What happened at the XIV IASJ Meeting in Freiburg, Germany:
The annual meeting of the International Association of Schools of Jazz directed by the saxophonist Dave Liebman is, no doubt, the most important meeting of schools of jazz all over the world due to the fact that during a whole week representatives, teachers and students work intensively as far as the education on jazz is concerned. EMU was represented at the meeting by its director Waldo Brandwajnman and the students Augusto Camerini and Diego Astrada who took part in the educational activities as well as in the proposals for representatives.

 

How it was
On the first day all the participants attended the opening ceremony where the director of the host school, the Rock and Pop Schule, Bernhard Hofmann, welcomed everybody and then started with what even the rest of the days would be called ‘daily announcements’. After that, the teachers headed the students casting in order to form the combos which would work together every day of the meeting performing songs composed by themselves – as it has been the tendency in the previous meetings along the years – situation which in this occasion particularly was made clear from the start by the organizing party who emphasized the fact that the meeting would have composition as the central aim. Therefore, all the combos used songs written by the students. With rare exceptions, this topic was the basis of all the clinics and conferences throughout the week.

Clinics and conferences
During the week, there were clinics on composition given by the following artists: the trombonist Ed Neumaster, the artistic director in residence George Gruntz, the Swiss guitarist Bill Warfield, the American Cristy Doran and the orchestra conductor Walter Thompson who explained the fantastic technique he calls ‘soundpainting’. The last clinic was in charge of the Spanish Xavier Marruetta. Moreover, during the week the students attended three separate clinics according to the corresponding instrument where they saw specifically improvisation or technique leaving aside composition.

The concerts
On the second day, the teachers gave their first concert at Grover Saal, an excellent jazz spot in Freiburg, and on the third day took place the second concert at Il Caffe in Bassel, Switzerland. On the fourth day everybody went to Mulhouse in France to attend the clinics and a students’ jam at the Municipal Theatre (something like the Coliseo Podestá theatre in the city of La Plata, Argentina). On the fifth day, took place the Soundpainting Workshop by the director Walter Thompson and a new students’ jam at another jazz site, Waldsee, one of the most important ones in Freiburg where important local figures as well as visitors have called at among them Betty Carter, the Johnny Griffyn Quartet and the Tony Williams Quartet just to mention some of them. On Friday, was the first students’ concert in room E-Werk at the Rock and Pop Schule, and on Saturday the second one where our students Diego Astrada and Augusto Camerini played with their respective ensambles .

Special agreement
On this journey, EMU agreed on an interchange with schools from Spain in order to let students come to Argentina or go to Spain as well as to allow those students who want to continue their studies at these schools to take advanced tests achieving an articulation so as to go on with the instruction in the new country. Moreover, and going on with this cooperation purpose among institutions, the New School of New York, one of the most prestigious schools of jazz in the U.S.A., will be coming to the La Plata Jazz Festival on its 2005 edition to take auditions and hand out scholarships among the interested South American people. Dealings are being made to let the educator George Garzone be the artist in residence during the festival since there will be really interesting educational activities .

No doubt, the annual meeting of the International Association of Schools of Jazz, where EMU – Educación Musical – belongs to since …….. years ago, is the most important jazz educational event all over the world. The event takes place to acknowledge the 30 best schools of jazz in the world being EMU in the lead as far as jazz and its derivative rhythms are concerned (funk, fusion, pop, etc.).

What was done at school level:During a whole week of intensive work, the present representatives of the IASJ schools discussed the different advances and problems related to jazz education. Some of the participants at the IASJ Meeting 2001 were: the Jazz Department of the University of Michigan, the Jazz Department of the University of Miami, the New School of New York, the Berkeley College of Music of Boston, the Helsinki Rock and Pop Conservatory, the Graz University, the Royal Academy of London, the Conservatory of Montreaux, the Rimon School of Jazz (Tel Aviv), the Taller de Músicos of Barcelona, the Hans Eisier Music School (Berlin), the Royal Conservatory of Holland, the Kozo Conservatory (Kobe, Japan), the New Park School Centre (Dublin), the Jazz and Rock Schule (Germany), the Hochschule der Kunste of Berlin, the American School of Modern Music of Paris, the Conservatory of Paris, the Music Academy of Kracovia, the Swiss Jazz School of Switzerland. Besides, independent members like the Big Band Swinging Europe, the Siena Jazz Association of Italy, the Hot Club of Portugal, the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE).

The students and Dave Liebman: The students were carefully mixed in groups (combos) with people from different countries with the purpose of preparing some material which was recorded at studio B of Berkeley. During the last two days of the meeting this material was presented in two different concerts held on Friday and Saturday at the Berkeley Performance Center, one of the most important auditoriums in Boston.

The clinics: The mornings were devoted to master classes given by different teachers from Berkeley such as Gary Burton, Tyger Okoshi and Steve Prosman and by the different instrument departments among which were Mick Goodrick, David Liebman and Rick Parkham (photo). The EMU party: From EMU travelled the students Pablo Zamponi, Matías Moretti, Alberto Fontana, Antonio Santamarta y Serafini, the teachers Roy Elder, Marcelo Serena and Alejandro Carrillo and as director of EMU Waldo Brandwajnman (photo).

After years of touring the world and after the visits to New York and Tel Aviv, it was Paris, the jazz capital par excellence from the Old World, the city which harbored the Meeting.

After taking accommodation, on the first day, all the participants went to one of the auditoriums in the Conservatory to attend the official opening in charge of David Liebman (photo) and Walter Turkemburg. Liebman talked about the objective of the meeting which would be no more than the definition of jazz.

Creativity, imagination and liberty: Groups were organized among the present students from the different schools bearing in mind the nationality and the language in order to awake a sixth sense among the participants.

While the students were working at the ensambles, the representatives met everyday to discuss the different problems of the schools thus generating an interchange of experiences about the way of teaching jazz.

The end of the IASJ Meeting in Paris 2000…
Near the end of the meeting, Dave Liebman shared some anecdotes about his own experience lived with John Coltrane and Miles Davis which were of immense value for the students. Finally, he read a letter from Wayne Shorter which could be applied to the aim of the meeting. To finish, he handed out a sheet of paper with the ten songs which must be known in order to play jazz:

1. Body and soul
2. Stella by starlight
3. All the things you are
4. Rhythm changes
5. So fly as in a morning sunrise
6. Autumn leaves
7. On Green Dolphin Street
8. All blues
9. There is no greater love