shanghai jazz scene .com

If you haven’t heard yet, the 5th Annual Shanghai Jazz Festival is happening at Jing’an park this year from September 19-21.  This is the one JZ club puts on annually in the fall, known in previous years as “JZ Festival” or “JZ Fuxing International Jazz Festival”, as opposed to others like “Jazzy Shanghai” usually held in the spring, or the Toshiba Jazz Festival that never made it past the “first annual” in 2004, as great as it was.

This festival has always been interesting and eclectic, bringing in Chinese pop names, well-known jazz greats, as well as other groups from completely different genres.  This year the headliners include European diva Laura Fygi (backed by the JZ all-star big band!), legendary British DJ Gilles Peterson, and genre-bending UK band Incognito.  The entire foreign and local lineup, as well as all the other details can be found on the festival’s website.

My favorite year of all the festivals JZ has put on was the last one at Fuxing park in 2006.  There was a solid lineup, mostly good weather, and some great sunny afternoons on the grass enjoying the music–mostly everything a jazz festival should be.  I think they have got the right idea this year with JingAn park, as the district seems quite supportive of jazz compared to the others.  It’s also a very different sort of place, one that I would never have thought possible for a jazz fest.

Yes, it is true. The gorgeous bright orange lane house that has been the home of Shanghai’s jazz education nexus for most of the last two years will soon cease to be such, and the jazz school will move to a larger space in the same neighborhood. The new location, which is is still undergoing renovations, is located in a lane off Wukang rd near Hunan rd. It has more space than the current location, including more large rooms for ensemble classes, rehearsals, kids classes, and even a larger room for student concerts which will double as a dance studio.

There are beautiful green tree views from many of the windows, and the charm of the French Concession is just as strong as the old JZ School’s lane house. The new space will be open just in time for the fall semester to begin, and of course that will mean lots of great back-to-school packages and class offers.

The new location is Wu Kang Rd Lane 280 – No.12, which is between the Hunan Rd junction and Ferguson lane. A good reference point is the Elementary School on the corner of Wukang Rd and Lane 280. They’ve just torn down some old ugly buildings in front of it and renovated it.

For other news about new classes and events for fall 2008 at the school, check the school’s website.

I know this is already old news, but for those of you who didn’t know already, the second location of CJW in Shanghai just closed about a month ago. According to musicians who had been working there before the closure, the reason for closing was a sudden massive hike in rent by the landlord when the initial rent contract ended. Apparently it might have been a move to force the club out, which may mean the bund center has some intention of doing something else with the space. In any case, they also indicated that the club will reopen another location in Shanghai as soon as they can. The original CJW at Xintiandi remains open, unaffected by the other club’s closure; as does the newest sister–the location in Beijing.