Christian Broecking (5 June 1957 – 2 February 2021) was a German sociologist and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

, music

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

, writer, editor, radio producer and

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. He held teaching positions at several universities in Germany and Switzerland and published several books on

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

music and its social and political contexts, as well as on his interviews with jazz musicians such as

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

, Sonny Rolins, Gregory Porter or the Swiss composer and pianist Irène Schweitzer.

Biography

Broecking was born in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

, northern Germany. He studied sociology and musicology at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

, Germany, and obtained his Ph.D. (Dr. phil.) from the

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

. The title of his 2011 PhD thesis in German can be translated as "The Marsalis-Nexus: Studies in the Societal Relevance of Afro-American Jazz, 1992-2007". Based on a long-term study and personal interviews, Broecking asked African-American jazz musicians about their experiences and personal assessment of racism and discrimination. Broecking was a founding program director for Berlin Jazz Radio from 1994 to 1998 and Klassik Radio Frankfurt from 2000 to 2003. He also was a member of the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

for the

Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik Preis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfred Preis (1911–1993), Austrian architect * Ellen Preis (Ellen Müller-Preis) (1912–2007), German-born Austrian Olympic champion foil fencer * Mary Louise Preis (born 1941), ...

(German award for musical recordings) and for the 11th Annual Jazz Critics Poll 2017 His books ''Der Marsalis Faktor'' (transl.: ''The Marsalis-factor''), ''Respect!'',''"Black Codes'', ''Jeder Ton eine Rettungsstation (transl.: We are here to save lives)'' were highly acclaimed. His articles on music and cultural studies appeared in scholarly journals and editions on jazz music. He also wrote radio features on jazz and

African-American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American/Bl ...

for German public radio since 1995 and taught musicology and

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

at universities in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and Oldenburg. In 2004, he founded his own publishing company, Broecking Verlag, where several of his books were published. In 2012, he curated an exhibition with his photographs of jazz personalities such as

Stanley Crouch Stanley Lawrence Crouch (December 14, 1945 – September 16, 2020) was an American cultural critic, poet, playwright, novelist, biographer, and syndicated columnist. He was known for his jazz criticism and his 2000 novel ''Don't the Moon Lo ...

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

and Ornette Coleman, titled "Visualizing Respect", at Gallery Zellermayer, Berlin, and published a book with the same title. Broecking's 2018 book ''Respect! The history of Fire Music'' was prefaced by American scholar and composer George E. Lewis. Broecking also wrote for German newspapers and magazines, such as

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (; ) is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since Reunification of Germany, reunification. It is published by Berl ...

taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

and Jazz thing magazine and served as staff writer for the online music section of

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

. He was a Senior Research Associate at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and taught

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...

at the Winterthurer Institut für aktuelle Musik in Switzerland. In September 2007, he participated in the international conference “Jazz in the Global Imagination: Music, Journalism and Culture”, convened by the Center for Jazz Studies at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the Jazz Journalists Association. At the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Broecking curated and convened the international conferences "Lost in Diversity. A transatlantic dialogue on the societal relevance of jazz" (2012) and "Vision, Perception, Friction: How Jazz Became Art and Attack(ed) – A Transatlantic Dialogue" (2013). At the Darmstädter Jazzforum 2013, he spoke on „Not Black enough? Debating jazz in the Post-Black time space". From 2013 to 2016, Broecking researched and wrote his last work, a 471-page biography of the Swiss pianist and activist

Irène Schweizer Irène Schweizer (2 June 1941 – 16 July 2024) was a Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. Life and career Schweizer was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland on 2 June 1941. She performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as ...

in the context of jazz in Europe, published first in German and then in English as ''This uncontainable feeling of freedom: Irene Schweizer, European jazz, and the politics of improvisation''. Broecking died on 2 February 2021 in Berlin after a long illness.

Works

* Christian Broecking, ''Der Marsalis-Faktor''. Oreos, Waakirchen-Schaftlach 1995, * Christian Broecking, ''Respekt!''. Verbrecher, Berlin 2004, * Christian Broecking, ''Black Codes''. Verbrecher, Berlin 2005, * Christian Broecking, ''Jeder Ton eine Rettungsstation''. Verbrecher, Berlin 2007, * Christian Broecking, ''Ornette Coleman - Klang der Freiheit''. Creative People Books / Broecking Verlag Berlin 2010, * Christian Broecking, ''Herbie Hancock - Interviews''. Creative People Books / Broecking Verlag Berlin 2010, * Christian Broecking, ''Sonny Rollins - Improvisation und Protest''. Creative People Books / Broecking Verlag Berlin 2010, * Christian Broecking, ''Respekt! Die Geschichte der Fire Music.'' Verbrecher, Berlin 2011, . * Christian Broecking, ''Respekt! Die Geschichte der Fire Music.'' Creative People Books, Berlin 2018, . * Christian Broecking, ''Visualizing Respect. Jazzfotografien / Jazz Photography''. Creative People Books, Berlin 2012, . * Christian Broecking, ''Der Marsalis-Komplex. Studien zur gesellschaftlichen Relevanz des afroamerikanischen Jazz''. Creative People Books, Berlin 2014, . * Christian Broecking, ''Gregory Porter. Jazz, Gospel & Soul''. Creative People Books, Berlin 2015, . * Christian Broecking, ''Dieses unbändige Gefühl der Freiheit. Irène Schweizer - Jazz, Avantgarde, Politik''. Creative People Books, Berlin 2016, . English edition: ''This uncontainable feeling of freedom: Irene Schweizer, European jazz, and the politics of improvisation'', translated from the German by Jeb Bishop, Broecking Verlag, Berlin, 2021, .

References

External links

Biography in Jury des Preises der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (in German)Weekly Podcast with musicians´ original voicesBroecking Verlag BerlinBooks on jazz from Broecking Verlag Berlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broecking, Christian 1957 births 2021 deaths Black studies scholars German music critics Writers from Berlin Jazz writers German male non-fiction writers People from Flensburg Academic staff of the University of Oldenburg Academic staff of Heidelberg University