Musicians in postwar France struggled to establish not only a national jazz sound, but to stand up to comparisons with internationally renowned American jazz musicians. In 1960 when asked, “What is French jazz?” French musicians asserted that it was “jazz played by musicians of the French language,” (McGregor 2016, 162) seeing jazz musicians everywhere as practitioners of the same music. While recognizing the importance of honoring French jazz musicians, critics and fans acknowledged the absence of a distinctively French genre of jazz.

Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) was first to make “jazz français” a reality. Starting with banjo and guitar Django played traditional French and Roma music in dance halls, incorporating jazz language to create new sounds. Dying young, his legendary status lived on, not only in French and European jazz, but as a leading jazz guitar master worldwide.

Several obstacles presented to jazz musicians in postwar France included local record companies promoting American records instead of French ones, jazz club promoters favoring American artists over locals, and jazz journalism failing to pay attention to the French jazz scene. Musician Martian Solal held that if nothing was reported about French jazz in their own jazz periodicals, fans would assume “only the American creations were worth considering or buying.” (McGregor, 180) Critics contributed to poor record sales in France by focusing on American records.

In the mid-60s French musicians established a union to lobby for fair compensation and work conditions, and to defend their right to local gigs ahead of touring American musicians. By 1970 it was clear that innovation in jazz and the definition of separate styles “tended to unfold in the United States and then to migrate to other places” rather than develop in France or elsewhere (McGregor, 194).

Explore further by reading the chapter ‘More than an American Music’ from Jazz and Postwar French Identity: Improvising the Nation by Elizabeth Vihlen McGregor.

Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida’s 1953 recording with American Bud Shank served as precursor to bossa nova. Composer Luiz Bonfá created music for the film Black Orpheus (1959) which intersected concurrently with this new style. According to author Bryan McCann, bossa nova originated with guitarist/singer João Gilberto’s collaborations with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1957-58.

Nylon string guitars, vibrato-less singing, and straight eighth note rhythms with hints of easygoing samba feel characterize this hybrid music. Simplicity predominates in the delivery of bossa nova as harmony is presented unornamented with subtle beauty.

Rapid economic growth and infrastructural expansion in Rio de Janeiro created the backdrop for this music. Ipanema, a beach city immortalized in the Jobim tune named after it, represented the ideal culture—relaxed, sultry, and simply adorned. The style caught on and was further solidified by the context of life in Rio which provided fuel for Brazilian Portuguese lyricists Newton Mendonça and Vinicius de Moraes.

Gilberto developed a new kind of guitar comping technique, the batida de violão. Mimicking the movements of Afro-Brazilian washer women in his native Juazeiro, Gilberto reinforced the reflection of cultural inheritance and tradition in his music. He modified his singing style from full voiced, with vibrato, to barely above a whisper, with no vibrato. He adjusted his rhythmic timing toward syncopation, slightly before or after the beat.

Meanwhile, Tom Jobim learned harmony, arranging, and composition from German composer Joachim Koellreutter, melding European techniques with Afro-Brazilian music. Jobim’s “Chega de Saudade” combined Impressionism, Brazilian choro, and samba. The meeting of Jobim and Gilberto firmly established bossa nova as a new style. Gilberto’s 1958 recording of “Chega de Saudade” represents the first recording of authentic bossa nova.

Explore further by reading the chapter ‘What is Bossa Nova?’ from João Gilberto and Stan Getz’s Getz/Gilberto by Bryan McCann.

Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band

E. Taylor Atkins presents a fascinating account of the inner workings of the Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band and their Kogun recording (1974). In chapter 3, “The Band,” Atkins describes how in 1972 Akiyoshi and Tabackin created a rehearsal band in L.A. to experiment with musical textures, colors, and moods in Akiyoshi’s unusual jazz writing. While most big bands played nostalgic swing, others were writing and recording innovative music—Thad Jones and Mel Lewis led a racially integrated ensemble weekly at the Village Vanguard where they played original pieces and standards. Bands led by Rich, Bellson, Ferguson, Watrous, Palmieri, Puente, and others ventured out with their own new material. Even so, big bands in the ‘70s and beyond have been viewed as ensembles from yesteryear rather than vehicles for new jazz. Record stores even separated big band albums from the jazz category during this period.

