Analyzing Contemporary International Jazz Artists

Assignment description:
Global Music and Jazz
Jazz Music is an original American art form that incorporates music from many different cultures. It has become an international music, which can be heard in most countries around the world, performed by musicians from those countries as well as American musicians. This assignment is a research and writing assignment that asks you to write about a contemporary International Jazz musician/group (a musician or group that comes from a country other than the USA) or an International jazz “scene” (a place where Jazz activity takes place) such as a famous International jazz festival like the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, or the jazz scene found in an international metropolitan area such as Paris, London, Cape Town or Tokyo – writing about how Jazz has become part of the “scene” in those places – important venues: jazz clubs, concert houses, jazz societies, and important musicians from the “scene”. This paper is to be about the current Jazz scene or artist/group, you need to document Jazz music that is going on NOW, within the last 5 years. Your paper can discuss important background issues to support your ideas, but your subject is an International Jazz artist or Jazz scene that is currently active.

There are many interesting topics that fall under this umbrella. Many international jazz musicians combine music from their own country or region with existing jazz musical ideas to create a new jazz sound. Other international jazz musicians are dedicated to playing very traditional styles of jazz. Many came to the US to study jazz music and apprentice with American jazz masters.If you choose to write about an artist/group, you will need to find artists/groups that are living and practicing the music in an International location. Some will still perform in the US, (and around the world) while basing their careers outside the US, often in their home countries or regions.

It is important that the topic you choose has enough information about the international aspects of the musician/group or jazz scene to support a research paper. The assignment is about a “contemporary” artist or scene – meaning that the artists or scene are currently active, with the paper including recent activity – recordings, concerts, etc.. Historical background is important, but the focus of the paper is about an artist/jazz scene going on right now.

For instance, if you write about the jazz scene in Paris, you need to mention the history of Jazz in Paris (this is very important to this topic) and then write about the scene today, Who the important musicians are and where they are playing Jazz in Paris, and how Jazz is integrated into modern Parisian society.

Requirements:
Write a paper (this is the body of the paper, not including the discography and references, etc..)
Research your topic well. It is important that you find lots of good information to base your paper on.
Find and listen to musical examples of the artist(s)/group(s) you are writing about. If you are writing about a jazz “scene”, find and listen to some of the important artists from that scene. Find reviews of their music, and include your own description of what you hear in the music. Include a selected discography as part of your reference citations.
If you are writing about an artist/group, Include a general description of the artist/group, what they are known for and other relevant projects/recordings they have produced. Include a selected discography as part of your reference citations.
A discography is a list of important recordings by the artist or group. (You can find examples of discographies online.) You need to include the artist/group name, title of the recording, record label (company), year it was released, and important personnel on the recording.
Include information about the recordings you write about:
Date released
Record label
Musicians on the recording
How readers can find this music (purchase, listen, etc)