OpenLetter

Open Letter No. 1

Can Vienna be the Headquarters of the International Jazz Federation again?

The Constitutional Congress of the IJF held in March 1969 in Venice, Italy elected Vienna, Austria as its seat and the English edition of magazine (published in Warsaw, Poland) as the official mouthpiece of the organization.

As Secretary General and head of the organization I had the privilege of running the IJF office in Vienna from January 1972 to May 1979.

In May, 1977 I went to New York City to establish the IJF’s Branch Office in America. Located at the Ed Sullivan Theater Building on Broadway and 53rd Street, IJF was incorporated with John Lewis as president, and Willis Conover and John Hammons as vice-presidents of the Board.    more...

Open Letter No. 2

NEW IJF: A VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION ?

An OPEN LETTER "Can Vienna be the Headquarters of the International Jazz Federation again?" - published in February 1st, 2006 ignited international jazz community to a tremendous response. We are publishing over 70-ty comments on the IJF new website:

www.InternationalJazzFederation.org

More comments are coming and published daily. The main topics are related to: Function and site of the Headquarters, Founding, How Musicians can Benefit, and Communication of Members.

There are problems to answer questions of over 400 new members, and more coming. Do we need to have a specific physical place for the organization to find the information members need as well as the means to process it. But what if we no longer had to go to this place to contact the people or get the information? Instead all this could be done electronically and members and everyone else would do their work from any location.    more...

Open Letter No. 3

JazzRadioOnline.Org

Dear Jazz Associates,

Following the previous two Open Letters dedicated to the rebirth of the International Jazz Federation and a great response from the international jazz scene we are now responding to some comments and will focus on a new important sector of jazz industry: JAZZ RADIO ON THE INTERNET.

The vision is needed that would give musicians, record producers and listeners the impression of a plan promising something beyond tighter domestic borders. Radio with million of listeners can be instrumental in solving the expectation.

"There is the European Union, the Internet and Open Market. Yet for the jazz artists, problems remain much the same as thirty years ago. They need a large AUDIENCE and direct access to the jazz industry." writes Gunter Hampel, (Germany) founder of Birth Records.    more...

Dean Hampton

I don't think it makes any difference where the world headquarters is located. The largest jazz organization on earth, IAJE, is located in the small Kansas town of about 40,000 population: Manhattan, Kansas. They do quite well.

More important is what the organization does for jazz and its membership. An example of that is how poorly the American Federation of Jazz Societies (AFJS) performed as an unberella organization for jazz support organizations over the years.

I hope that the revival of IJF will serve the trilogy of jazz: musicians, presenters and fans.

Best to you for your efforts!
Dean Hampton
Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors &
Webjazz.net

Posted at 04-03-2006 07:43:01

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