{"id":341,"date":"2025-03-12T16:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T16:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/?page_id=341"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:07:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:07:29","slug":"essays","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/essays","title":{"rendered":"Essays"},"content":{"rendered":"

A selection of essays and lectures that I have written or given over the years; here, where possible, supplemented with illustrations and musical examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melba Liston<\/a><\/strong>

\nPortrait of trombonist and arranger Melba Liston with audio examples (extended long version of my \u201cDetour Ahead\u201d column from Jazz Podium<\/em>, 2\u20113\/2025)<\/td>		\"Melba<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Janusz<\/td>Janusz Stefanski<\/strong><\/a>

Hosting a benefit for Janusz Stefa\u0144ski on October 6, 2002<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
International Youth Band at Newport 1958<\/a><\/strong>

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 \u201cDetour Ahead\u201d column from Jazz Podium<\/em>, 12\/1 2024\/2025)<\/td>		\"\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>Black Beauty \u2013 Black Power<\/strong><\/a>

<\/a>Tradition and Revolution in the Music of John Coltrane, as Depicted in Various Interpretations of My Favorite Things<\/em><\/strong>

This essay appeared in 1998 in the commemorative publication for Alfons Michael Dauer.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Jazz Meets the World<\/strong>
<\/a>
In the late 1960s, Joachim Ernst Berendt released a series of records under the title \u201cJazz Meets the World.\u201d For a re-release in 1997, I had the privilege of writing the liner notes for the two CDs \u201cJazz Meets Europe\u201d and \u201cJazz Meets Africa.\u201d<\/td>		\"\"<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>Jazz and architecture<\/a><\/strong>

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 \u2013 learning from jazz“<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What could be more political than creating a utopia?<\/a> <\/strong>
Jazz as a musical practice of the present<\/strong>

This essay was published in Musik und \u00c4sthetik<\/em>, Jg. 22, Heft 86, April 2018: 80-84








<\/td>		\"\"<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>Transformations and Further Passages<\/strong><\/a>
The Clarinet Trio<\/strong>

liner notes f\u00fcr das Album „Transformations and Further Passages“ von The Clarinet Trio mit Gebhard Ullmann, Michael Thiele, J\u00fcrgen Kupke (2021)


<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1968 \u2013 Bremen \u2013 Br\u00f6tzmann<\/a><\/strong>
A reflection on the unintentional revolutionary nature of a jazz album<\/strong>

This lecture was given as part of the series of events celebrating \u201c50 Years of Peter Br\u00f6tzmann's Machine Gun<\/em>\u201d in May 2018 in Bremen. On the evening after the lecture, Br\u00f6tzmann played in a trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach and Han Bennink at the Lila Eule.<\/td>		\"\"<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td> \u201cOn Patrol in No Man's Land\u201d<\/a><\/strong>
A tribute to the recordings of James Reese Europe
<\/strong>
This essay originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Jazz Podium<\/em>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Cecil Percival Taylor<\/a><\/strong>

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<\/em>, edited by Samuel A. Floyd Jr., published in 1999


<\/td>		\"\"<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>Blow your horn, man! <\/a><\/strong>
On the questionable aesthetics of masculinity in jazz<\/strong>

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.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen we'll play what you conduct!\u201d <\/a><\/strong>
An overview of the tradition of composition and conducting in jazz<\/strong>

This article originally appeared in the volume edited by Alexander Dr\u010dar and Wolfgang Gratzer, Komponieren & Dirigieren. Doppelbegabungen als Thema der Interpretationsgeschichte<\/em> (Freiburg 2017).<\/td>		\"\"<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>Medieval Blues<\/a><\/strong>
Notes on projects involving jazz and medieval music<\/strong>

This article, written in 1998, appeared in the volume edited by Wolfgang Gratzer and Hartmut M\u00f6ller, \u00dcbersetzte Zeit. The Middle Ages and Contemporary Music<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eine Auswahl an Essays und Vortr\u00e4gen, die ich \u00fcber die Jahre geschrieben bzw. gehalten habe; hier, wo es geht, erg\u00e4nzt um Abbildungen bzw. Musikbeispiele. Melba Liston Portrait der Posaunistin und Arrangeurin Melba Liston mit H\u00f6rbeispielen (ausf\u00fchrliche Langfassung meiner „Detour Ahead“-Kolumne aus dem Jazz Podium, 2-3\/2025) Janusz Stefanski Ansage zu einem Benefiz-Konzert f\u00fcr den Schlagzeuger Janusz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-341","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolframknauer.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}