To be convened at:

Sydney Conservatorium of Music 

University of Sydney 

Keynote speaker: 

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Kris Davis (Pianist, Composer)

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Conference Theme 

The 2026 Australasian Jazz and Improvisation Research Network (AJIRN) conference, Entangled Improvisations: Jazz, Early Music, and New Global Histories, explores the weave of improvisatory knowledges at play in our current moment and the ways improvisational practices have entangled across cultures and geographies over time. Using entanglement as our conceptual frame, we invite papers that examine messy local histories of jazz and other improvisatory practices, transnational and intercultural encounters between improvising musicians, cognitive entanglements, and the global circulation of improvisatory practices and repertoires across space, time, and tradition. We particularly welcome comparative and interrogative perspectives that place jazz in dialogue with early music and other improvisatory practices.  

  

AJIRN is committed to leading a national conversation on jazz, improvisation, and gender. The program committee welcomes work that examines how gender is produced, negotiated, and contested within jazz, improvisation, and early music scenes, and how these constructions intersect with race, place, institution, and genre.  

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Sub-Themes 

Please note: your proposal needs to include a connection to the following sub-themes and be supported by a theoretical/conceptual and methodological approach. 

  

Entangled Histories and Improvisatory Webs 

Global and local histories of jazz and improvisation;  

Early music and jazz in comparative perspective;  

Historiography, memory, and archival practices;  

Entanglements of race, gender, authorship, and power across time and place. 

  

Bodies, Gender, and the Conditions of Participation in Improvisation

Jazz and gender;  

Improvisation as the performance of identity;  

Whose bodies are normalised in improvisation and whose are marginalised;  

Labour, care, and vulnerability in improvisatory practice. 

  

Improvisation, Agency, and Performer Knowledge 

Performer agency and decision making in jazz and early music traditions;  

Embodied, tacit, and cross-modal performer knowledge;  

Ornamentation, variation, and extemporisation as improvisatory practice; 

Layered and entangled artistry across performance, research, and community practice. 

 

Pedagogies of Entanglement 

Teaching improvisation across histories and traditions;  

Redefining the canon; 

Improvisation as healing and cultural repair; 

Decolonising improvisation. 

 

Format

The 2026 AJIRN Conference will take place primarily in person, with Zoom attendance and participation available for one dedicated online stream. We are accepting proposals for the following formats: 

  

• 20-minute research papers (10-minute Q&A) 

• 20-minute lecture recitals (10-minute Q&A) 

• 20-minute panel discussions (10-minute Q&A) 

• 60-minute themed round tables and workshops (format can be negotiated with the Program Committee) 

  

Online Presentation Format 

All papers and lecture-recitals presented via Zoom must be pre-recorded. Presenters are asked to upload their recordings to Vimeo or YouTube. If using YouTube, videos should be uploaded as “unlisted”. 

  

Links to all pre-recorded presentations must be provided to christopher.coady@sydney.edu.au by 9 October 2026. We cannot guarantee inclusion in the program for recordings submitted after this date. 

  

At the scheduled time of your presentation, the session chair will stream your recording from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Presenters are required to be present on Zoom during the streaming of their presentation and to participate in a live 10-minute Q&A immediately following their presentation. 

 

Submission Process 

If you wish to submit a proposal in one of the formats outlined above, please email the following materials: (.doc format)

 

1. A proposal title 

2. A 250-word abstract 

3. An indication of whether you will present online or in person 

4. The appropriate sub-theme for your proposal 

5. A 100-word implication statement (see note) 

6. A 100-word biography 

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Note on 5. Implication Statement: AJIRN is committed to both enabling broader promotion for presenters’ research and laying the groundwork for practical and collective action in our industry. With this in mind, we ask that you consider submitting a concise (100 word) implication statement alongside your abstract, outlining what your work means in the context of ongoing uplift and co-design in the field. What future entanglements or collaborations does your presentation stand to catalyse? 

 

AJIRN aims to use submitted abstracts and implication statements to further promote the Conference and presenter’s papers, including in print and social media. Permission to do so will be sought from presenters prior to publication. 

  

Submissions should be sent to christopher.coady@sydney.edu.au and must utilise the subject line: “AJIRN 2026 Conference”. 

  

Proposals must be received by 12 June 2026. 

Outcomes of submissions will be notified by 3 July 2026. 

 

Conference Program Committee 

Jess Green (co-convenor, Sydney Conservatorium of Music) 

Steve Barry (co-convenor, Sydney Conservatorium of Music) 

Christopher Coady (co-convenor, Sydney Conservatorium of Music) 

Robert Burke (Monash University) 

Miranda Park (Monash University) 

Dave Wilson (Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington) 

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Kris Davis is a Grammy Award–winning pianist and composer described by The New  York Times as a                                       beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz [in New York] on a given night.” Widely                                           recognized for her singular compositional voice, rhythmic approach, and distinctive                                     harmonic language, Davis blends elements of jazz, groove, and contemporary                                             classical music to create a sound that has established her as one of the most                                               influential creative voices and collaborators in contemporary jazz. She has released                                   27 recordings as a leader or co-leader and has collaborated with artists including Terri                          Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn                                     Sorey, and esperanza spalding. Davis was named a 2021 Doris Duke Artist and has                                   been voted Pianist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics poll in 2020, 2022, and 2025.                                   She serves as Associate Program Director of Creative Development at the Berklee                                     Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and is the founder of Pyroclastic Records. Davis is a Steinway Artist.