Those of you already familiar to Shanghaijazzscene.com may notice that the author of these latest posts has changed. JQ Whitcomb, the originator of this site, has moved back to Santa Fe, New Mexico and will be visiting Shanghai intermittently over the year. One of the other prominent jazz writers for Shanghai, Mike Brownell of Layabozi.com has also vacated Shanghai (do they know something I don’t?). This has left a gaping hole in the already next-to-non-existent jazz writing presence in Shanghai publications both in print and online, leaving the gorgeous Jen Chan Lyman (recently too busy studying to write her elaborately detailed accounts of live performances but she promises to write for us here soon) and myself to record events for posterity. Cue heroic theme music; so I have decided to step in and rectify the situation.

Smart Shanghai’s MP3 Monday’s blurb for Johnathon Parker’s release decried the need for a jazz writer in Shanghai. To quote “To be sure, jazz in Shanghai is a widely celebrated and flourishing phenomenon — at least it seems like it from an outsider’s perspective…jazz in Shanghai seems to conducted according to a real communal, collaborative mindset — a real diverse array of mutually supportive international talent — with a steady influx of new visiting and resident musicians at places like the JZ Club and House of Jazz and Blues,… as well as the yearly JZ Music Festival, which is the only real outdoor music festival in town…I guess jazz writing in the city is more to blame (with the exception of Mike and Mache at Layabozi.com) — the lack of it, and it’s an under-represented art form, it seems, in the cultural focus of Shanghai” http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/nightlife/mp3-monday-jonathan-parker

Realizing a need and having extra energy as a result of a long period of sobriety, I have decided to champion the cause of my fellow musicians whom have all chosen to call Shanghai home.

Who am I you may ask? My name is Willow Neilson. I am a local musician/composer/ and now writer, performing alongside many of the people who have been and will be mentioned in posts on this site. Conflict of interest I hear you say? Very possible, but I promise I will try to convince other writers to sing my praises instead of turning this respectable jazz site into any sickening self congratulatory homepage of narcissism, as tempting as that may be.

What can you expect from the site in the future? There will be a featured artist monthly who will be interviewed and will provide a list of their top ten favorite albums, I feel this will demonstrate the diversity of our music scene and will also provide a source of new musical exploration for the readers of this post as we have musicians ranging from Africa to Norway who can enlighten us to their influences. There will also be local CD reviews, an updated listing (so my friends will stop calling me to ask what is on around town tonight like I am the movie guide or something) and many other delights as the ideas present themselves.

It is my hope that if you love jazz music you will regularly visit this site to stay abreast of upcoming music events. If you are involved in the local music industry and have some important news you would like shared, please contact me through the site.

I wrote this a while back but forgot to post it, so it is a little late but that is better than never I guess… We have recently had one of the organizers, Lalla, arrive in Shanghai to visit us, inspired to check out the Shanghai jazz scene from what she heard from Afro Sonic during their visit there-

The Shanghai jazz scene has gained added momentum this year. A landmark event for one of Shanghai’s groups was their performances at the “Blues to Bop” Jazz Festival in Lugano, Switzerland in late August. The second Shanghai group, after Coco Zhao’s Possicobilities, to be featured at an international festival, which possibly represents a growing interest in the constantly expanding music scene of Shanghai.

The Afrosonic Orchestra is a “party band” with a focus on grooves from the entire breadth of the African diaspora, from US funk and soul to African Afrobeat ala Fela Kuti. Bandleader Theo Croker’s description of the ensemble follows, “Afrosonic Orchestra is a twelve piece Afro-Funk-World-Soul-booty shaking-genre bending-mind blowing-barrier crossing-dynamic explosion of sound and energy. Its very existence defines the 21st century, defying musical, ethnical, stylistic, and racial barriers. The Shanghai-based collective features members from around the globe on five continents including the US, China, Brazil, Norway, and Australia.”

The twelve members of this group represent some of Shanghai’s most exciting players such as Steiner Nickelson, Alec Haavik, Irwin Hall, Leonardo Susi, EJ Parker, Alex Ritz, Willow Neilson, Lawrence Ku and representing China in very fine form are Erica Lee and Hu Dan Feng. American vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater’s daughter China Moses also joined the band for the last two shows of the festival.

The crowd response to the band was enthusiastic to say the least, the fun onstage antics that had been developed by the band over their many performances in Shanghai elicited joyous reactions from the Swiss onlookers. The horn sections dance moves were echoed in the crowd whilst Theo’s ode to Dizzy Gillespie’s mock African ‘Abakua’ call and response to the audience had them screaming back to us. Towards the end of each show the entire crowd was jumping up and down along to Theo’s composition “Realize” and an encore was always guaranteed.

There is rumor that the band will be invited back to Lugano to perform again next year. Afrosonic’s previous performances had people dancing on tables in Hong Kong and has been rocking Shanghai clubs regularly, hopefully the Lugano performances will mark the beginning of a new series of performances for the group, taking their individual blend of Afro funk to the rest of the world. Please see the links below for videos from the festival-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdxyt9UWhnA&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXdZf6EAio&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PxRIeg0WDw&feature=youtu.be

I recently read an article featuring Coco Zhao’s account of the development of the jazz scene in Shanghai (link at the bottom of this article). When considering that Coco Zhao is among many of the early trailblazers from within the local Chinese contingent of the Shanghai jazz scene and that him and his peers are still in their 30s, it demonstrates how new this music is to China and how young the music scene is here in China.

Of course, there is a tradition of old songs from the 1930s jazz era of Shanghai but outside of the old men performers that still survive within the Peace Hotel it is far from apparent. Whilst many musicians from other countries have benefited from the guidance of elders in their musical tradition, musicians such as vocalist Coco Zhao had to seize any opportunity for musical information available to them, “I remember back in the 1990s, we only had very limited resources for us to listen to and play jazz. We had to ask our friends to bring back all kinds of CDs, tapes and books from overseas so that we could read, listen and learn.”

Coco Zhao also talks about the limited image many local Chinese associate with Jazz, “Whilst jazz music is happily making its home in China with all these foreign and local musicians, there is also misunderstanding from the audience. Many listeners still associate jazz with scenes from 1930s old Shanghai, and for them, jazz is probably just a way to display their social and financial positions.”

The types of jazz that the Chinese public are given exposure to are often very limited and Coco Zhao suggests his hopes for more open-minded acceptance of the artform’s more artistic possibilities against its current constrictions. “If Chinese television, radio, magazines and newspapers are only willing to play and promote commercial and easy listening music, then Chinese listeners will never be able to understand and accept new sounds. And the risk-taking and self-challenging musicians will never have their chance to let their music be heard across the country or even across the world.”

I feel this is an important historical article for Chinese jazz and very well written by Coco, who wrote it in English himself without the aid of a translator. Coco’s group Possicobilities was one of the first Chinese lead jazz groups to gain international recognition and upon hearing their CD “Dream Situation” it is no surprise why, with masterful arrangements by Peng Fei and Coco’s velvety vocal tones it a true aural pleasure. Please read the full article below-

http://www.asianculturalcouncil.org.hk/en/welcome/features_detail/16