A newly funded project led by the University of Liverpool's Professor Catherine Tackley will promote engagement with big band jazz in the UK.
The project Community Jazz Big Bands in England has been awarded an AHRC Standard Grant of £1.089 million over 3 years and will address questions of how non-professional jazz big bands exemplify ideas of community. This will include exploring how they provide a way for large numbers of musicians and their audiences to engage with jazz and contribute to the function and value of jazz in England.
The project will contribute a nuanced analysis of this form of community music-making to tell different stories that result from the intersection of jazz and musical participation.
Professor Catherine Tackley said: "These bands have developed an important function as communities in their own right and as part of the geographical communities in which they are situated. Conversely, in musical terms, community big bands in England tend to replicate conventional jazz performance practices due to the limitations of commercially available repertoire and lack of access to professional expertise. To address this, the project will develop knowledge and resources which will help community big bands realise their potential."
There is no register of community big bands, so the project will map this field working with project partners Making Music. A number of bands will be studied in depth, which will also lead to the production of a radio documentary.
Working in collaboration with libraries, archives and individuals, a repertoire bank of big band pieces will be developed which draws on the history of the English big band and includes new commissions. This will be supplemented with resources to support engagement..
As well as the radio documentary, the project will stage a one-day festival, provide a report for Making Music, contribute an academic book and journal articles, and promote the wider study of big band jazz through a symposium and journal special issue.
Professor Tackley will work with Justin Williams (University of Bristol, Project Co-Lead) and Katherine Williams (Research and Innovation Associate) with another Associate to be appointed.
