The Third Decade: Forging a Legacy of Improvisation at the Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF)

September 14–15, 2023
Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Amplifying this year’s 30th anniversary edition of The Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF), the improvisation community will gather to reflect on, share, and celebrate the significance and impact of this unique and award-winning world-class event. In this “third decade,” a nod to a 1984 recording by former GJF performers The Art Ensemble of Chicago—a group that has left its own indelible mark on the history of jazz—we pause to consider the vital role that this home-grown community-based event, the Guelph Jazz Festival, has played in shaping the Canadian (and, indeed, the international) musical landscape. We also consider the various ways the Festival has helped to usher in new ways of imagining and conceptualizing the power of improvisation as both a musical and a social practice. It is in this spirit that, for this year’s edition of The Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium, we convene a series of special panels involving former and current GJF performers, affiliated researchers, jazz journalists, and community voices to recount their relationships and experiences with The Guelph Jazz Festival. How, these panels will ask, do we understand the Festival’s legacy, and how might we reimagine that legacy in the future? Beyond innovative and international programming and critically-acclaimed performances, the GJF has also significantly provided the foundation and fertile ground for expansive educative endeavours and initiatives—such as the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium itself and the formation of international scholarly networks and institutions—that continue to benefit musical and scholarly communities worldwide. In this special retrospective edition of the Colloquium, we will curate four streams of panelists:

The Schedule

Thursday, September 14th

9:00–10:15 AM Panel 1

The Future of Jazz in Guelph | artists and scholars from the local community discuss their relationship with the GJF and what they imagine for the future

Joe Sorbara, Nick Fraser, and Karen Ng

Moderator: Jashen Edwards
@ImprovLab, University of Guelph

10:30–11:45 AM Panel 2

Writing Jazz | journalists and writers discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in the musical landscape in Canada and around the world

Stuart Broomer, Josef Woodard, and Sara Villa

Moderator: Alyssa Woods
@ImprovLab, University if Guelph

Friday, September 15th

9:00–10:15 AM Panel 3

Researching Jazz | researchers discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in helping to shape a new field of scholarly inquiry

Eric Lewis, Ellen Waterman, Jesse Stewart 

Moderator: Ajay Heble
@MacKinnon 103, University of Guelph

10:30–11:45 AM Panel 4

Playing Jazz | artists and performers (past/present) discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in the musical landscape in Canada and around the world

François Houle, Lori Freedman, Douglas R. Ewart

Moderator: Brian Lefresne
@MacKinnon 103, University of Guelph

Please join us for this not to be missed celebration!

The Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium is presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) with generous support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Office of the Vice President (Research) at the University of Guelph.