PhD Research project

As part of the international Rhythm Changes research project, which examines the inherited traditions and practices of European jazz cultures, my PhD research concentrates on jazz practices in the Netherlands in the 1960s and 1970s. During this period the foundations were laid of a social and musical infrastructure that shaped our understanding of Dutch jazz. Through systematic research in periodicals and by use of oral history I'll explore how Dutch musicians, governmental institutions, audiences and journalists began addressing jazz on their own terms, apart from its American counterparts, consequently creating an own identity with specific socio-political, cultural and esthetical preferences.

The coverage of jazz in the media and governmental funding of arts in the Netherlands played a significant role in defining jazz practices in the Netherlands . Surprisingly there has been no in-depth research that considers these broader cultural and political processes. This research aimsto critically engage with the struggles of Dutch improvising musicians and jazz musicians by comprehensively investigating and analyzing their positioning within the networks of institutions, festivals, critics and audience, against the background of the post-WWII society. Within this context I'll try to establish how terms such as 'jazzos' and 'impros' played out in different settings and within different types of reality.

A number of controversial topics will be addressed, such as the misrepresentation of Dutch jazz on the international stage, the influence of saleability in the process of music making, and teachability as a part of succeeding in music education. Furthermore, this research will feed into much broader considerations and will be touching on and challenging issues of identity, national thought, representation, mediation, cultural politics and ideology. By doing so, I aim to reconsider and adjust the notion of 'Dutch jazz' in a field of historiography that has been dominated by non-critical and anecdotal writing.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Walter van de Leur

Education

• Fellowship for PhD candidacy at the Huizinga Institute, Research Institute and graduate School of Cultural History, Amsterdam (at present)
• Guest PhD student at the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (at present)
• BA in Jazz Saxophone, Conservatory of Amsterdam (2008)
• MA in Musicology, University of Amsterdam (2007)

Current Activities

• Lecturer
• Member of the HERA-funded Rhythm Changes Research Team
• Co-organiser Jazz Beyond Borders Conference, Conservatory of Amsterdam, 1-4 September 2014 
• Co-organiser Jazz and National Identity Conference, Conservatory of Amsterdam, 1-3 September 2011

• Saxophonist, composer, arranger, and saxophone teacher

• Member of saxophonequartet Double Espresso
• Co-organiser of saxophoneworkshop Meet 'n' Reed

• Rhythm Changes

• DoubleEspresso

Publications

2012

L. Rusch (in press). Jazz in the Netherlands, 1919-2012: Historical Outlines of a Social and Musical Practice. Jazzforschung / Jazz Research 44.

2011

L. Rusch (2011). Common Ground: 1970s Improvised Music as Part of a Cross-genre Dutch Ensemble Culture. Jazz Research Journal, 5 (1/2), 123-141.

Lectures and presentations

2012     'The Zeeland Suite (1977): On State Subsidies and the Reinforcement of National and Local Narratives in Jazz'. Paper Presentation, IASPM Conference, Media City UK, Manchester, 5-7 September.

2011     'Identifying Dutch Jazz: Mediating Jazz from the Netherlands in Downbeat 1960-1970'. Paper Presentation, Jazz and National Identities Conference, Conservatory of Amsterdam, 1-4 September.

2010     'Dutch  Identities in Jazz'. Paper presentation, Dutch Jazz and World Meeting, Felix Meritis Amsterdam, 1-3 December.

• No ancillary activities
• No ancillary activities