Dave Liebman & Professor Paul Berliner to give Keynote speeches at LIJC

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 25 March 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 26 March. The conference will close with a concert in which Liebman will perform ‘Sketches of Spain’ with the College’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 Improvised Music Association (LIMA) on the afternoon of Friday 25. For more details about the Leeds Improvised Music Association visit the Research & Enterprise section of the website.