Breaking news- Peter Scherr trio at JZ tonight!
I got this in the email box the other day, but only just back into town yesterday so I haven’t been able to post it yet. I missed their single 9pm “teaser” set at JZ last night as I had to work, but they will be playing all night tonight there. Hopefully continuing late enough to allow me to catch some of it after my own gig…
Monday night. Club JZ:
Jazz Folk. A trio featuring Sydney’s Simon Barker and Matt McMahon. Barker’s drumming is informed by his study of Korean music, and McMahon posesses a true lyric touch on the piano. These two, along with Hong Kong’s experimentalist Peter Scherr on bass explore songs of compelling simplicity. Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, and original pieces of strange beauty are on the menu. Check it out…
Weekly regulars: Wednesdays with Erica and Thursdays with Toby
I took some pictures and did some listening with the intention to post about these two bands a good week and a half ago, but electrical problems at home and then going out of town last week held that up. So I’m making up for that lost time in today’s post about the Wednesday and Thursday bands currently in JZ’s regular weekly lineup.
Erica Li and the jazz/R&B all-stars
Erica has been doing Wednesdays at JZ for at least a year now, but has had a hard time keeping the same lineup over time. That hasn’t kept her from making some good music every week though, it just means some nights she sings more standards than others. Even when Erica sings standards, though, she doesn’t sound like just another nondescript Chinese jazz diva doing the standard thing; she definitely has her own style and I think it’s pretty hip. Sort of like a mix between Beyonce and Bjork.
I’d like to hear her do some original music though, I’m pretty sure that she just does other people’s music. Admittedly quite well, but there’s only so much I can dig about that, especially without much in the way of original arrangements even.
Usually playing with Erica on wednesdays is Davide on bass, Yang Dehui on keys, and Chris Trczinski on drums. They are usually joined by a horn player too, who had been saxophonist Troels until he left town last week. Erica also sings regularly at CJW on the regular bands’ off nights at Xintiandi: Sunday and Monday nights.
Toby Mak and the Thursday night crew
Toby is a bad-ass trumpeter and he leads a bad-ass band every thursday night at JZ for at least half a year now. These guys play a lot of different stuff, including standards, originals, and great original arrangements of standards. Not much to say here about them except, go check it out! I really dig Toby’s understated, raw sound on the trumpet, and not to mention his composing and arranging skills.
Recently Toby has been using drummer Andy Swann, a friend of his he grew up playing with in Melbourne, EJ Parker on the bass, Lawrence Ku on guitar, and Huang Jianyi on the piano. Toby also plays tuesday, wednesday, friday and saturday nights at the Cotton Club regularly.