The artistic research project "Expanding horizons" focuses on the meeting between jazz musicians and 20th century classical music, to contribute with knowledge on how this encounter can serve as a way for jazz musicians to expand their musical language and an understanding on how improvisers approach material from another musical tradition. Through the creation of musical arrangements and compositions, with constellations ranging from duos to big band, the project sets out to answer to following research questions:
- How does the process unfold when contemporary jazz musicians approach the musical language of 20th century classical music?
- What kinds of improvisational approaches are involved in these processes?
- In what ways can these encounters serve as ways for jazz improvisers to expand their musical vocabulary?
Peter Knudsen (NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology) is a jazz pianist and composer based in Stockholm, Sweden, and a PhD fellow at NTNU in Trondheim. His albums explore themes as diverse as French Impressionism, Swedish Romanticism, as well as his own compositions inspired by nature, literature and life itself. These can be heard on his octet album ”Sagas of the Present”, released by Italian label CAM Jazz and reviewed favorably by Down Beat, All About Jazz alongside European magazines. He was also commissioned to write music for Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, resulting in the folklore-inspired suite “Nature Spirits”, with an album with the same name released by Do Music Records in 2019. Peter is also a member of Derupeto, an international quartet with members from Sweden, Brazil and Mozambique.
In this presentation I will give an overview of the project and its methods, and share some of its results and insights. I will also present some examples and models for how the project is reflected upon and disseminated in different contexts, such as artistic communities and music education environments, and how these processes can provide new perspectives, understandings and even valuable material for the artistic result. One of the questions for the final phase of the work is: how can the insights and artistic results of the project contribute to the artistic practice of other performers?