Wolfram Knauer (44), musicologist and director of the Jazz-Institut Darmstadt, has been named as the recipient of the prestigious “Hessischer Jazzpreis 2002" (Hesse Jazz Award 2002) for his achievements in establishing an international jazz information and documentation center. In addition to serving music lovers and fans, the Darmstadt institute has become an efficient source for researchers, journalists, musicians, and the music business in general. The annual award, which is presented to those who have distinguished themselves musically in the Hessen area of Germany (which includes Frankfurt and some of the more active jazz regions of the country) has to date been given to musicians such as saxophonists Heinz Sauer, Emil Mangelsdorff, Ekkehard Jost, Alfred Harth, pianist Bob Degen, bassist Juergen Wuchner, drummer Ralph Huebner and others.
As the secretary of cultural affairs of the state of Hesse, Ms Ruth Wagner, states in her press notice, the jury has honored Knauer for establishing an internationally respected information and documentation center out of the archive of jazz critic and producer Joachim Ernst Berendt, whose collection was the basis of the institute's holdings. The municipal Jazz-Institut holds the largest public jazz collection in Europe. Knauer is also honored for organizing the world's only regular scholarly jazz conference, the “Darmstadt Jazzforum" which brings together scholars from different fields every other year and is documented in the (German language) book series “Darmstaedter Beitraege zur Jazzforschung", as well as for organizing workshops and “JazzTalk", a concert series at the Jazz- Institut in which, between the sets of fascinating contemporary jazz, Knauer sits down with the musicians to talk about their experiences as musicians, about problems and plans for the future, about their aesthetic points of view or just about the music which was heard during the first set.
Knauer's scholarly credits include several books on jazz. Among these are a two-volume analytical study on the music of the Modern Jazz Quartet, books on “Jazz and Composition", “Jazz in Europe", “Jazz in Germany", “Jazz and Language", “Duke Ellington and the Consequences", “Jazz and Society". He has also written numerous essays in German and English, and has been published in international books and scholarly journals. He has written and produced several radio programs on jazz, among them a four hour feature on saxophonist Sidney Bechet. He has been among the international advisers for the “New Grove Dictionary of Jazz" (both the 1988 and the 2001 editions) and has written several essays for the highly acclaimed “International Dictionary of Black Composers" (1998). Knauer has been director of the Jazz- Institut Darmstadt since its inception in 1990. In his work he tries to bridge the scholarly discussion and the practices of music making, information services for people interested in the music and painstaking documentation of musical developments from the past as well as the present, support for regional cultural projects and contributions to the international discourse about jazz. The Jazz- Institut's “Jazz Index", a computer-based bibliography on periodical articles, essays and books founded by Knauer and maintained by the Jazz-Institut, is used as an invaluable reference tool by researchers from all over the world.
Knauer will receive the “Hessischer Jazzpreis" during the festival “Hessisches Jazzpodium" on November 23rd, 2002, in Darmstadt. He has been granted the honor of chosing one of the program points during this concert, for which he decided upon an ensemble led by tenor saxophonist Heinz Sauer. “For me, Heinz Sauer is a perfect choice for an affair like this," says Knauer, “because I consider his one of the most continuously convincing voices in jazz over the past few decades". Sauer, who turns 70 this December, played with Albert Mangelsdorff in the 1960s and 1970s and with his own bands in more recent years. His projects have always shown an uncompromising approach to jazz, and a searching for the best in his own sound and the voices of his co-musicians. The “Hesse Jazz Award", which includes a monetary award of 10.000 Euro will be presented to Knauer by the secretary of cultural affairs of the state of Hesse, Ms Ruth Wagner, during the concert and ceremony.
More about the work of the Jazz-Institut Darmstadt can be found on their (bi-lingual) website: http://www.jazzinstitut.de
For more information contact All About Jazz.
