I only saw the first two shows of the four-day jazz festival at the Oriental Arts Center in pudong, but noticed a big difference in the audiences’ responses to the two shows. I also got some more insight into the matter when discussing the Rene Marie show on the 2nd with a Chinese jazz musician friend.
Very clean and continuous throughout, Salena Jones’ show on the first night of the festival was well received by the mostly Chinese audience. I enjoyed it too, she was a wonderful singer, and her band was impeccable.?? It left me wanting, however, and Rene Marie’s performance on the second night happened to give me exactly what I had missed the night before: good listening and group improvisation, some original compositions, as well as highlighting the skills of individual players by letting them stretch out on solos. I appreciated that it was much more organic and quirky than the night before.
It was exactly those qualities that seemed to have a completely opposite effect on the local listeners though. When talking to my guitarist friend who had also been to the Rene Marie show, I found that he didn’t like the show at all. He felt that it was *too* free, that she babbled on too much between songs, and that there were some mistakes that were awkward and obvious. He felt that the show should have had some sort of larger point, a connection between the songs that would give cohesion to the whole. It was apparent to me that he was not alone in this thinking, as I saw a number of people leave during the show.
My reaction to that was that it must be a cultural difference. I think Chinese people generally like for performances to have greater cohesion, whether they are theatrical shows or concerts. If they’ve paid good money for a ticket then it better be a flawless exhibition from start to finish.
I can’t argue with that concept per se.?? I’ve seen plenty of shows (music and otherwise) in China that were amazing and perfect. That’s great…but I have different expectations from a jazz performance. In this particular case I might be even more strongly biased because I’m comparing it to the show the night before. However I’m pretty sure that Western jazz listeners are more likely to expect cohesion only within each single composition, and not necessarily insist on interconnection throughout a show.?? The way I see it, interconnection within a jazz show can serve a specific purpose and it can serve to express more complex concepts by tying many compositions together somehow.?? But it doesn’t have to be there for me to enjoy the show, as long as each piece can stand on its own and be a separate journey.
Well I might be overanalyzing it.?? But it was rather informative hearing my friend’s explanations for why he didn’t like the show so much.?? I think I might understand a bit better where Chinese people are coming from when they listen to music now.