shanghai jazz scene .com

I got to check out part of jazz pianist Burnett Thompson’s show last night at JZ Club, a trio night of fun standards that he played with EJ Parker and Chris Trczinski.  He also invited Coco Zhao to join the group for a couple of tunes from Coco’s album that the two of them had played together when Coco was in Washington D.C. last summer.  It was a nice couple of sets, and it was good to hear him again since the last time he was here.

I missed the beginning jazz piano workshop he gave over at the JZ School last Saturday, but he’ll give one more next weekend that I’ll try and hit–and you should too if you missed this last one too.  It’s free and I heard good things about it from some of the people who did attend.  Apparently in his master classes he uses drum equipment to get everyone involved continuously throughout the workshop, whether it’s on piano or drums or other stuff.  Sounds like lots of fun.

Next weekend’s free master class takes place on Sunday, January 27 from 2:00-3:30pm.

Similar to last time he was here, he’ll also be collaborating again in a performance with erhu soloist Ma Xiaohui and clarinetist Kiera Thompson on Jan 26, 2008 2:00 p.m. at the Oriental Arts Center in Pudong.

A project I’ve been involved with for the last year or so already, Soulfire, has been broadcasting in Hangzhou already since last March.  However, I had hesitated to report on it here until it managed to get onto the radio waves here in town…but that hasn’t happened yet, and seems to be at least a few more months away.  But not long ago it did begin broadcasting through Soulfire’s website, which anyone can listen to from anywhere.

So have a listen–we program three hours a day, and the three hours stream live online at the same time it is broadcast on FM 99.6 in Hangzhou (9am to 12 noon Beijing time).  Then, for the rest of the day the three hours play in a continuous loop streaming through the website until the next day’s programs begin.

The program, all in Chinese, is a mix of talk radio and good music (mostly jazz, but with a sprinkling of other interesting stuff) that focuses on the finer things in life, including music itself.  As you might have guessed, I’m involved with the music end of things there.  Give me a shout if you want to know more about it.

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.

This Thursday, August 9 (tomorrow) at 7pm, there will be a free master class with Brazilian percussionist Leonardo Susi at the JZ School (270 WuYuan lu #6) to kick off the school’s new Latin Percussion course. The course Leo is teaching will take place on Tuesday evenings from 7-8pm ongoing, and is open to all ages. This semester’s session is designed for beginner to intermediate skill levels, perfect for those people who have always wanted to play something but don’t know where to start, or those who don’t have time to commit the amount of practice necessary for private instrument lessons. Come Thursday and let Leonardo’s skills and teaching style speak for itself, and if you enjoy it you can take advantage of a 10% discount offered exclusively to attendees of the master class. It’s already affordable at 1500 RMB for the 10-week semester, but this means if you decide to sign up that day, it’s equivalent to getting the first actual class session for free as well! You can’t go wrong, come have fun trying out congas, timbales, guiros, and all sorts of other wacky instruments.  Learn where each instrument is from, how to play it, and how it fits into the larger rhythm picture.