurt. It was also the beginning of the cold war era where the USA began to promote and insinuate its own culture. As it was the case all over Europe, with the touring American musicians, Germans also started to mingle with jazz, and they developed their own sound. Some notable musicians of the German jazz scene are; trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, bassist Eberhard Weber, sax player Peter Brötzmann and pianist Joachim Kühn.

"More Colours" by Eberhard Weber

• English Jazz: UK was a rather fortunate country in terms of jazz, being a close ally to the US, the island constantly attracted notable jazz musicians. Therefore jazz music was always popular  thus leading to the development of a jazz tradition of their own. One of the great pianists of all jazz scene, George Shearing (composer of the jazz standard Lullaby of Birdland) is a leading figure. As you will remember from the "Free Improvisation" post, English artists had made a great deal of contribution to jazz. Especially guitarist Derek Bailey had been a true innovator along with saxophone/bass clarinet player John Surman.

"Lullaby of Birdland" by George Shearing and Neil Swainson

When speaking of European jazz, it would not be fair not to mention the name of American pianist George Russell. His book called the "Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization" written in 1953 is considered to be one of the main cornerstones of the European jazz. His playing technique and his theories have been embraced by the European artists and have been vastly used during the development of this specific jazz sound.

"Freein' Up" by the George Russell Sextet

Obviously there jazz figures are not the only ones that have shaped the European jazz scene. There are many others from Italy, France, Holland and Eastern European countries etc. However in my opinion the ones that I mentioned in the post can be defined having a distinctive sound of their own.

I would like to end the post with a Turkish jazz recording by Erol Pekcan (drums), Tuna Otenel (Piano and Saxophone) and Kudret Oztoprak (bass) called "Jazz Semai".