So last night I decided it was time to make the trek across the river and see what some of the hotel jazz lounges out that way have to offer. There’s actually some good stuff going on out there, probably even more than the two I checked out tonight. Unfortunately, all hotel gigs come with their challenges, namely a general lack of interested listeners so get out and support them if you find yourself in the lujiazui neighborhood.
Genevieve Marentette at the Shangri-La
We took the subway to lujiazui around ten before it shut down, and walked first over the Shangri-la hotel where Gigi sings on the ground floor jazz lounge. It’s a pretty strange room, with no stage; the band is sort of just set up near the bar in the back center of the room.
She’s got a pretty ok Chinese rhythm section backing her up, all pretty young guys that read everything they play intently even though they’ve been playing the same tunes for months already. They get the job done: they stay together and even get the arrangements mostly right. I don’t get the sense that any of them really listen to jazz much though, the pianist David has a distinctly pop flavor going on. The bass player Lou does manage to stay in tune, and drummer Sean has a pretty good feel actually.
Gigi herself sounds great in the circumstances. She’s got serious skills, but in this context they don’t get highlighted well. It’s too bad that hotels get these great singers but then won’t pay for a quality band that could really make a special thing happen…but I guess that’s the nature of the beast. Having a jazz lounge is just another service for guests, it only has to be good enough. I’m sure it’s just as much about having a beautiful woman to gaze at as it is her musical and audience engaging skills. But I digress…Genevieve would rock the house with a tight band behind her. She doesn’t just have the minimal skills needed to work with easily (sings in tune, comes in at the right spot, has positive attitude), she also has style and finesse and draws you into the music. Especially if you listen and clap, which wakes up the band.
Trebeka and Oliver von Essen at Pu-J’s
After the Shangri-la we went over to the Jin Mao building where the Grand Hyatt is, but not into the main (tall) part of the building. Pu-J’s is one of the jazz lounges in the building, part of an entire entertainment complex which is the short building connected to the side of the Jin Mao. It says “J-life” on one side of it. It can be quite tricky to find if you don’t know how to get there, because you have to negotiate a virtual maze just to find the elevators, especially difficult if you come through the hotel to get there. Luckily I was already familiar with the place since I used to work there sometimes with Coco when he sang there a long time ago.
It’s another strange room, this time with a stage in the center of the room, partly surrounded by the bar. Psychedelic computer visuals dance neurotically on one wall and glass encased wine-rack-columns line the walkway on the other side, and the stage is pretty high so it feels like you’re playing on a narrow platform. Not an easy gig…especially with the multitude of distractions competing for customers’ attention (and business…need I say more?). So again, if you’re in the area and like good music come down and check these two out because they’re solid.
Oliver is an amazing pianist who has worked with tons of great musicians and produces a lot of original material of his own as well. I’ve had a few chances to jam with him in different contexts and he is top-notch. His extensive experience playing organ gives him ample left-hand walking-bass skills which he uses a lot for this gig. He starts each set with some solo piano tunes, including some originals.
Trebeka is a gorgeous London-based vocalist who has a passionate yet soothing voice. She’s very professional and sounds great, and has the added advantage of a sexy French accent in her lyrics. And you know these musicians are really great because when it’s obvious that people in the audience are paying attention the players respond with some exquisite music.
My first gig in Shanghai was a hotel gig, so I can relate to what these people go through. These hotel gigs can grate you down because you feel like no one is listening because there’s no feedback. Because they’re usually NOT listening. And when nobody listens, it sucks the life out of you because you can’t put out and get nothing back for hours and hours every day and retain your energy. It becomes just a job and you only go through the motions. So it really takes putting out some extra-positive applause feedback to make musicians in that position feel inspired to give you something. So if you’ve been to these places before with groups of drunken work colleagues and didn’t think the music was anything special, it’s time to head back and actually listen. You have until the end of September to go hear Gigi at Shangri-la and until October 25 to hear Trebeka and Oliver at the Jin Mao.