On the death of Christian Broecking

We were deeply shocked by the news: Dr. phil. Christian Broecking, a companion of our festival who was as clever as he was clear, as knowledgeable as he was critical, passed away in Berlin on February 2. His importance not only for Enjoy Jazz, but for jazz in Germany and beyond cannot be overestimated. Broecking was truly unique in his ability to combine scholarship and empathy, always with a view to communicability. As a musicologist and sociologist, he not only masterfully described jazz as a social phenomenon in greater depth than any other author in Germany and in many cases made it accessible in the first place, he was also outstanding in his educational work as a journalist, author, publisher and university lecturer. Broecking has written standard works of jazz journalism, including in particular the music-sociological studies "Respekt! The History of Fire Music" and "Black Codes" stand out. His meticulously researched biography of Irene Schweitzer has set standards within the genre. And his photographs, which we were lucky enough to be able to present at our festival, are precious documents of a unique holistic view of jazz and its protagonists. The conference "Lost in Diversity - A Transatlantic Dialogue on the Social Relevance of Jazz", curated and led by him, which was a highlight of our festival in 2012 and was continued the following year to no less acclaim. And last but not least, he turned our "Jazz Aperitifs", short introductions to selected items on the festival program, into cult events that were always on a par with the concerts that followed. It is not only these beautiful and inspiring moments that will be missed. He will be missed. We mourn the loss of a friend. Our thoughts are with his family. We cannot fathom what they have lost.

Rainer Kern and the Enjoy Jazz team