Doug Hammond had already been a recognized musician and teacher known far beyond jazz circles when the Upper Austrian jazz musician and pedagogue Adelhard Roidinger brought him to Linz to the Bruckner Conservatorium in 1989. Roidinger was one of the essential founders of the Jazz Department at the “Konsi,” as the talent factory on the Danube is affectionately called. At that time, jazz was first blossoming in Upper Austria and the Conservatorium was known and appreciated by jazz circles far beyond the borders of Upper Austria. Doug Hammond significantly contributed to this reputation. Not only as a world-famous instrumentalist, but above all as a teacher and mediator of the African-American music tradition. This intercultural mediation work has made him, in the 18 years following up to today, one of the most significant proponents of the open and international climate at the school, which has matured into a university: the “Anton Bruckner Private University.”
The fact that music was and is not only the handcraft and the imparting of his ability and his musical heritage in Doug Hammond’s life, but has always been understood by him as a dialogue with young musicians, has been proven by him in all these years not only at the Bruckner University, but also in many open sessions at different venues in Linz and Upper Austria. Perhaps the most well-known has become the “Jazz am Berg” concert series, which he established together with the director of Bildungshaus St. Magdalena, Roland Spitzlinger, 15 years ago. The goal of this series was and is to bring outstanding jazz and blues artists to Linz and to present his musical environment to them here. Not as a “foreign” example of an “other” music tradition, but as a part of the continuous intercultural dialogue that Hammond permanently lives and has fostered up to today.
Names alone were not the deciding factor in the choice of his guests, but rather the quality and connection to the blues, that African-American music which, probably like no other, has shaped the musical history of the Twentieth Century. In the last decade and a half, among those who were heard at “Jazz am Berg” were: Cedar Walton, Mal Waldron, Kirk Lightsey, Andy Milne, Sonny Simmons, Louisiana Red, Reggie Workman, Fritz Pauer, and James “Blood” Ulmer. All of them are great musicians and trendsetters of blues and jazz.
The artist Doug Hammond would not be given his proper due merely by listing up his bandmates and bands as evidence. Fifteen years ago, the following had already been written about Doug in the Oberösterreichischer Kulturbericht: “Doug Hammond is also a composer. And as one he is sincerely endeavouring to formulate pieces of grand stature. He does things with an earnestness and closeness. He never leaves the gravitational fields of swing. As a composer he receives the highest awards, for instance, from the "Düsseldorf New Music Ensemble," which performs his pieces. This ensemble recorded his works that appeared on “Mingus Moves”.” (in the honor of the legendary bassist Charles Mingus, one of Doug’s teachers; Robert Urmann, November 1992).
Yes, and then there is also the poet and thinker Doug Hammond. No discussion with him ends with jazz or with the elementary musical power of the blues, his own artistic roots. Life, his personal experiences, as well as his constant dialogue with people between cultures, form his work. Hardly anyone else could better fulfil the requirements for the latest “State Cultural Prize for Art in an Intercultural Dialogue,” which, this year, is being awarded for the second time, than the artistic personality and the human being Doug Hammond. Doug doesn’t foster this dialogue, he IS this dialogue!
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Many years ago I encountered Doug Hammond for the first time at an African pub in the Old City of Linz. I didn’t know who he was, but this quiet, simple man caught my attention right away. We had a short talk together, he also started discussing with other migrants, and then we lost track of each other. Our paths later crossed again several times. While viewing the submitted applications and suggestions for the “State Cultural Prize for Art in an Intercultural Dialogue 2007” awarded by the Upper Austrian Government, I suddenly saw his face on a photograph looking up at me. Upon closer inspection of the enclosed documents, I first recognized whom I had repeatedly had eye contact with and whom I had enjoyed an unspoken common wavelength with over the years. In the course of preparation for the awards ceremony, he was invited for an interview, and besides the familiar charisma, I discovered a variety of facts about Doug Hammond that had been unknown to me up to then:
His convictions concerning association were expressed in an unobtrusive and, at the same time, authentic manner. He succeeded in not only decisively representing this principle, but also living it. In this sense, he has become a role model for many people, above all for many African men and women. He himself, a foreigner among foreigners, has pointed out the arising educational chances in Upper Austria during his many discussions with migrants on different occasions. He motivates them to look beyond the limits and difficulties and to also open their views to the possibilities being presented here.
In educating prospective musicians at the Jazz Department of the Anton Bruckner Private University, his main aim is, above all, to collect essential interdisciplinary and intercultural musical experience. It is only in this way that they can gain true depth and unfold their creative potential in the long run.
The jury was unanimous: Doug Hammond has shown through his life and his work how integration can be enriching for both sides: for the guest country and for the immigrant. If the appropriate spaces to unfold their abilities are open to migrants and are perceived by the persons concerned with engagement, outstanding fruits can be harvested. Today, the fruits of Doug Hammond are being counted among them: alongside his music and his poems is a down-to-earth personality who, at the end of the interview, said to me: “Don’t make me too big. I am small.”
IN THE WASTE OF WAITING
There was once a little flame
Who gave a tiny dream.
The wish for desire lost the way
As a real feeling sang her songs.
We are the life that heaven always speaks of
A true sensation.
Yet many wonder away within fear
Hoping for a strangeness called safety
While love only speaks in the moment of now
Without thought and the waste of waiting.
HOPE
Creativity will defy our beliefs
Showing us over and over the value of truth.
Questions can inspire where doubt is wasteful.
So to see,
We look without pattern
As life reveals the love words cannot describe |
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