Pianists and the piano in 21st-century jazz: legacies and perspectives

13-14 November 2025, Tours
University of Tours, Music and Musicology Department, Petit Faucheux (Tours)
International conference
Call for Papers

Organization: Vincent Cotro (University of Tours, ICD), Ludovic Florin (Toulouse Jean-Jaurès University, LLA-CREATIS)

The recent deaths of McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Martial Solal, Keith Jarrett's career interruption and Herbie Hancock's status as a living legend all point to a “golden age” of jazz piano that’s slowly coming into question. The numerous initiatives to canonize/patrimonialize Keith Jarrett's famous “Köln Concert”, culminating in the album's 50th anniversary in 2025, seem to prove just that. In the 21st century, however, new influential jazz pianists and composers have emerged, most notably Brad Mehldau. Other various personalities and groups illustrate the different directions of the piano in jazz – or jazz through the piano – since the turn of the millennium; further prominent examples include Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn, Matthew Shipp, Kris Davis, Bojan Z, Stefano Bollani, the E.S.T. or The Bad Plus trios. A large number of pianists today are striving to extend or revisit the traditions that preceded them, while others are seeking more singular paths. This conference aims to assess and discuss the influence of previous prominent jazz pianists (including Bill Evans, Cecil Taylor, and Joachim Kühn as well) on the contemporary generation. Did the new generation incorporate the contributions of the masters of stride or Duke Ellington, the incomparable imprint of Thelonious Monk, the alternatives proposed by Lennie Tristano or Dave Brubeck? If we consider the variety of popular and classical repertoires with which the piano is associated, or the range of possible transformations (prepared piano, augmented piano), jazz pianists seem to be at the core of the laboratory of permanent creation which constitutes the jazz field.
Authors are invited to address the following topics (this list is not exhaustive):

the 21st century as a turning point between two or even three generations of pianists (models, influences, transmission, etc.)
analyses of piano compositions and improvisations in the 21st century
the piano as the driving force of today’s rereading of jazz history
pianists at the forefront of exploring links with classical (from baroque to contemporary) and popular repertoires (pop/rock, French chanson, urban music, traditional music, etc.)
organological extensions: e.g. augmented piano, prepared piano, piano and multimedia
a key formation: the piano trio (e.g. dialogue between tradition and innovation, group conceptions, etc.)
the piano as an indicator of transformations in the jazz landscape (the rise of women pianists and gender issues, geographical expansion and the end of North American hegemony, the move away from traditional playing codes towards a new complexity, etc.)
other various topics, such as pianists in relation to research, literature, jazz pedagogy or mediation, etc.

→ The symposium will host several concerts in partnership with Le petit faucheux (Tours), program to be announced.
→ The conference proceedings will be published in a special bilingual issue of the online journal Epistrophy.

Scientific committee

Christa Bruckner-Haring (University of Graz), Philippe Canguilhem (University of Tours, CESR), Vincenzo Caporaletti (University of Macerata), Vincent Cotro (University of Tours, ICD), Laurent Cugny (Sorbonne University), Pierre Fargeton (University of Saint-Étienne), Ludovic Florin (University of Toulouse-2), Matthias Heyman (Vrije Universiteit Bruxelles), Walter van de Leur (University and Conservatory, Amsterdam), Lewis Porter (Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University), Grégoire Tosser (University of Tours, ICD).

Submission procedure

Paper proposals (including a title and an abstract of 300 to 500 words, accompanied by a short biographical note) must be sent to Vincent Cotro and Ludovic Florinby April 15, 2025 at the latest. Paper proposals will be peer-reviewed, and notification of acceptance by the scientific committee will be sent on April 30, 2025.

Papers can be written in either French or English. Each author will have a maximum of 30 minutes to present their paper (including musical excerpts), followed by a question-and-answer session. A piano will be available for those presenting.

Musicologie.org, 56 rue de la Fédération, 93100 Montreuil. ☎ 06 06 61 73 41.

ISNN 2269-9910.

cul_2503

Dimanche 2 Mars, 2025