Congratulations to Prof. Justin Williams, who is part of the research team for the recently-awarded AHRC for the project Community Jazz Big Bands in England (£1.089 million over 3 years, PI: Catherine Tackley, University of Liverpool).
The project will address questions of how non-professional jazz big bands exemplify ideas of community, including how these groups provide a way for large numbers of musicians and their audiences to engage with jazz, and how these bands contribute to the function and value of jazz in England. The project lasts from 1 September 2026 - 31 August 2029.
While the project is largely based at the University of Liverpool, Prof. Williams is the co-investigator based at UoB, and will organize a symposium on big band jazz to be hosted here at Bristol. For the project, he will be working with Prof. Tackley, and research associates Dr. Katherine Williams (University of Liverpool) and another postdoctoral research associate to be appointed. The team will not only offer a nuanced analysis of this form of community music making, but expand and develop the field of big band studies as a significant research area in relation to jazz studies. The project will stage a one-day festival, produce a radio documentary, provide a report for project partners Making Music, contribute an academic book and journal articles, and promote the wider study of big band jazz through a symposium and journal special issue.
See full University of Liverpool Announcement here: Professor Catherine Tackley secures £1.089m AHRC grant to explore community jazz big bands in England | Stories | Department of Music | University of Liverpool