shanghai jazz scene .com

The next JazzArt concert is upon us once again! And this time, featured will be the JQ Whitcomb (that’s me!) sextet, playing original compositions of mine and fun music from our regular Thursday repertoire as well. It is the first of a whole slew of great concerts and jazz performances happening this month, many of which haven’t made it into the magazine listings. So expect to see more news right here over the next couple days reporting on them.

JazzArt, as you probably have worked out by now, is a monthly jazz concert series held at a different gallery each month. They have become my favorite regular jazz event, not just because I’m involved with the planning and implementation but also because art galleries are fantastic places for jazz concerts in general. Also people who show up to these kind of concerts tend to really listen to the music, whereas in smoky bars at night many people come to chat, or conspicuously consume pricy bottles of booze, perhaps giving the occasional nod toward the music in the background when it happens to catch their attention. The JazzArt series has been wildly successful, much to the chagrin of the evil gallery owners who pulled out at the last minute of planning early this year. Drawing an estimated 250 people to last month’s show, we expect this month’s concert to pull in at least 300 to pack the 3rd floor of MOCA to the brim. So get there early in order to get a seat, there will only be about 100 chairs.

The show starts at 3pm, and is on Sunday, September 9 at MOCA- the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary art, located at People’s Square, 231 W. Nanjing rd. (People’s park gate 7). The concert will be held in the 3rd floor restaurant, so when you come in and they ask you for admission just tell them you’re there for the jazz concert and they’ll let you in free.

The sextet will feature most of the members of my regular sextet, including Lawrence Ku on guitar, Alec Haavik on sax, EJ Parker on bass, and the most recent addition Huang Jianyi. Lao Huang will be playing the Fender Rhodes he bought in the States before he moved back to Shanghai this spring…it sounds pristine! Since regular drummer Chris just left town for what will be a rather long chunk of time, replacing him for this Sunday’s concert will be Nicholas McBride on the drums.

In other news about the sextet’s regular Thursday shows at JZ Club, the next two Thursdays will see the band joined by Beijing drummer Xiao Dou, who has been swinging up a storm recently. After he heads back up to Beijing, Nicholas will take over the reins for the following weeks.

The concert by James Danderfer and his quintet was grand yesterday, and was attended by a record number of audience members for JazzArt so far (about 250 people). It was nice to be back at Twocities gallery for a concert again, as that was where the first JazzArt show was held featuring Lawrence Ku’s septet. It’s a perfect venue for jazz concerts as they have a piano permanently in the space, a good sound system and stage, and the room is just the right size and shape to get really good sound without need for too many microphones. Plus it’s just a good vibe in there, the feng shui is really good and there’s always tons of cool art!

James has been writing some pretty amazing music this year, lots of creative stuff happening in that guy’s head. And the band executed it pretty darn well, too–these were not easy charts to read either. There was a good mix of rhythmic styles, in fact I only remember one or two times throughout the entire concert that they actually played a straight-ahead swing feel. The rest was all kinds of grooves, latin or straight-8th feels, and odd time signatures. Definitely enjoyable. It’s going to be a hard act to follow, since my band is going to be playing for the next month’s JazzArt concert over at MOCA in people’s square…

The fourth concert in the JazzArt series takes place this Sunday August 12 at 3pm at the TwoCities gallery on Moganshan lu, and will feature the music of Canadian Clarinetist and Composer extraordinaire James Danderfer. He will lead a 5-piece group, performing original contemporary jazz that he has been writing over the last year in preparation for a recording the group will make, supported by a grant awarded by the Canada Council For the Arts. James has been based in Shanghai performing in a number of venues for over 2 years now, and the music on this upcoming album is largely inspired by life in this massive city we call home. It should be a fun concert, a sharp contrast to last month’s concert by Alec Haavik’s Friction Five at the 1918 Artspace (which was fantastic- I apologize to everyone for the glaring lack of announcement or review of it here. Here is a good picture and review of it in Chinese). James’ understated, melodic style is a lot mellower than Alec’s jazz-rock fusion, of course needless to say both are awesome in their own ways.

The concert series is organized by the JZ School and features a different style of jazz each month, and is held at a different gallery each month. There is a drawing at each concert to win a bottle of wine from Torres Wine Distributors, as well as for a free 10-week course of your choice at the JZ School. All the concerts are free and open to the public.

TwoCities gallery, M50 (2F, Bldg 0, 50 Moganshan Lu) tel: 5252-1518

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.