Gender and jazz research in Spain

Abstract

During the last two decades, the little jazz research that has been conducted in Spain has focused on examining both flamenco jazz, as the most important contribution of Spanish culture to jazz, and sociocultural meanings of jazz development, mainly from a political and historical perspective. This period has also coincided with a significant development in jazz studies outside of the United States, and a key juncture for gender and feminist studies in Spain that concurred with the emergence of fourth-wave feminism. Spanish gender research in music has traditionally focused on written music, paying scant attention to jazz, although popular music is slowly becoming a significant focus of research. Far from seeing this as a drawback, we propose that the underdevelopment of knowledge production is an opportunity for a feminist-inspired overview, and a re-reading of jazz cultures and jazz research in Spain as we ‘listen’ for the relationships between gender and jazz as interdisciplinary fields of research. The article concludes that Spain presents fertile ground for a comprehensive exploration of its own jazz culture as research here strives to find its own voice.