The 16th Leeds International Jazz Conference which takes place at Leeds College of Music next week from Thursday 25 to Friday 26 March will focus on the art of improvisation, both from a theoretical academic basis and from a performance standpoint, as reflected in the two keynote speakers.

The jazz keynote speech will be given on Thursday 25th by saxophonist Dave Liebman, who came to prominence as a sideman for Miles Davis and Elvin Jones in the 1970s, and is also the author of A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody (1991) and founder of the International Association of Schools of Jazz.

Professor Paul Berliner of Duke University, the ethnomusicologist and author of Thinking in Jazz: the Infinite Art of Improvisation (1994), will give the research keynote speech on Friday 26th.

The conference will close with a concert in which Liebman will perform ‘Sketches of Spain’ with the LCM’s Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. The academic papers and discussions, on topics ranging from Bill Evans to hip hop, will run alongside a programme of workshops and jam sessions including a workshop led by Chris Sharkey and the Leeds Improvising Musicians Association (LIMA) on the afternoon of Friday 25th.

– Edward Randell

For more go to www.lcm.ac.uk/research-conference/leeds-international-jazz-conference.htm