Leeds International Jazz Conference is an annual event focusing on jazz research, education and performance. It is the only conference of its kind in the UK, offering a unique forum to hear some of the latest sounds and ideas in jazz, as well as opportunities for discussion and networking, information exchange and professional development.

 

The 2007 conference will take place in Leeds from Thursday 22 to Saturday 24 March 2007. The programme will encompass paper presentations, workshops, performances and discussions under the overarching theme of Jazz: Inside and Outside. The conference will include a concert given by the Conservatoires UK Big Band, featuring the world premiere of a commissioned work by Mike Gibbs alongside a performance of the winning work in the Creative Exchange Student Composer Award 2007 (funded by the PRSF).

 

We are delighted to welcome Lewis Porter, Professor of Music and Director of the M.A. Program in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University-Newark (New Jersey, USA) as the ‘Jazz Perspectives’ keynote speaker for the event. Dr. Porter is the author of five books on jazz, including the acclaimed study John Coltrane: His Life and Music (University of Michigan Press, 1998). He is a founder and co-editor of a new peer-reviewed journal, Jazz Perspectives (Routledge). He is a frequent guest on radio, often quoted in print, and performs extensively as a pianist.

 

Call for Papers

 

As part of our programme of events, the conference committee invites proposals for papers, lecture recitals, panels and roundtable discussions. We welcome presentations that seek to comment on advances within the field, including commentary on the emergence of cross-disciplinary thinking and the development of new jazz scholarship. Proposals are invited for papers on any area of jazz research; however, possible topics for consideration may include:

 

Jazz in American culture and society

Playing ‘outside’

Jazz inside: recreating & preserving jazz traditions

Perceptions of jazz outside jazz communities

Jazz in film and on TV

Living the jazz life

Genre and identity

Archival work

Cultural studies

Can white men play the blues?

Jazz and gender

Jazz observed: biography, autobiography and jazz in literature

 

Individual presentations should be no more than twenty minutes in duration. There may be opportunities for longer slots for lecture recitals. Proposals for panels should include details of each presenter/paper to be included.

 

Proposals should take the form of a title followed by an abstract of not more than 200 words. The deadline for submissions is Monday 27 November 2006, and decisions will be notified shortly after this date.

 

Submissions should be addressed to:

Amy Jagger

Research and Enterprise Administrator

Leeds College of Music

3 Quarry Hill

Leeds LS2 7PD

a.jagger@lcm.ac.uk