shanghai jazz scene .com

JZ Club has started hosting concerts at the Shanghai Center Theater (the one in the Portman Ritz-Carlton building) and the next one is tomorrow.  This show is featuring Bob James, the smooth jazz pianist who recently recorded his album “Angels of Shanghai” here in town with a number of local traditional intrumentalists.  There’s more information about the project on Bob James’ website.

leaning on the piano

Performers:
LI li - pipa
LIU zhen - erhu
LU cong - dizi
MA jiajun - erhu
Gene JACKSON - drums
Bob JAMES - piano
Tetsuo SAKURAI - bass
Jack LEE - guitar
XIA tao - gu qin

Tickets are available at JZ Club or through Smart Shanghai, and are 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 kuai.  There will also be tickets for sale at the door.

Start time: 7:30pm (2 sets of approx 1 hour with 15 minute break)
Friday 21 November 2008
Shanghai Centre Theatre
1376 Nanjing Road West, Suite 710
Tel: 6279-8600

If you can’t go tomorrow or would rather see Bob James in a more intimate (read: crowded) setting, you can also see him on Saturday night at JZ Club.  However, for this show he will only be performing with his quartet and not the “Angels”.  I don’t know why not, if the big band can pack 17 people onto the stage every other Saturday night why can’t they fit a couple of guzhengs and pipas up there?

Saturday 22 November 2008
Jz Club
46 West Fuxing Road
Tel: 64310269
Start 9:30pm (2 sets of about 1 hour with 20/30 minute break)
***Please note the unusual start time***

Bob James Quartet

Gene JACKSON - drums
Bob JAMES - piano
Tetsuo SAKURAI - bass
Jack LEE – guitar

This Friday there are plenty of parties happening for Halloween.  But for those of us who want to enjoy some live jazz, one of the best parties to hit will be the twocities in tune concert, the next installment of the excellent series featuring the musical adventures of Steve Sweeting and various vocalists.

They say in the City Weekend listing: “Free with costume. Well, free anyway, but why not have some fun?”

Fri, Oct 31 at 7:30PM
At: Two Cities Gallery, 50 Moganshan rd bldg 0
Shanghai
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/events/32222/

Was browsing the culture.sh.cn site and happened across this jazz piano recital coming up at the Oriental Arts Center at the end of the month.  Sounds interesting, judging from the pianist’s bio it should be a good concert as he has played with many great musicians and lived and worked in New York for many years.  Hopefully he will come jam at the club after his gig, then we can hear him really tear it up with a rhythm section.

Details:

Jazz Piano Recital by Franck Amsallem
Sept. 28th, 2008 19:45 (Sun.)
Venue:
Shanghai Oriental Art Center - Performance Hall
Ticket Price (RMB):
300, 180, 120, 60 Yuan

The next in the series of concerts put on by JZ at the Pudong Oriental Arts Center, the David Friesen show promises to be quite a bit different than the others.  Solo bass, especially upright bass, seems like the most difficult sort of instrument to perform solo on.  Let alone entire concerts!  But I have faith that it will be good, since he is known as a master of the instrument and his solo concerts are purported to be phenomenal.

Plus he’s got Lawrence Ku joining him, so that should change things up a bit as well.  If you didn’t know, Lawrence Ku is Shanghai’s jazz guitar guru whose skills are unparalleled in China.

Friesen will also be performing at the Shanghai Jazz Festival the following weekend, and will give a master class at JZ School. More on that once the times are announced.

For more information, check the JZ Club website or call 021-5403-0187.  For tickets, call 962388.

David Friesen solo bass concert
Sun, Sep 14 at 3:00PM
At: Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Tickets from 100-200 RMB