Sometime after 1917, Jazz departed New Orleans and reached the wider world, and since then, it has dealt with constant change. Adaption and innovation are at the heart of Jazz. It has an innate ability to survive technological disruptions, embrace cultural differences, and thrive on reinvention. It is a musical genre that
travels well, and each encounter enriches its DNA. There are also older forms of improvised music–some as old as recorded history–and out of these meetings, interesting hybrids arise. And, whether out of America, Jazz’s home, or from somewhere else, these old modes, rhythms and microtonal explorations are increasingly heard during the 7VirtualJazzClub competition.
The 7 Virtual Jazz Club online competition announced its presence in 2016. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength. It was the project of several enterprising Jazz lovers in Italy, set up to provide
an accessible online ‘platform’ with a universal reach. That became especially relevant during the difficult years of Covid lockdowns. It was a labour of love by committed volunteers, a not-for-profit entity,
attracting industry partners, journalists and supporters from every country imaginable. From the earliest, it understood its purpose, and as it grew, it helped to launch careers.
7 Virtual Jazz Club invited me to participate as a competition judge in late 2019, and in 2022, I served as president of the judging jury. Since I began judging, I have noticed a trend. The submissions cover a broader spectrum, and with this comes more boldness and originality, which is what the competition judges most like to encounter. The most interesting improvised music comes from risk: finding edgier ways
to tell a story and reaching beyond the strictures of form, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a free jazz piece or a new take on an old standard.
The competition is unique, as far as I know, the first online global Jazz competition in the world. And because it attracts musicians from many countries, its strength lies in the rich cultural diversity, as
reflected in the entries. Most jazz competitions are specific to a city, region or country, but the 7VJC competition receives entries from the furthermost reaches of the globe. When I listen to a group from
Iceland or Indonesia, they bring something of themselves and their culture to my ears. And they do this while still speaking in the universal language of jazz.
I hope that future participants check out the trajectory of the competition. When they look through the videos on the 7VJC YouTube site, they will notice that the inexperienced do just as well as the more experienced, with the less-experienced, younger musicians often taking out the top prizes.
The judges come from various backgrounds: conservatories, jazz clubs, small labels, and jazz journalism. They will all have their preferences and may evaluate the entries using slightly different criteria, but each has a feel for a well-written tune and a superb performance. And, as deep listeners, they will pick up on intuitive interplay, the time feel and the level of originality. Technical proficiency or ‘chops’ will never be enough on its own.
It has delighted me to see more free jazz entries recently, perhaps because of the excitement they communicate while living in the moment. What is required is to unleash a portion of magic, and I
wrote about this in my recent blog Jazz Local 32.
“When my senses connect with a certain kind of music that transcends mere form and engages with the cosmos. That is the domain of improvised music, a calling requiring a musician to discover magic during a tricky tightrope walk. Then, to cast a spell over those open enough to receive it”.
John Fenton
Judge 7VJC
Jazz Journalist Association member
JazzLocal32.com
