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Edited Book
Women and Jazz:
European Perspectives from Artists and Researchers
Edited by José Dias and Christa Bruckner-Haring
Routledge
2025
"How painful but also how uplifting it feels to read about this topic, which is presented with thoroughness and care. Of course, this is a timely publication. Examining the experiences of being a female jazz musician in Europe in 2021/ 2022, most of those involved, appropriately, are female. The researcher-academics’ chapters alternate with clusters of interviews with the musicians, the voices of the latter jumping off the page, the conversational style and the poignancy of their stories leavening the academics’ formalised language. More research is clearly needed, again keeping musicians’ voices firmly central-field. This book is a terrific contribution to this field and to supporting all genders in having ‘a fair go’ at a career in jazz. They and all of society deserve no less." Fiona Mactaggart
Book
Festa do Jazz
Gonçalo Frota, José Dias & Carlos Martins
Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda
2020
*Festa do Jazz* explores the people, institutions and cultural dynamics that have shaped one of Portugal's most significant jazz events. Bringing together perspectives from musicians, promoters, researchers and journalists, the book examines the festival's role in the development of Portuguese jazz, connecting different generations and experiences while reflecting on the transformations of the country's jazz scene over recent decades.
Book
Jazz in Europe:
Networking and Negotiating Identities
José Dias
Bloomsbury
2019
Jazz is a part of the cultural fabric of many of the European countries. Jazz in Europe: Networking and Negotiating Identities presents jazz in Europe as a complex arena, where the very notions of cultural identity, jazz practices and Europe are continually being negotiated against an ever changing social, cultural, political and economic environment. The book gives voice to musicians, promoters, festival directors, educators and researchers regarding the challenges they are faced with in their everyday practices. Jazz identities in Europe result from the negotiation between discourse and practice and in the interstices between the formal and informal networks that support them, as if 'Jazz' and 'Europe' were blank canvases where diversified notions of what jazz and Europe should or could be are projected.
Book Chapter
Four Musicians and Six Characters: Narrative Categories in Contemporary Free Jazz
Drawing on José Dias’s album *Live at SMUP* (2019), this chapter explores the relationship between literary narrative and collective improvisation in contemporary free jazz. Through six compositions inspired by characters from works by Jane Austen, Thomas Mann, Gabriel García Márquez, Vladimir Nabokov, Homer and Hergé, Dias examines how literary devices such as character development, dialogue, contrast and narrative structure can inform musical creation. Combining critical reflection with an analysis of his own practice, the chapter considers improvisation as a form of collective storytelling, in which musical narratives emerge through negotiation between performers rather than from the composer's intentions alone.
Jose Dias, in Jazz and Literature: An Introduction (Routledge), edited by Maria Antónia Lima and Mia Funk.
2025
Book Chapter
First Monday Revisited: Production and Dissemination of Diasporic Jazz in the Digital Age
Jose Dias and Haftor Medbøe, in Havas, Á., Johnson, B. and Horn, D. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Diasporic Jazz Studies. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 152–161.
2025
Co-authored by José Dias and Haftor Medbøe, this chapter revisits their earlier research on jazz promotion and dissemination in the digital age, examining how digital technologies are reshaping the production, circulation and reception of jazz across geographical and cultural boundaries. It considers the opportunities and challenges that digital platforms present for musicians, particularly in relation to artistic independence, visibility, networking and access to audiences. Situating these developments within broader discussions of diaspora and globalisation, the chapter explores how digital environments are transforming the relationships between musicians, audiences and the structures of the jazz industry.
Book Chapter
Centre-Periphery relations and European Jazz Identities
This chapter examines the relationship between centre and periphery in the construction of European jazz identities, questioning established geographical and cultural hierarchies within jazz discourse. Drawing on debates surrounding cultural identity, transnational networks and the circulation of jazz across Europe, José Dias explores how notions of centrality and marginality shape the recognition, representation and development of local jazz scenes. The chapter challenges the tendency to understand European jazz through dominant cultural centres, highlighting the role of peripheral scenes in negotiating identities and contributing to the diversity of contemporary European jazz.
Jose Dias, ‘Centre–Periphery Relations and European Jazz Identities’, in Havas, Á., Johnson, B. and Horn, D. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Diasporic Jazz Studies. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 388–397.
2025
Book Chapter
Jazz Festivals in the Time of COVID-19: Exploring Exposed Fragilities, Community Resilience and Industry Recovery
Co-authored by Sarah Raine, Haftor Medbøe and José Dias, this chapter examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on jazz festivals, revealing existing vulnerabilities within the live music sector while exploring the resilience of its communities. It considers how festival organisers, musicians and other cultural stakeholders responded to unprecedented disruption, adapting their practices and developing new approaches to artistic production, audience engagement and collaboration. Situating these responses within broader debates about the sustainability of the music industry, the chapter reflects on the challenges and opportunities for recovery and the future of jazz festivals in a changing cultural landscape.
Sarah Raine, Haftor Medbøe and Jose Dias, in Morrow, G., Nordgård, D. and Tschmuck, P. (eds.) Rethinking the Music Business: Music Business Research. Cham: Springer, pp. 109–127.
