KU Interdisciplinary Jazz Studies Group

Coming Soon:

Improvising in Place: An Interdisciplinary Jazz Studies Colloquium

Monday, March 2, 2015
University of Kansas

Free! Open to the Public!

Locations

The Commons at the University of Kansas, Spooner Hall,
1340 Jayhawk Blvd.
8 a.m.–12:45 p.m.

The Hall Center for the Humanities, 900 Sunnyside Avenue
2:00-5:30 p.m. (reception to follow 5:30-7:00 pm)

This all-day jazz studies colloquium is an exploration of “place,” broadly defined, as a set of grounded parameters that are pushed, reshaped, and produced by creative improvisers. Morning panels at The Commons cover such ground as the effects of particular urban and rural social geographies of race, nation, ethnicity, gender, and other factors on sounds, venues, and styles (and vice versa). Afternoon events at the Hall Center include a panel featuring KU professor and filmmaker Kevin Willmott on the days (not so long ago) when students could get kicked out of the practice rooms at KU for playing jazz. Big XII Faculty Fellow, Dr. Charles Carson (Musicology and Ethnomusicology, UT Austin) will deliver the keynote talk, “Philadelphia Stories: Race, Place, and the Jazz Geography of the City of Brotherly Love.” Carson is a musicologist whose interests are African-American/American expressive cultures, popular music, jazz, film music, and music and culture. KU Jazz Combo 1 will perform a selection of Philadelphia jazz, proving irrefutably that jazz is alive and well in the practice rooms at KU today.

In conjunction with the KU Jazz Festival » (March 6-7, 2015)

Sponsors Include: the KU Interdisciplinary Jazz Studies Group, The Hall Center for the Humanities, The Commons at the University of Kansas, the KU School of Music, the KU Jazz Festival, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the KU Department of American Studies, the KU Department of Dance, the Hall Center Place, Race, and Space, the Big XII Faculty Fellowship and the Keeler Family Intra-University Professorship.

PROGRAM

8:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m.	Morning Sessions at The Commons at the University of Kansas
8:00 a.m.	Welcome
8:15–9:45 a.m.	SESSION I Off (and On) the Beaten Path: Crossings, Fusions, and Convergences in the Jazz We Thought We Knew
	Moderator: Tony Bolden, African and African American Studies, University of Kansas
	“Jazz Me Blues: Chicago’s South Side Jazz Bands, the City Style, and the Thin Blue(s) Line,” Roberta Freund Schwartz, Music, University of Kansas
	"Jazz on the Reservation: Lionel Hampton and the Nez Perce of North Idaho," Ashley Hirt, Music, University of Kansas
	“Race is the Place: Avant-Garde Jazz in Kansas City,” Pete Williams, American Studies, University of Kansas
10:00–11:30 a.m.	SESSION II Power Lines and Wireless Connections: Improvising Race, Place and Difference
	Moderator: Philip Barnard, Dept. of English, University of Kansas
	"A White Place for Jazz: Leonard Bernstein as Jazz Composer and Commentator, 1947–55," Paul Laird, Dept. of Music, University of Kansas
	“The J-Word: The Placelessness of Black Sovereignty in the Land of Genre,” Daniel Atkinson, Kansas African Studies Center, University of Kansas
	“Sample. Improvise. Remix. Record. Play. Repeat: Echoing Beats Across Lines of Difference in Cyber-Sonic Collaboration,” Nicole Hodges Persley, Dept. of Theatre, University of Kansas
11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m.	SESSION III Uncommon Ground: Real-Time Improvisations of Space and Place
	Moderator: Sherrie Tucker, Dept. of American Studies, University of Kansas
	"Finding Place in Sun Ra's Space: The View from the Arkestra Pit," Kevin Fullerton, Dept. of Music, University of Kansas
	“No map, No directions,” Michelle Heffner Hayes, Dept. of Dance, University of Kansas; Kip Haaheim, Dept. of Music, University of Kansas; and Jason Slote, Kansas Public Radio (KPR)
12:45–1:45	BREAK (Lunch provided for presenters in the Commons, provided by the Commons, the KU Jazz Festival, and the Dept. of American Studies)
2:00–5:30 p.m.	Afternoon Sessions at the Hall Center for the Humanities
2:00	Welcome
2:15–3:15 p.m.	“No Place for Jazz” Kevin Willmott, Dept of Film, University of Kansas, will share film clips from Jayhawkers and discuss the days not so long ago when jazz was not allowed at KU.
3:30–4:30 p.m.	Keynote Speaker: Charles Carson, Music, UT Austin “Philadelphia Stories: Race, Place, and the Jazz Geography of the City of Brotherly Love” co-sponsored by the Hall Center for the Humanities and the Hall Center Place, Race, & Space Seminar
4:30–5:30 p.m.	Performance by KU Combo 1
5:30–7:00 p.m.	Reception Sponsored by the Hall Center for the Humanities