Akiyoshi’s original music was pervasively difficult. Lead trumpeter Bobby Shew recalled objecting to the extreme range she had written for him to play. He recollected practicing trumpet études up an octave to ease his comfort playing very high passages. Shew credited Akiyoshi with helping to develop him into a trumpet master with an incredible high range. 

A masterful pianist, Akiyoshi also became known for her elegant dresses and sunglasses, authoritative conducting style, and meticulous elicitation of the colors and textures she drew from each member of her band.

Explore further by reading the chapter ‘The Band’ from Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band’s Kogun by E. Taylor Atkins.

Brotherhood of Breath – from South Africa to London

Bill Shoemaker’s book sheds new light on jazz history by focusing on the relevance of artists long marginalized or omitted in traditional accounts.

Hailing from South Africa, pianist Chris McGregor developed his band Brotherhood of Breath years after arriving in London in 1965 with the Blue Notes who played at the original site of Ronnie Scott’s. Infusing avant-garde style like Alvin Ayler’s, McGregor celebrated the comradeship of South African musicians in his music. (Shoemaker 2023, 31). Although frequently compared with contemporary pianist Cecil Taylor and his torrents of sound, McGregor performed more like his inspiration Duke Ellington in knowing when to interject and when to lay out of the big band texture. Church-inspired progressions as well as mainstream jazz chordal textures are audible in his solos. McGregor effectively used “African roots to contextualize American materials.” (Shoemaker, 35)

Renowned for his energetic playing, saxophonist Pukwana wrote several of the band’s pieces. Their music incorporates native musical influences like Kwela (South African street music popular in 1960s London, characterized by joyful melodies and infectious grooves.) Kwela translates to “get up” in Zulu. This music exhibited stark differences from American jazz.

By the end of the ‘60s the jazz market in the UK had essentially dried up. Pursuing grant funding to perform and record music presented its own challenges for McGregor but eventually led to a concert at Notre Dame attended by Joe Boyd, a promoter with RCA connections. Boyd suggested recording McGregor’s band, Brotherhood of Breath, without delay. This impromptu studio session birthed recordings of uncut pieces including the twenty-minute “Night Poem.” Shoemaker describes the music and notes the “new direction” this band signaled with its extended recordings.

Explore further by reading the chapter ‘1970: Travelling Somewhere’ in Jazz in the 1970s – Diverging Streams by Bill Shoemaker.

The jazz economy in Europe

Author José Dias addresses concerns affecting contemporary jazz in Europe including the regular European broadcasting of dedicated classical radio despite classical music representing a fraction of total music revenue. If this is possible for classical styles, why not for jazz? Also, jazz is covered only by specialized magazines or late-night radio rather than prime time media. In Europe it tends to be relegated to a few weekly minutes of public radio airtime. Another concerning point is that jazz audiences are accustomed to getting the genre for free. The ubiquity of free jazz may diminish its worth in consumers’ minds whereas to enjoy a classical or mainstream commercial artist’s concert generally incurs a substantial financial cost as well as the consumer’s expectation that the music will be worth the fee. This lowered expectation for jazz entertainment may be hurting jazz artists, but presenters fear that monetizing jazz may cause audiences not to show. Another prickle arises because jazz is often grouped with other genres (blues, pop, folk, rock, etc.) so research data about audiences, funding realities, and grants pertaining specifically to jazz cannot be easily obtained. Since European music promoters (and musicians themselves) view jazz as a marginal genre within the greater arts infrastructure (Payne 2001, 11), jazz consistently receives less institutional support and overall national economic support than its classical counterparts.

Although 58% of British jazz musicians teach, education constitutes only 21% of an average jazz musician’s income due to oversaturation of the music teaching market (Bezenac 2013, 3). Graduates of music schools discover high competition in the workplace among themselves as well as intergenerationally among musician-teachers that have been in the industry for decades.

Explore further by reading the chapter ‘Challenges for European jazz networking’ from Jazz in Europe: Networking and Negotiating Identities by José Dias.

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