Jazz from Socialist Realism to Postmodernism (Jazz under State Socialism)

In the 20th century, jazz was an important artistic form. Depending on the particular European country, jazz music carried different social, political and aesthetic meanings. It brought challenges in the areas of racial issues, the politics of the Cold War between East and West, and in the exploration of boundaries of artistic freedom. In socialist Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Poland, the situation began to change after 1956 and then 1968, when the ideologists shifted from the aesthetics of socialist realism to postmodernism. In Western countries such as France and Italy, jazz transformed from a modern to a postmodern period. This volume deals with the impact of these changes on the career development of jazz musicians – even beyond 1989 – in terms of various phenomena such as emigration, child prodigies, multiculturalism, multi-genre approaches, or female jazz musicians. Cover Contents Introduction I. The East and The West before 1989 Broadcasting Jazz into the Eastern Bloc – Cold War Weapon or Cultural Exchange? The Example of Willis Conover Jazz in France 1917–1929: the Missing Object of the Reception Valaida Snow: The First Multi-Instrumentalist between America and Europe The Emergence of the Nordic Concept as a Precursor of Emancipation and Slovak-Scandinavian Relations (1950–1970) Hungarian Free Jazz: Compositional and Improvisational Structures in the Music of György Szabados, as Exemplified in “The Wedding” The Jazz Section and its Influence on the Development of Regional Cultures in Czechoslovakia before 1989: the Music Scene in Olomouc Jazz Artists in the Former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Their Conflicts with the Socialist Ideology The Different Careers of Slovak and Czech Jazz Musicians in the United States – Laco Déczi, Jan Hammer, Miroslav Vitouš, Jiří Mráz Classical Music and Jazz as Inspirations for Modern Music Fusions Who Best Knows What Jazz Is? The Legacy of L’ubomír Tamaškovič, a Unique Slovak Jazzman in Post-Modern Times II. The East and The West after 1989 Toni Kitanovski and Cherkezi Orchestra – Global and Local Intercourse Strategies of Domination or Ways of Differentiation from Rivals in the Jazz Field The Changing Face of Slovak Jazz Jazz Personalities after the Downfall of the Iron Curtain: Matúš Jakabčic and His Contribution to Slovak Jazz Penetration of Jazz into Various Genres and Subcultures Jazz: Made in Europe Peter Breiner – A Slovak Musician Jazz: Labour versus Opus Yvetta Kajanova, Gertrud Pickhan, Rudiger Ritter (eds.).