2022
Book Chapter
Dublin calling:
Challenging European centrality and peripherality through jazz
Jose Dias, in Guerra, P. and Costa, P. (eds.) Redefining Art Worlds in the Late Modernity. Porto: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, pp. 69–88.
2016
This chapter examines the relationship between cultural centrality and peripherality in European jazz, using Dublin as a starting point for questioning established geographical and cultural hierarchies. José Dias explores how local jazz scenes negotiate their identities within wider European networks, challenging the assumption that artistic innovation and cultural legitimacy necessarily originate in dominant metropolitan centres. The chapter considers how mobility, collaboration and transnational exchange contribute to reshaping the relationship between centre and periphery, offering a more nuanced understanding of jazz practices and identities across Europe.
Article
Contemporary music improvisation for silent film: challenging and evoking the jazz canon
Jose Dias, Jazz Research Journal, 17(1–2), pp. 170–192.
2024
This article explores contemporary music improvisation for silent film, examining how musicians engage with, reinterpret and challenge established jazz traditions through their interaction with moving images. Drawing on José Dias’s artistic practice and research, it considers the relationship between improvisation, visual narrative and the historical conventions of film accompaniment. By exploring the creative possibilities that emerge when music is performed in dialogue with film, the article questions conventional understandings of the jazz canon and highlights improvisation as a means of developing new approaches to audiovisual performance.
Article
Festa do Jazz:
a case study on gender (im)balance in Portuguese jazz
Jose Dias and Beatriz Nunes, Jazz Research Journal, 14(2), pp. 138–159.
2021
Co-authored by José Dias and Beatriz Nunes, this article examines gender inequality in Portuguese jazz through a case study of Festa do Jazz, one of Portugal’s principal jazz events. It explores the representation and participation of women within the festival and considers how broader social, cultural and institutional dynamics contribute to gender imbalances in jazz. Situating the Portuguese experience within wider debates about gender and the music industry, the article raises questions about visibility, access to opportunities and the structures that continue to shape participation in contemporary jazz.
Article
The Noise Indoors: Improvisation, Community, and #StayHome
Jose Dias and Anton Hunter, Critical Studies in Improvisation, 14(2–3).
2020
Co-authored by José Dias and Anton Hunter, this article explores the role of musical improvisation in sustaining creative communities during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Focusing on the challenges of making music in conditions of physical isolation, it considers how musicians adapted their collaborative practices through digital technologies and remote interaction. The article reflects on the relationship between improvisation, community and collective creativity, examining how the restrictions of the pandemic prompted new ways of connecting, performing and negotiating musical relationships.
Article
Texture, time and meaning: composing music for animation, film and television through an improviser's perspective
Jose Dias, Jazz-Hitz, 3, pp. 91–108.
2020
Drawing on José Dias’s experience as a composer and improviser, this article explores the relationship between musical improvisation and composition for animation, film and television. It examines how improvisational approaches can inform the creative process, particularly in the treatment of texture, time and the construction of meaning through sound and moving images. Bringing together artistic practice and critical reflection, the article considers the possibilities of improvisation beyond live performance, highlighting its contribution to audiovisual storytelling and the development of distinctive compositional approaches.
Jose Dias, in Human Mobility. Redefining Community in Intercultural Context, 5(1), pp. 151–156. Brașov: Henri Coandă Air Force Academy Publishing House.
2016
This article explores the relationship between jazz, mobility and cultural identity in Europe, examining how musicians negotiate questions of displacement, belonging and identity across geographical and cultural boundaries. Drawing on the transnational character of European jazz, José Dias considers how migration, artistic collaboration and cultural exchange contribute to the formation of musical identities that resist fixed national definitions. The article approaches jazz as a space in which notions of home, community and cultural affiliation are continually negotiated, challenging conventional understandings of European musical identities.
Haftor Medbøe and Jose Dias, First Monday, 19(10).
2014
Co-authored by Haftor Medbøe and José Dias, this article examines how digital technologies have transformed the production, promotion and dissemination of jazz. It considers the opportunities offered by online platforms for musicians to reach audiences, develop professional networks and exercise greater control over their artistic output, while questioning the implications of these changes for established music industry structures. Situating these developments within the broader transformation of music distribution, the article explores how digital environments are reshaping relationships between musicians, audiences and the jazz industry.
Jose Dias and Pedro Cravinho, in Mora, K. (ed.) Quaderns de Cine, 9: Cine y músicas populares urbanas. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante, pp. 43–50.
2014
Co-authored by José Dias and Pedro Cravinho, this article examines the relationship between jazz and Portuguese cinema through two significant films: *Belarmino* (1964), directed by Fernando Lopes, and *Alice* (2005), directed by Marco Martins. Exploring the different historical, cultural and aesthetic contexts in which these films emerged, the authors consider how jazz contributes to cinematic narrative, atmosphere and the representation of urban life. By bringing together two works produced four decades apart, the article reflects on the changing place of jazz within Portuguese cinema and its relationship with broader developments in Portuguese culture and society.
Media Article
US election 2024: Kamala Harris knows her jazz – why this could count with voters
Jose Dias and Haftor Medbøe, The Conversation, 9 Aug.
2024
Jose Dias, The Conversation, 12 Jan.
2014
Jose Dias, The Conversation, 19 Dec.
2013
