„... bei den Klängen heißer Jazztrompeten.“
Die historische Einschätzung des europäischen und des afrikanischen Anteils an der Entstehung des Jazz
The considerations of the 6th scientific jazz congress concerning the influence of European music on the origin and development of jazz are, besides the structural analysis of single parameters of improvised music, also questions of the qualitative description of “the de-finition of jazz”. For the documentation of a small time window, the nineteen-fifties, of the West German jazz reception various sources have been carried together, which explain the origin of jazz within the “Akkulturations” process of European and African music cultures. 106 of the 116 texts investigated come from so far not scientifically documented material, as for example programs of diverse Hot Clubs and NWDR-manuscripts of the jazz journalist Dietrich Schulz-Köhn. 82, i. e. about 95% of these sources name European and African music cultures and 45 citations of these 82 statements are defined to be European. The texts passages split into two models, one pointing out the religious component of Negro Spirituals, the other the harmony of jazz.
28 text passages dealing with African music cultures are all mentioning rhythmic con-cepts. It is striding that West German authors fear that an excess of positive auditor reaction to the African roots of jazz would obstruct the acceptance of Afro-American music in West Germany.