The second day of the JZ Festival went well, with another bout of perfect weather and slightly cooler temperatures. The afternoon crowd was about the same as the first day, nearly filling up the relatively small amount of space in between the buildings at the New Factories where the concerts are being held. The musical pattern set on day one seemed to hold through the second day as well, which was: begin the day with some solid, swinging straight-ahead jazz; from there move into an eclectic mix of Scandinavian groups for the rest of the afternoon; then start the evening set with a local blockbuster group and finish it with some popular Chinese pop-rock. more ›

The latest news from the former Fuxing Jazz Festival is that it is going to take place up in Jing'an district at the New Factories on Yuyao Lu (余姚路), and will be called the JZ Festival (爵士同乐 in Chinese). It will feature many of Shanghai's locally-based jazz groups including Coco and his band Possicobilities, Alec Haavik's Friction Five, and the JZ All-star big band. Also featured will be major Chinese rock stars Cui Jian and Xu Wei among others, as well as a number of Northern European groups (jazz and otherwise). The festival, put on by the JZ group, Jing'an government, the Jing'an tourism bureau, and the organizers of the NOTCH music festival, will take place over four full days, October 4-7. more ›

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- we 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. more ›