Snapshot – Jazz Now/Jazz from the GDR

Martin Linzer (1980)

Jazz in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
10 Remarks on the Development of a Scene

1
Jazz in the GDR - that is: the musicians of the Uli Gumpert Workshop Band, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky and Conny Bauer, that is: “Baby” Sommer, the most “group-dynamic percussionist in Europe” (JAZZ FORUM), that is: the Formations of Friedhelm Schönfeld and Günther Fischer, the Berlin Improvisation Trio and Hanno Rempel... *
Jazz in the GDR - that is: “Jazz in der Kammer” and the international workshops organized by the TiP, that is: the Berlin Jazzbühne (transl. 'Jazz Stage') and the weekly Monday evening performances at the Youth Centre “House of Young Talents”, the Jazz Workshop at Peitz and the Leipzig Festival Days, the Rostock Jazz Discourse, the Weimar Jazz Festival, the performances organized by Jazz Clubs at Schwerin and Karl-Marx-Stadt, at Mittweida and Glauchau, Eisenach and Ilmenau...

2
In 1979, a study on ‘Jazz in the GDR' was published by the Directorate with the Committee for Popular Music and Entertainment. It contained what could be called a theoretical attempt to define the function of Jazz in the musical life of the GDR as well as a documentation on contemporary representation of Jazz. The authors could start from the fact that - 30 years after the GDR was established - Jazz now has found its place and social recognition in the country's politico-cultural scenery.
The authors call attention to: the increasing professionalization of Jazz, the quantitative increase in number and interest of a Jazz audience, the sudden existensity of performance activity, and the arising international recognition for GDR Jazz as a national contribution of its own.

3
It is a known fact that when Jazz came to Germany after World War II, it was at first and exclusively an American music, and, as an American music, it was “consumed” by the people and reproduced by national musicians in its traditional forms.
The lack of a national Jazz tradition, the interrupted international cultural exchange during Hitler fascism (when Jazz was denounced and suppressed for being “decadent” and “Nigger music”) and the rupture caused by war, the very special political situation in a divided Germany complicated and slackened the development of a particularly national Jazz music and Jazz scene.
Influenced by the more rapid development in Czechoslovakia and in Poland and by getting acquainted with international trends (via the international Jazz Festivals in Prague and Warsaw ever since the midfifties), only during the sixties an active process of discussing traditional (American) forms of Jazz set in - a discussion involving the audience.
The “fans” which up to then had identified Jazz with Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (both had toured the GDR a.o. countries in the beginning of the sixties) and with whet they had heard from AFN and 'Club 18' broadcasts as well as completely new groups of people who until then had not been reached by Jazz, they all began to develop an interest in the “experiments” presented by their national musicians.
Now, these musicians stepped out of their introverted exclusiveness of 'underground' and gained publicity. All those musicians who up to that time had appeared rather isolated now presented themselves to the public in some first big concerts at Dresden in 1965/1966.

4
Without any doubt, during the middle of the sixties, Jazz has been emancipated from American influence. How would you, in retrospect, describe your own development within that process?
In my view, the development was quite natural and quite inevitable. And, with each of us, it happened without any conscious drive. I've always had an open ear for everything new and interesting, without discarding that of tradition which was valuable and dear to me. And, the way I see it, from the attempt not only to accept the new but to really understand it and, even more, to get a feeling for it, the result was a synthesis determining our future development and forming our own music without ever neglecting what else happens in this world.
Ernst-Ludwig-Petrowsky in a JAZZ FORUM Interview, 1977

5
In 1965, a group of young Berlin actors assisted by an experienced young gardening architect initiated a regular series of Jazz concerts. On November. 1st, 'Jazz in der Kammer' (with the Joachim Kühn Trio) was born. This concert series, supported by the 'Deutsches Theater' and performed at the Theater's 'Kammerspiele', went through 112 concerts until March of 1979 (when, due to urgent construction measures, the building had to be closed down; therefore, the concerts have been discontinued till this day).
The initiators explained in 1965 what they intended by their concerts: to create a permanent podium for Jazz, one that had not existed in Berlin up to that time, to popularize and to promote Jazz, to present the national scene as well as to engage international representatives of contemporary Jazz. (After 100 concerts, the result was: more than 350 musicians from 20 countries had been guest-performers at the 'Kammer' - the anniversary concert alone introduced the entire active GDR Jazz scene, hosting the Albert Mangelsdorff Quartet, the Breuker-Cuypers Duo, the bass players Kent Carter, Maarten von Regteren Altena and Aladar Pege a.o.) What had started out to be a hobby - undertaking of some individual enthusiasts, 14 years after became an institution having gained appreciation not alone in the musical life of the GDR but also worldwide. Even more important than this statement (also, the author of this article must avoid any suspicion of self-praise) is the evidence that a general “objective” tendency of development promoted by subjective involvement of sponsors, musicians, audience (and a tolerant way of politico-cultural observation) there had combined in a most tangible and striking way of expressing itself.
The history of 'Jazz in der Kammer' as a focus and equally an orienting factor in the development of a national scene: there, GDR musicians presented their then newest productions; there, they experimented with new 'casts' for their bands in a workshop-fashion (the various Gumpert bands all starlet out at the 'Kammer'); there was a centre, a place to meet - and, increasingly so, a place to meet with those foreign musicians who later became important for the developing of a national school.

