shanghai jazz scene .com

Willow Neilson, a great tenor saxophonist from Australia, has returned to the Shanghai jazz scene. He first came to Shanghai around the time I first showed up here about five years ago, and it’s great to have him back here again. He was able to return on a grant from Asialink, a program through the University of Melbourne that encourages cultural exchange through the arts, and is using the grant to work with the JZ School and Club in a series of free workshops and concerts. He is also playing with my band at the JZ Club every Thursday night for now, and I believe on Monday nights with EJ’s group as well. It looks like he’s not updating gig schedule on his myspace page, but if you want to find him you can probably get in touch with him that way.

Here’s some more info about the improvisation workshops he’s giving over the next few weeks, as well as a special concert he will put on at the JZ Club next week.

Hosted by Lawrence Ku, this show will be featuring all the big names on Shanghai’s jazz scene as it explores everything jazz in this bustling city, and more. I’m not sure what more they could possibly talk about without getting away from the topic of jazz, so I’ll be watching the show to find out. It airs every Sunday night at 8pm on Shanghai’s new International Channel, the second channel to run in English language on Chinese public television (though it will also have Japanese language programming), and started January 1, 2008.

I’ll be on the show myself at some point as well, as I just spent this afternoon getting interviewed about my musical experience, background, and inspiration over at the JZ School. All I can say is, I’m not very eloquent when speaking out loud…I just hope they have really good editors to take out all the “um”s and “ah”s. They also interviewed Theo Croker, so I imagine he’ll get featured on the show as well.

This Friday night will see the return of jazz quintet Five Below to the bund. However it is not to the old digs where the band’s name originally came from, but this time to Jean Georges, the bar and restaurant on the 4th floor of Three on the bund. Their newly renovated bar will be hosting the event, with entry passwords costing 200 RMB. Of course, each person has to buy their own password.

Featured with Five Below together will be the legendary Danish vocalist Sinne Eeg, for one of her final appearances in Shanghai, probably for a very long time. So this is the best chance to enjoy her delightful melodies before she returns to Europe in a few days hence. The music starts at 10pm.

The sixth and final concert in the 2007 JazzArt concert series put together by the JZ School featured Coco Zhao and his Possicobilities band yesterday afternoon at ifa village, a huge gallery at M50 on Moganshan lu. I thought the space, which is quite large and very concrete, would make the sound echo way too much; however, when it filled up with people it actually sounded pretty balanced. Only when the band got to their very loudest parts did it all sort of wash into each other and create a rumbling mass of sound. But that was kind of cool, too.

Unfortunately, I was halfway to the concert before it occurred to me I should bring my camera. So I don’t have any pictures of the event myself, but I saw a few people snapping shots with cameras much nicer than mine anyway, so there should be a few popping up on the JZ School website within the next couple days. Also, another blogger posted their own set of pictures from the event as well, so you can check them out too.

I probably say this after every one of these concerts, but the JazzArt shows are always my favorite concerts in town. The vibe is always so nice in these great galleries to begin with, and then to have people show up who just want to listen to some excellent jazz on a Sunday afternoon makes it so special. Not to mention exceptional wine, and all for free! It all really conspires to create an atmosphere of utmost creativity for the musicians, so they really put their soul into it. It’s sad to know that they won’t continue every month, but at least next year will see the series start up again anew. It gives us something to look forward to next spring.