'Subversive' music

It's not beginning that's rewarded, but persevering, said Reinhard Lorenz. As one of the co-founders of the International Jazz Archive in Eisenach, Lorenz, the head of the town's culture department, knows what he's talking about: He's helped develop the archive over the past decade.

Located just a few steps from the town center, the archive is located in the historic Old Malthouse. Downstairs in the vaulted cellar, live jazz is performed at club called "Posaune" - or trombone.

Founded in 1959, the jazz club hasn't had an easy path, but without it, the archive would have been impossible. Eisenach is in what used to be East Germany and, during the communist period, jazz was defamed because it came from the American "class enemy."

But jazz fans in Eisenach employed a small political trick to establish the "subversive" style of music - they said that jazz and folk were the voice of the American proletariat, which would have appealed to the communists.

Jewels of jazz

"What there is to find under Eisenach skies is unbelievable," filmmaker Wim Wenders wrote in the guestbook at the International Jazz Archive while he was there doing research for his film "The Soul of a Man."

Indeed, the archive is a treasure chest: 80,000 records and sound files, just as many photographs and negatives, 60,000 magazines, and numerous articles, posters, books, correspondence and films.

The ground floor contains items that belonged to blues pianist Guenter Boas, who passed away in 1993. Lorenz was fascinated by the man when he met him at a concert in former East Germany.

"Guenter Boas played with all the greats of this world - with Armstrong, with Fitzgerald and he corresponded with all the blues people," said Lorenz. "We have over 1,000 letters here from his estate. They're music history treasures."

A life-size black-and-white picture of Boas, hung over a leather sofa, greets visitors when they enter the archive.

From the source

Eisenach's reputation for taking good care of jazz paraphernalia - a job done so far by volunteers - has reached all the way to New Orleans.

From what is considered to be the birthplace of jazz, percussionist Trevor Richards sent the archive a container full of records, books and percussion instruments. A large part of his extensive collection had been damaged in Hurricane Katrina and what survived has been cleaned up and is now housed in Eisenach.

But in addition to the American articles, the archive also stays true to its local roots: A small museum portion informs visitors about jazz in former communist East Germany with info boards and photographs.

Also in Eisenach is the birth house of composer JS Bach has practically become a mecca for music lovers of all kinds and Lorenz said he hopes the International Jazz Archive will soon become a significant center for jazz lovers and researchers alike.

Author: Susanne von Schenck (kjb)

Editor: Sean Sinico