European Jazz connections

The project idea consists of a 10-day artistic residency in Italy, specifically in Bologna, with five partners from all over Europe who will each host 5 young people + 1 group leader. In addition to these partners, there will also be the leading organisation IJVAS (Il Jazz va a Scuola) which in turn will host 5 young people + 1 group leader. The total number of people involved in the project will be therefore 30 young people and 6 group leaders. During the residency, an orchestra will be formed, which for 10 days will work together towards a final performance. It would be advisable (although by project is not binding) that the young people sent by the partners have previous knowledge in musical background and can therefore prepare the scores beforehand and then arrive at the residency with a common basis to perfect together, or to think about improvisation and construction of the scores during the 10 days, thus enabling any young people with no knowledge of music to perform.

Regarding the choices to be made regarding the artistic direction to be given to the residency, as it is a project with young people from different parts of Europe, it is advisable to think musically in a European dimension above all: for this reason, it was decided to start from the Italian jazz tradition (which has interfaced remarkably well with that of the United States since its beginnings) and, traversing the different forms of the 20th century, reconnect with the European world, concentrating in particular on music for the cinema, so as to make the course more engaging and interactive for young people, also thanks to the images. Moreover, 20th century film music is rich in jazz sounds, and some of the greatest soundtrack composers were jazz musicians, especially among Italians: Armando
Trovajoli, Piero Piccioni, Piero Umiliani.