6
In retrospect, I consider October 15th, 1973 to be an important (historic?) date: the 61st concert of 'Jazz in der Kammer' hosted the Irène Schweizer Quartet (with Rüdiger Carl, Arjen Gorter, Heinrich Hock). Since this was part of the 'Kammer' conception, it was scarcely a sensation. But it was - something that could not be anticipated at that time in all its consequences - the first concert ever being accomplished by (at that time still unofficial) FMP negotiations.
After Irène Schweizer, Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink came to perform, followed by Schlippenbach and Breuker, by ICP-musicians and Free jazzers from Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark. The 'Kammer' was a first “entrance” for musicians who were to become important stimulators for the national GDR development - the way FMP had become a first “exit” to GDR performers on Western stages: Workshop Freie Musik, Total Music Meeting…. What had starlet out as a “one way road”, to quote Peter Brötzmann, 5 years later turned into a busy main road, passable in both directions.

7
The year of 1973 still contains another important date: On June 2nd, the 1st Jazz Workshop took place at Peitz (in the meantime, there have been 36 workshops, not counting the summer Open Air Festival). Peitz is a phenomenon and deserves to be mentioned. There, in a sleepy town of 5,000 inhabitants, situated near Cottbus, owing to an untiring and devoted activity of a handful of enthusiasts, the most important center of contemporary Jazz outside of Berlin came into being, attracting the entire country.
The initiators in 1973 expressed their intentions as follows: “To unfold the variety of contemporary Jazz to the listeners by presenting diverse Jazz bands, in order to inspire both audience and performers and thereby extending Jazz to a major audience.”
Since that year, there have been approximately six to eight concerts annually, well-attended by concertgoers from all over the GDR. The program which in regular sessions presents the national scene, preferably workshop ensembles, is gaining the more attraction the more prominent its guest-performers are. Compared to the first few years when mainly Polish musicians had played at Peitz, due to the favorable geographic location of their home country (and before they came to discover America for themselves: Makowicz, Namyslowsky, Stanko), the center of attraction gradually extended to comprise others; in the meantime, the Globe Unity Orchestra as well as the entire West German and GB-Avantgarde have been performing at Peitz. Ulli Blobel, the motor of development at Peitz, was able to carry his management beyond the limits of Peitz, acting now as a sponsor of concert tours throughout the GDR, preferring “mixed” band arranged with GDR musicians and international guest-performers. This practice common to international Jazz not only showed interesting artistic results, it also proved to be an economic necessity for the national musicians since more and more of them perform exclusively and professionally as Jazz musicians. This enables them besides their several concert tours each year to maintain for instance the interest of a small town-audience and to avoid saturation by offering a variety of interesting musical presentations.

8
This example of Peitz signifies a typical specialty of the GDR Jazz scene where commercial Jazz Clubs do not exist. Not considering the relatively rare representative big concerts sponsored by the radio stations, municipal or state institutions or agencies (Jazzbühne Berlin, International Dixieland Festival at Dresden, Big Band concerts on tour), the GDR scene subsists on the activity of the many and various local Jazz Clubs, workshop groups and associations who supported the development of contemporary Live-Jazz representation by sponsoring regular concert series and Club performances and who now provide an economic base for the Jazz musicians.
These associations can hardly be compared to any of the popular Fan Clubs. They are busy organizers who (neither commercially nor professionally oriented) help to arrange professional Jazz concerts in their home towns.
The established clubs have chosen individual organizational forms; varying with their local conditions, the try to find allies either at institutions (universities, colleges and professional schools, public cultural centers), mass organizations (the 'Kulturbund', 'Freie Deutsche Jugend') or at large industrial plants which occasionally sponsor and subsidize individual performances.
Several clubs are sponsoring annual festivals lasting several days, partly with international participation, such as the festivals at Rostock, Freiberg, Weimar and Jena. At Leipzig, the 'Association of Jazz Friends' arranged a four day-festival in 1980, presenting 15 formations with musicians from 10 countries.

9
This base work was carried out in context with general political and politico-cultural developments and, therefore, could not be done without some complications and temporary set-backs. Coming from the time when Jazz was resented as an American music, as an import of Western culture (and too obviously had Jazz been abused as another weapon in ideological struggle during the first post-war decade - comp. Field-Marshal Montgomery's remark, “If we cannot conquer the Communist East by weapons, we can by Jazz trumpet”) and which only during the sixties gradually turned into a phase of increasing tolerance towards the initiatives and activities of both Jazz musicians and sponsors, there is still misunderstanding and distrust towards Jazz on the part of territorial agencies yet to be removed completely. The way from the 'underground' to publicity thus developed only hesitatingly, not stimulated and directed by resolutions or state measures but rather spontaneously, rapidly; dependent upon initiatives of individual activists and enthusiasts, upon their ability to find allies within the territory and to organize their audience.
What happened there, at first, was hardly ever reflected in public - a qualified Jazz journalism could not develop; till this day, the established musicology barely takes any notice of Jazz being one form of contemporary music-making. Except for radio broadcasts, Jazz is only slowly gaining ground in the media (TV, records).

10
One of the premises of Socialist cultural policymaking is to promote artistic production in all its variety under the aspect of equally satisfying and developing complex artistic needs.
“We do not want to or have to do without, and we cannot give up any of the colors and sounds”, declared Deputy Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Committee for Popular Music and Entertainment, Mr. Siegfried Wagner, programmatically in 1978 at a central conference of performers of popular music. The establishing of a 'Jazz Workshop-Group' with the Directorate of the Committee for Popular Music and Entertainment is a practical result of this new attitude to expressly and fully integrate Jazz into our cultural life. And it is a result of the “march through the institutions” by Jazz musicians and Jazz activists. At this 'Workshop-Group', Jazz practitioners and Jazz theorists, in an advisory function, now contribute to the development of “their” music and assist in solving existing or upcoming jazz problems.

* Jazz in the GDR here and below is meant to comprise contemporary Jazz of various styles. In the GDR, traditional Jazz is being cultivated almost exclusively by an amateur scene at a relatively poor stage of development.

Translation: Rosemarie Jung

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