A selection of essays and lectures that I have written or given over the years; here, where possible, supplemented with illustrations and musical examples.
| Melba Liston Portrait of trombonist and arranger Melba Liston with audio examples (extended long version of my “Detour Ahead” column from Jazz Podium, 2‑3/2025) |  |
 | Janusz Stefanski Hosting a benefit for Janusz Stefański on October 6, 2002 |
| International Youth Band at Newport 1958 In the spring of 1958, George Wein and Marshall Brown auditioned 17 young European musicians for a big band that was to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival that same year. For many of the participants, the two-month trip was a formative experience. (Long version of my “Detour Ahead” column from Jazz Podium, 12/1 2024/2025) |  |
 | Black Beauty – Black Power Tradition and Revolution in the Music of John Coltrane, as Depicted in Various Interpretations of My Favorite Things This essay appeared in 1998 in the commemorative publication for Alfons Michael Dauer. |
| Jazz Meets the World In the late 1960s, Joachim Ernst Berendt released a series of records under the title “Jazz Meets the World.” For a re-release in 1997, I had the privilege of writing the liner notes for the two CDs “Jazz Meets Europe” and “Jazz Meets Africa.” |  |
 | Jazz and architecture I gave this lecture as part of the Jazz Studies Group at Columbia University, New York, in April 2018. The topic of that year’s group was „Planning the city – learning from jazz“ |
| What could be more political than creating a utopia? Jazz as a musical practice of the present This essay was published in Musik und Ästhetik, Jg. 22, Heft 86, April 2018: 80-84 |  |
 | Transformations and Further Passages The Clarinet Trio liner notes für das Album „Transformations and Further Passages“ von The Clarinet Trio mit Gebhard Ullmann, Michael Thiele, Jürgen Kupke (2021) |
| 1968 – Bremen – Brötzmann A reflection on the unintentional revolutionary nature of a jazz album This lecture was given as part of the series of events celebrating “50 Years of Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun” in May 2018 in Bremen. On the evening after the lecture, Brötzmann played in a trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach and Han Bennink at the Lila Eule. |  |
 | “On Patrol in No Man's Land” A tribute to the recordings of James Reese Europe This essay originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Jazz Podium. |
| Cecil Percival Taylor I wrote this essay about Cecil Taylor as composer together with two other essays (on Jelly Roll Morton and John Lewis) for the two-volume International Dictionary of Black Composers, edited by Samuel A. Floyd Jr., published in 1999 |  |
 | Blow your horn, man! On the questionable aesthetics of masculinity in jazz I wrote this text for the program booklet of the 53rd Jazzfest Berlin, for which festival director Richard Williams achieved gender parity among band leaders for the first time. |
| “Then we'll play what you conduct!” An overview of the tradition of composition and conducting in jazz This article originally appeared in the volume edited by Alexander Drčar and Wolfgang Gratzer, Komponieren & Dirigieren. Doppelbegabungen als Thema der Interpretationsgeschichte (Freiburg 2017). |  |
 | Medieval Blues Notes on projects involving jazz and medieval music This article, written in 1998, appeared in the volume edited by Wolfgang Gratzer and Hartmut Möller, Übersetzte Zeit. The Middle Ages and Contemporary Music |