Feminist and Intersectional Interventions in Jazz Leadership Roles

In celebration of International Women's Day, ANU Gender Institute members are invited to a panel, concert and reception

16:00 - 17:15	Panel in Celebration of Women’s International Day - Wig and Pen	Kristin McGee, Miranda Park, Dave Wilson, Llewelyn Osborne, Jess Green, Clare Hall, Han Reardon-Smith, Lauren Istvandity, Rachael Thoms, Sia Ahmad, Aakanksha Sidhu, Yoko Suzuki
17:30 – 18:30	Concert – Jess Green’s Psychomotor – Big Band Room
18:30	Reception in Celebration of Women’s International Day – Wig and Pen

Panel

The history of leadership roles within jazz performance and recording has traditionally reflected the broader gendered dynamics of jazz culture wherein the stratification of roles along the gender binary has stubbornly prevailed.

Given this entrenched binary within jazz performance and recording spaces, this panel seeks to connect scholars and practitioners from the two spheres of jazz studies and feminist and gender studies to explore new techniques for intervening in such entrenched structures, which continue to facilitate and prioritize male leadership roles in jazz.

In this panel discussion, we seek to highlight new methods such as those from new improvisation models and via digital resources to eventually create and distribute audiovisual material and models to further promote new ways of stimulating a more gender inclusive, and expansive leadership and mentoring structures within jazz research and education. Our panel discussion on this theme features key scholars and performers already active promoting and researching gendered dynamics and possible feminist interventions into jazz pedagogy and performance research methodologies. Each participant has explored ways of highlighting, or nurturing women and other genders and sexualities, as well as promoting gender inclusive platforms for supporting a more equitable jazz field.

Concert

Psychomotor is Australian musician Jess Green’s new project, which debuted at Sydney’s Phoenix Central Park in 2023. It brings together her jazz ensemble writing (The Bright Sparks), her art pop project (Pheno) as well as her master’s research which focussed on experimental practice techniques, cognitive science and complexity theories. Psychomotor is a through-composed suite that takes the audience from the edge of chaos to pop-infused trance states, and moments of sublime sonic

immersion. The interplay of wild guitar and playful complex drumming is layered with dreamy abstract vocals - exploded songs that leave trails of meaning and memory. Joining Psychomotor is drummer Jamie Cameron, bassist Brendan Clark and special guest Lauren Tsamouras.