Marsha Yuan at JZ Club
I heard Marsha Yuan’s set at JZ the other night, she sounds great. It was the first time I’d heard her sing individually (heard her in the chorus of “42nd St”) and she’s pretty darn strong. Of course her voice has an obvious pop/broadway influence, as does her stage presence (she moves her shoulders back and forth in such a cute way!) but she’s got skills and seems to be honing them daily in the jazz language so she could become Shanghai’s next great jazz singer.
For those of you who don’t know who Marsha is, she is illustrious Shanghai jazz guitarist Lawrence Ku’s cousin. Or, to the rest of the (non-Shanghai jazz scene) world, she is a pretty well-known up-and-coming Hong Kong actress, singer, and model. Her mom is a famous actress, Cheng Pei-Pei, who I know as the evil witch character from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. No longer based in Hong Kong as of this last year, however, Marsha’s living on the mainland now, as I guess Shanghai holds more potential for her continued career development. She’s also started teaching voice and dance at the JZ School.