About Jazzthetik

Jazzthetik

Jazzthetik – Magazin für Jazz & Anderes is the German-language music magazine with the jazz focus: published in the Westphalian university city of Münster since 1987, the magazine appears with six issues per year. With the news from the jazz world, the interviews, the portraits, the reviews of CDs, DVDs, and books, the concert reports, and the calendar of TV and radio broadcasts and upcoming gigs and tours, Jazzthetik serves the jazz listeners: and, as the subtitle promises, the "Anderes" (other) too, from the electronica to the world music, from the ambient to the blues.

Overview

Jazzthetik appears bi-monthly as the jazz magazine: the medium for the jazz enthusiasts in the German-speaking world, for the listeners and the musicians, for the collectors and the concert-goers, for the aficionados and the curious. The editorial program delivers the jazz journalism: the news from the jazz scene, the interviews with the artists, the portraits of the personalities, the critiques of the CDs, DVDs, and books, the reports from the concerts, and the calendar of the TV and radio broadcasts and the upcoming performances and tours, six times a year.

The magazine's positioning is the "& Anderes": not just the jazz, but the adjacent music styles, the electronica, the ambient, the world music, the blues, and the progressive rock. The four-person editorial team (as of 2022), led by the publisher Christine Stephan sharing the editorship with Jan Kobrzinowski, plus the freelancers, covers the breadth: the jazz in its stylistic diversity and its border crossings, with knowledge and passion.

The Jazz Listeners

The jazz listeners that Jazzthetik serves are the German-speaking world's jazz community: the collectors with the thousands of CDs, the concert-goers filling the clubs and the festivals, and the musicians playing the music. The listeners' passion is the deep: the jazz demands the attention, the knowledge, and the openness. The magazine speaks to this passion: the interviews that reveal the artists, the reviews that guide the collecting, and the calendar that fills the evenings.

The Münster base gives the magazine its character: the Westphalian university city with the International Jazz Festival Münster, the audience that inspires the musicians, and the editorial rooted in the local scene. The magazine's national reach extends from this base: the German-speaking world's jazz, from the Berlin clubs to the Swiss festivals. In the music where the improvisation is the essence, the magazine tells the listeners what the musicians are creating: the specialist journalism for the improvised music, since 1987, today and tomorrow, always, without fail, today.

History

Jazzthetik's history begins in 1987: the Münster-based music magazine launched in the German-speaking world's jazz press landscape, alongside the Jazz Podium (Stuttgart, since 1952) and later the Jazz thing (Cologne, since 1993). The publisher's seat in Münster, Frie-Vendt-Straße 16, 48153 Münster, anchors the magazine in the Westphalian university city with its own jazz festival tradition.

The magazine's 38-year history spans the jazz's transformations: from the CD's dominance to the streaming, from the major labels to the independents, from the American center to the European scenes. The magazine documented these: the interviews with the legends and the newcomers, the reviews of the thousands of releases, and the reports from the festivals. The current issues show the vitality: the September/October 2026 issue with Émile Parisien "the magician," the May/June 2026 issue 328 with "100 Jahre Miles Davis" (100 years of Miles Davis).

Coverage and Content

The jazz coverage addresses the music: the news from the scene, the interviews with the artists from the legends to the young lions, and the portraits of the personalities. The review coverage addresses the releases: the CD, DVD, and book critiques that guide the collectors. The concert coverage addresses the live: the reports from the festivals and the clubs, and the calendar of the upcoming performances and tours.

The "& Anderes" coverage addresses the borders: the electronica, the ambient, the world music, the blues, and the progressive rock. The broadcast calendar addresses the media: the TV and radio broadcasts with the jazz content. The title topics address the moments: the Miles Davis centenary, the Émile Parisien's magic, and the scenes' developments.

The Jazz Journalism

The jazz journalism that Jazzthetik practices is the specialist criticism: the writers who know the music, the history, and the scenes. In the media landscape where the permanently employed music editors with the dedicated jazz knowledge in the print culture sections continuously decline, the specialist magazines carry the differentiated and comprehensive jazz reporting. Jazzthetik is one of the four German jazz periodicals: alongside the Jazz Podium, the Jazz thing, and the former Jazzzeitung.

The magazine's reviews serve the listeners: the CD critiques that distinguish the essential from the ephemeral. The interviews serve the understanding: the artists speaking about their music. The concert reports serve the memory: the festivals documented. In the jazz where the live is the essence, the magazine's calendar is the service: the gigs and tours that the readers attend.

The "& Anderes"

The "& Anderes" (and other) in the subtitle is the magazine's philosophy: the jazz does not live in isolation, but in the dialogue with the adjacent musics. The electronica's beats meet the jazz's improvisation; the ambient's textures meet the jazz's harmony; the world music's rhythms meet the jazz's swing; the blues' feeling meets the jazz's sophistication; the progressive rock's ambition meets the jazz's complexity. The magazine covers these dialogues: the artists who cross the borders, the releases that defy the categories.

The philosophy reflects the contemporary jazz: the genre's boundaries are porous, the musicians collaborate across the styles. The magazine's reviewers follow: the critics who know the electronica and the world music, not just the bebop. The readers benefit: the jazz listeners discovering the adjacent, the adjacent listeners discovering the jazz. In the music where the categories are the marketing, the magazine tells the truth: the good music is the good music, whether jazz or "Anderes."

Organization and Ownership

Jazzthetik is published in Münster: the publisher (Herausgeberin) is Christine Stephan, sharing the editorship (Chefredaktion) with Jan Kobrzinowski. The address: Frie-Vendt-Straße 16, 48153 Münster. The editorial team comprises four (as of 2022), plus the freelancers. The business model is the music-magazine model: the subscriptions and the newsstand sales, and the advertising from the labels and the festivals.

Digital Presence

The jazzthetik.de website is the digital home: the magazine's presence with the current issues. The retail listings (jpc.de) sell the single issues: the 348-title back catalog, the current September/October 2026 issue in stock. The Goethe-Institut's profile presents the magazine internationally: the German jazz press's representative.

For the jazz listeners in the German-speaking world, Jazzthetik is the magazine: the bi-monthly publication with the news from the scene, the interviews with the artists, the portraits, the CD, DVD, and book reviews, the concert reports, and the calendar of the broadcasts, gigs, and tours, for the jazz and the "Anderes" from the electronica to the world music. Since 1987, through the CD's dominance, the download, and the streaming, from the American center to the European scenes, the magazine has served the jazz: the specialist journalism for the music that improvises, from Münster to the world, into the future, without compromise, every issue, always, since 1987.