Jazz was and is the melting pot of music in the 20th and 21st centuries. It unites opposites, bringing together elements from classical, pop, and folk influences, right up to New Music, and – it emerges in the moment and reflects it, in the words of Herbie Hancock: “Jazz is about capturing the moment.” This is the essence of improvisation. The ability to improvise – that is, to make spontaneous decisions based on sound training and solid expertise – is not only musically but also socially significant. Jazz musicians possess this ability. They are versatile, open, and adaptable, but also individualists – a powerful combination.
As the Jazz department of the only School of Music in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, we are committed to this vision of jazz. We aim to foster and support young musicians in their development and equip them with the necessary tools to assert themselves professionally in their careers and find their own voice in music and society.
At the same time, we feel committed to a cultural educational mission: to make the knowledge and power of jazz accessible to a broad audience, to explain jazz, to ignite its fascination among young and old, and to open up new audiences for it – all of this is close to our hearts and shapes our actions.
The Department of Jazz and Popular Music at the Mainz School of Music has developed into a sought-after training institution for young jazz musicians and jazz educators in Germany. Internationally renowned lecturers, a contemporary, multi-faceted curriculum geared towards the current music market, and not least the location of Mainz ensure high, steadily growing applicant numbers.
The Mainz School of Music is the only School of Music in Rhineland-Palatinate. Unique in Germany is the integration of artistic training into a comprehensive university, the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Students of the School of Music can thus participate in the vibrant campus life and diverse activities of the university and easily network with other schools. The approximately 37,000 students naturally also shape the city of Mainz with young vitality and inspiring cultural offerings.
SWR and ZDF shape Mainz as a media city; its central location in the Rhine-Main region leads to synergistic networking of the various jazz scenes and offers diverse employment opportunities for young musicians. The scene gathers in numerous weekly jam sessions around the campus. The university’s Kulturcafé session even regularly takes place open-air in the heart of the campus on mild summer nights – and that until late into the night.
The Jazz Initiative Mainz and the Frankfurter Hof Mainz offer a regular international jazz program; the Jazz Department also organizes an established concert series there called “Treffpunkt Jazz.” Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, and Mannheim are not far for inspiring concert and festival visits, and as venues for their own bands. Several students from the department play in the Federal Jazz Orchestra “BuJazzO”; numerous alumni enrich the German jazz scene with their projects, teach at higher education institutions, and play in radio big bands.
The department’s body of lecturers is globally networked, allowing international guests (including Gary Keller, David Binney, Riccardo Del Fra, and Horacio “el Negro“ Hernandez) to be frequently invited for workshops and concerts at the higher education institution. Successful exchange projects, including those with the University of Miami and the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris, underscore the department’s international reputation.
Intensive contact with the State Working Group Jazz RLP and the State Jazz Orchestra ensures regional networking. The combo “Jazz Messengers” of the Mainz Jazz Department brings “Jazz to experience” to general education schools and music schools in Rhineland-Palatinate. Concerts by the Jazz Department are heard not only on campus but also at numerous surrounding concert venues. Consistently high attendance figures at the concerts demonstrate the department’s special appeal as a cultural institution in the city and region.
The Big Band is the flagship of the Jazz/Pop Department. It consists of students from the department and develops new programs each semester. Participation in the Big Band is mandatory in phases during the program of study.
The weekly Jazz Forums are intended to serve as an artistic and pedagogical presentation platform for students and teaching staff of the Jazz Department. In addition to the presence of all students of the Jazz Department, students and teaching staff from other departments are also cordially invited.
The range of event types includes concerts, workshops, presentations by renowned guest lecturers, media presentations, symposia, presentations of academic papers in the field of jazz, as well as performances of interdepartmental projects, etc.
The forums serve to give the Jazz Department a communal identity and to promote its internal and external social and artistic communication. Furthermore, the forums are public, thus enabling significant and effective external representation of the Jazz Department and the higher education institution in general. Moreover, some of the events in the forums, such as workshops, symposia, or presentations of academic papers, represent a continuing education offering freely accessible to the public and students.
The Jazz Forums take place every Thursday at 12:30 PM in the Jazz Room of the Mainz School of Music during the current semester. Further information can be found in the event calendar of the Mainz School of Music.
Weekly live streams with one-hour concert sets and interviews from the university studio. Here, students and teaching staff present their work. Filmed by the Music Production course under the direction of Prof. Moritz Reinisch and in cooperation with the open channel Mainz.
The SWR Jazz College is a cooperation between SWR Kultur and the jazz institutes in its broadcasting area – the Schools of Music in Mainz, Mannheim, and Stuttgart. On one evening per semester, three bands (one from each higher education institution) come together to play a concert. They applied beforehand and were selected internally by their respective higher education institutions.
The evening takes place on a rotating basis in Mannheim, Mainz, and Stuttgart.
One of the numerous ensembles offered each semester is the jazz pedagogical combo “Jazz Messengers Rhineland-Palatinate,” founded by Alexander Gelhausen. The students play “Jazz to experience” for school students at general education schools or music schools and, for this purpose, undertake a small tour through our beautiful federal state under the direction of Thomas Bachmann. Enthusiastic school students, articles in the specialist press, a radio feature on SWR, and credit points have been awarded as a reward to date.
“Treffpunkt Jazz!” brings university jazz to the city and provides students with a platform to present themselves on the renowned stage of the Frankfurter Hof under “live conditions” – beyond the campus as a “protected” space – often together with star guests such as US jazz singer Al Jarreau. The successful concert series was initiated by Head of Cultural Affairs Marianne Grosse, together with Professor Sebastian Sternal from the Department of Jazz and Popular Music and the program director of Frankfurter Hof Mainz, Ludwig Jantzer. The concept: A moderated themed concert of approximately 60 minutes is followed by an approximately 60-minute open jam session, animated by an established professional musician as a surprise guest – the “Session Cat.” In concerts with diverse themes such as “Tribute to Ella & Louis,” “Lars Reichow Explains Jazz,” “The Three Tenors,” “Remembering Paul Kuhn,” and “Funk & Soul Jazz Night,” not only great music is heard, but there is always exciting background information. Thus, the series also fulfills a cultural educational mission. An experienced spokesperson and moderator, Alexander Gelhausen, is often involved. The series enjoys high attendance figures and has quickly developed into a “brand” in the city and region, receiving great attention in the press, radio, and television.
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In Rhineland-Palatinate, there is a large network of locations, initiatives, associations, and federations that have made it their mission to perform and promote jazz. The Department of Jazz and Popular Music is part of this large network. This not only creates a wealth of performance opportunities but also gives the Mainz School of Music, as the only School of Music in the federal state, the opportunity to actively shape the jazz and pop scene in Rhineland-Palatinate.
One of the most important supra-regional partners of our department is the “Jazzinstitut Darmstadt” under the direction of Dr. Wolfram Knauer. This internationally significant archive contains the answers to (almost) all questions about jazz.
Frankfurter Hof (Mainz Center)
Schon Schön (Mainz Center)
ESG Bar (Campus)
State Working Group Jazz Rhineland-Palatinate e.V.
State Working Group Rock and Pop in Rhineland-Palatinate e.V.
State Youth Jazz Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate
Youth Jazzes Rhineland-Palatinate
State Music Council Rhineland-Palatinate
State Association of Music Schools Rhineland-Palatinate e.V.
The “Gutenberg Jazz Alliance” was founded in 2017 and consists of the Board of Trustees, which advises the Department of Jazz and Popular Music on structural matters, and the Artistic Advisory Board, which primarily deals with specialized questions.
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