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Crossing borders II: Ravel's theory and practice of jazz

Ravel Studies presents new approaches to Ravel scholarship through international, interdisciplinary means; it received matched funding (£1,434) from Music & Letters and Lancaster University. With Gebhardt, I present linked chapters on Ravel’s American connections; I also completed a performance-analysis essay for the late David Epstein (MIT). My main chapter probes an intriguing double relationship between Ravel’s theory and practice, revealing a mix of strong correlations and transformative processes. It focuses upon ‘convincing analyses ... which well explain the composer’s belief in [jazz’s] value for classical composers as embodying the modernist age’ (Musical Times, 2011). This ‘wide-ranging essay, displaying an admirable balance between history and analysis’ (Notes, 2012), argues that Ravel translated American jazz into a French-accented, personalized practice, as an important aspect of his aesthetic–musical identity in the later 1920s. My chapter developed from a paper given at Musique française: Esthétique et identité en mutation, 1892-1992, Université Catholique de l’Ouest, Angers (April 2008). The chapter led to an invited annotated bibliography (130 citations), ‘Maurice Ravel’, in Bruce Gustafson (ed.), Oxford Bibliographies Online: Music (OUP, 2011); a guest published paper on Music-Dance Relations in Daphnis et Chloé, Dialogues en mouvement, McGill University, February 2011; and invited presentations at Maurice Ravel et son temps, Université de Montréal, November 2012 (both funded [$2,100] by L’Observatoire interdisciplinaire [OICRM]).