Women and Jazz: European Perspectives from Female Researchers and Artists

Women and Jazz: European Perspectives from Researchers and Artists is an edited volume bringing together the work of female researchers exploring the complex relationship between jazz and gender. Who are the European and Europe-based women in jazz, and do they perceive jazz as still being a male-dominated world? Women and Jazz encompasses a broad range of views and themes, including the role of women in European jazz history, their daily lives, motherhood, music education, festivals, and live performance.

This volume features interviews with 26 female European or Europe-based jazz artists, which serve as tangible illustrations of the female experience in professional jazz. This work also sheds light on hidden gems within jazz, introducing readers to talented female artists who may have been overlooked. Readers can gain insight into inspiring stories of perseverance and creativity, as well as unique perspectives that each musician brings to the music. By reading this book, individuals can contribute to amplifying underrepresented voices in the world of jazz and promoting a more inclusive understanding of the music and society. Women and Jazz will be of interest to jazz professionals, popular music scholars, gender studies scholars, teachers, students, and anyone wanting to learn more about women’s perspectives on the field of jazz.

José Dias is a musician and researcher, currently serving as Assistant Professor in Critical Practices at Coventry University. He has authored Jazz in Europe: Networking and Negotiating Identities (Bloomsbury, 2019) and Festa do Jazz (INCM, 2020) and directed the documentary Those Who Make It Happen (2016). As a musician and composer, Dias has toured and recorded extensively and scored music for animation, film and television, as well as theatre and contemporary dance.

Christa Bruckner-Haring is a musicologist specializing in jazz and popular music research and deputy director of the Institute for Jazz Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she is also co-editor of the publication series Jazzforschung/Jazz Research, Beiträge zur Jazzforschung/Studies in Jazz Research, and Jazz Research News. Her work has appeared in such publications as Transnational Studies in Jazz, Jazz Research Journal, Beiträge zur Popularmusikforschung, the encyclopaedia MGG, and her monograph Gonzalo Rubalcaba und die kubanische Musik (2015).