With Jazz in Europe, José Dias has set himself a tall order. On the one hand, the book's primary aim is ‘to provide readers with a closer insight into the varied and complex nuances of jazz networking in Europe’ (p. 4) More problematic, however, are his efforts to describe how European ‘jazz actors’ perceive jazz in Europe as representing a developing jazz tradition that is distinct from the dominant American model.
Dias does show how this notion and their sense of a European identity informs the musical practice of his predominantly young interviewees and also how such ideas are reflected in the work of others such as writers and promoters. He draws attention the role played by European Union cultural institutions in supporting jazz, even pointing to several statements that claim European jazz as a representation of the founding ideals of the European project (pp. 17–18, 27–33). At the same time, the author points up the disparity in terms of levels of support provided by different EU states for jazz and gaps between EU funding and the experiences of musicians and promoters at ground level. Such remarks will not surprise.
However, what is most useful and suggestive for the future of the music in Jazz in Europe is Dias’ examination of what he calls the ‘DIY’ strategies pursued by younger jazz musicians in building their own communication and support networks. Here, Dias draws upon two case studies – Ireland's 12 Points Festival and the Portuguese record label Sintoma. The strategies he depicts could usefully offer a practice model for jazz that does not solely rely on the twin regimes of accumulation (the music industry) and patronage (state and corporate funding). Given his track record as a researcher and musician in this area, one hopes he will take these ideas further in a future volume. The need to develop alternative strategies for promoting and sustaining jazz is stronger now than ever.
Dias does not set out his underlying theoretical assumptions in Jazz in Europe, although it is possible to glean these from the text. He quotes approvingly from an article by Tony Whyton, a proponent of the ‘New Jazz Studies’, in which Whyton calls for a discourse that resists ‘essentialist ideologies’ (Dias p. 6; Whyton Reference Whyton, Cerchiari, Cugny and Kerschbaumer2012). The echo of Lyotard's Postmodern Condition (Reference Lyotard, Bennington and Massumi1979) is loud indeed. In fact, there is a strong whiff of post-structuralism, post-modernism and the retreat from complexity about Jazz in Europe. Moreover, as with much writing in this vein, despite brief references to history of the EEC/EU, one can fairly describe Dias’ approach as a-historical. One reference to European democratic ideas and models being ‘inherited from the United States’ is particularly misleading, while the understanding of the complex, and often contradictory history of the European project is weak (p. 15).
A simpler issue arises in terms of the structure and presentation of Jazz in Europe. It reads less like a book but rather as a cross between an academic thesis and a discussion document. Dias’ explanation of his methodology is a reasonable one, even if the sample populations are limited. However, the presentation of lengthy, unedited quotations – in several cases a whole page or more – makes for a difficult read. Nor, beyond the recapitulation of the common themes of such quotations, is there any substantial critical analysis of their content.
It is obvious from Jazz in Europe – and from the recent responses of a number of British jazz musicians to Brexit – that many European musicians value the opportunities resulting from the free movement of persons and goods afforded by Citizens’ Rights Directive 2004/38/EC. It is also clear that many jazz musicians, promoters and fans share many of the underpinning, social-democratic values that have informed the European project, which accord with their own lived experiences. In a Europe now confronting the rising tide of racism, fascism and nationalism, this is at least a sign of some hope.
However, this is a long way from what might be described as a European identity or a European jazz tradition. It is in respect of the latter that I have most concerns about the tenor of Jazz in Europe and the comments by a number of Dias’ interviewees. The very fragility of notions of a European identity could not be more apparent. At one level, one sees a rise of nationalism, in part at least, a reaction to the near wholesale adoption by the EU of neo-liberal austerity policies. At another level, one observes the punishments imposed by dominant EU states such as Germany and France upon defaulters like Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. Neither augurs well for notions of a shared European identity. Are these young musicians harbingers of a brighter European future or do they more closely resemble the flowering of avant-garde art between the wars that was snuffed out by fascism?
Further, the very idea of constructing a ‘tradition’ with any of the arts is fraught with difficulty. Such attempts often resort to canonical approaches based upon certain key figures and recordings and frequently exclude from and include within the canon using criteria that are themselves contestable. The most serious example of this in jazz arose with the 1990s debates triggered by Wynton Marsalis and his mentors, writers Albert Murray and Stanley Crouch, who sought to impose a very rigid definition of tradition that diminished the roles played by white musicians and rejected developments such as free jazz and jazz-rock. The pernicious effect of this can, I suggest, be seen in the responses of various interviewees referenced in Jazz in Europe, who one suspects are reacting to that debate (see for example pp. 26, 121–9). Indeed, one interviewee suggests that European jazz might define itself less by ‘swing’ and ‘blue notes’ – blues, swing and blue notes being key signifiers for the MMC troika – while another refers to a number of key European jazz figures, as if proposing an alternative canon (p. 123).
Despite references to the ‘American jazz tradition’ and, even more problematically the ‘European jazz tradition’, nowhere in Jazz in Europe is defined. The possibility that it might be possible to describe a distinctive jazz tradition in ways that are reasonably open, non-canonical, dynamic and yet respectful of the music's rich African-American and African origins seems to escape these young musicians.
The need to move beyond the notion of jazz as genre, replacing this with a more functional understanding of jazz as a set of musical practices, could not be more apparent. Such an approach allows for a much more radical, indeed politicised jazz tradition that restores to jazz certain elements such as its connection to African-American gospel, dance and (secular) spirituality, while leaving space to include how jazz, as a folk-based music, has been taken up across the world and brought together with local musical influences to create a plethora of ways of making jazz. Sadly, I find little evidence of such a conception in Jazz in Europe.
