Results tagged “performingarts”

...and we don't mean playing the role of a teacher in a film, we mean an actual teacher. No, really. Most of us know Jay Chou (周杰伦) – the mumbling Taiwanese R’n’B superstar – as that guy who stares blankly at us from Meters Bonwe adverts on the metro, but if you thought he was just another vacant celebrity then a reappraisal may be due, as Jay will soon take up the post of lecturer in our fair city.

Lots of news from the House of Blues and Jazz in Shanghai: The latest band featured there wraps up their final few weeks at this revered and relatively long-lived jazz venue; also the club gets ready to move to its new digs over at the bund. Theo Croker and band The current band at the House of Blues and Jazz has been there already for many weeks, and they're doing great. It's a dynamic group...

As we speak (type?), RnB diva and superstar, Beyoncé is probably relaxing in her luxury suite somewhere in this city. We, on the other hand, are not relaxing. We are anxiously awaiting tomorrow night., when she will take the Shanghai Grand Stage to belt our some songs and shake that tailfeather of hers. In case you forgot (and how could you really?), we told you about the concert ages ago, so most of you probably...

In its second year, the first independent dance festival in China brings lust, desire, sensuality and sexuality to the stage. The Shanghai Dance Festival initiated by Jin Xing exhibits works of dance companies from China, Denmark, Israel, Sweden and Switzerland.

Has Cosette finally found a reason to smile in China?

Unlike some of the previous musicals that have taken the stage in Shanghai, 42nd Street is a musical more in line with Broadway's roots and traditions, a true reflection of the Broadway of old...you know, before shows adapted from Hollywood movies took it over. Originally, the show debuted in 1980, based upon the 1933 movie of the same name. After it's Broadway debut and subsequent Tony award for Best Musical, 42nd Street went on to become one of the longest running musicals in Broadway history.

JazzArt, as you might have heard, is a monthly jazz concert series held at a different gallery each month. They have become our favorite regular jazz event, not just because we happen to be 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, at least 300 people are expected to pack this month's concert on the 3rd floor of MOCA to the brim. So get there early in order to get a seat, as there will only be about 100 chairs.

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.

Although Cirque du Soliel's Quidam opened a few weeks ago, Shanghaiist didn't get the chance to see the show until last night. Initially, we weren't exactly over the moon about seeing the Canadian troupe perform...to new age music...in tights...on one of our precious Friday nights. But, we were wrong. Insert foot into mouth here.

Tomorrow night, a possibly pregnant Christina Aguilera will perform at the Shanghai Grand Stage. Since May, Shanghaiist has been looking forward to this extravaganza and now that we bought our tickets (thanks Taobao!), we are as happy as a clam! Based on her previous stops in her Back to Basics tour, the setlist should look something like this: 1. Ain't No Other Man 2. Back in the Day 3. Understand 4. Come On Over Baby...

(Wan Xiao Li at the Beer & Rock Festival)

The lovely Anna J's stint doing Wednesdays at the Glamour Bar was interrupted last month when she was injured and put in a big cast for a while. However, she is better now, and ready to rock the Bund once again every Wednesday starting from June 13. Her band is fab as before, consisting of EJ Parker on the upright bass and Steve Sweeting on the piano. The sound is great in the room, and the house is always packed by the second set so get there early to find a good seat. Or just call ahead and reserve one.

This year, the concert series "Piano aux Jacobins" is happening again, and the jazz pianist who they are bringing this time is Jacky Terrasson, who won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in 1993. The competition, which is limited to participants under 30 years old, is among the most illustrious in the world, as winners and finalists often are offered record deals immediately which springboard their career. This was certainly the case with Terrasson, who was signed to Blue Note Records after winning the festival and has since continued performing and touring the world with the best musicians in jazz.

This Thursday at 7.30 pm, the Lille National Orchestra will perform at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center Concert Hall. The show is part of the "Croisements" festival organized by the French Embassy. Formed in 1976, Lille is a very famous orchestra in France and is currently directed and conducted by Jean Claude Casadesus. In August 1997, Casadesus and the orchestra were the first artists to perform in the newly retroceded Hong Kong. And 10 years later, they came back for the French May of Hong Kong, and they will also stop by Beijing (they will perform in the Forbidden City) and Shanghai.

The JazzArt concert series got off to a fantastic start with a packed house enjoying two sets of Lawrence Ku's original music on this past Sunday. His group of seven musicians featured the cream of the crop on the Shanghai jazz scene, nearly all of whom are also faculty at the JZ school — including EJ Parker, Alec Haavik, Andy Hunter, Chris Trzcinski, the author of this post, Lawrence himself, as well as the amazing Beijing-based pianist XiaJia. The concert was held at the TwoCities art gallery on Moganshan Lu, and was a perfect room for the band to play in. It's just the right size for that kind of ensemble, because there was no need to use microphones at all. In fact the only amplification used was for the bass and guitar, and it was minimal.

Just when you think that everything is starting to turn rosy for Shanghai's live music scene, something comes along that hits you like a kick in the teeth.

This first week of the JazzArt concert series will feature the Lawrence Ku Septet playing at the TwoCities Gallery at M50 on Moganshan lu. The septet, which performs quite rarely, is in fact playing quite a few times this month. This is partly because trombonist Andy Hunter is in town through the end of the month, and there aren’t really any other good jazz trombonists in Shanghai. Besides the Jazzy Shanghai festival performance last week and this weekend’s JazzArt concert, the group will also play a CD release party on the 24th (and the Beijing jazz festival at the end of the month). Of course, the imminent release of the album is the other main reason for the increased performance frequency.

Critics have ladled some lavish praise upon the 23-year-old pianist, who began tickling the ivories — “really playing!” Ottignon insists — at the age of one, when most of us were still trying to wrap our heads around the concept of left-foot-right-foot-left-foot-right-foot. At age 11, he picked up what was to be his first of many jazzman accolades — New Zealand’s 'most outstanding jazz musician under 25' honours. “My grandmothers on both sides were pianists,” he explains. “It came very naturally at a young age.” And it seems that music courses through the veins of the entire Ottignon clan — Aron has shared the stage with both brother Matt (saxophone, and occasionally flute and clarinet) and sister Holly (vocals) in various projects.

We've been hearing about the "gypsy jazz" phenomenon happening in Shanghai for the last few months already, but only last Friday finally got to check out the music in action. We stopped by LaBella cafe on Yongfu Lu Friday night to check out French guitar duo Jay and Etienne before going to salsa night at JZ around the corner. After finding the place quite easily from the music bouncing out the door and down the block, we realized that this cafe used to be a foot massage place that we had been to once or twice. The massages were never very good, so it's no wonder the place went out of business. The cafe it has become, however, seems to be doing pretty well judging from Friday's healthy attendance. Apparently Etienne, who has played extensively with well-known French gypsy guitarist Angelo Debarre, brings in a different musical partner each week to join him for this regular Friday performance. We've also been told he is only in Shanghai himself for one more month. Shanghaiist recommends you check out this hip cafe anyway, so might as well do it before this great guitarist is gone.

Shanghai's Science and Technology Museum is getting somewhat of a workout of late. Firstly, it hosted perhaps 2007's biggest bash, and then the news that Canadian entertainers Cirque du Soleil will perform their long-running Quidam show at the museum forecourt from June 28th.

Many thanks to studiozero for bringing Ramona Cordova to Shanghai and introducing his music to us. Last night's performance was one of the best musical experiences we've had in half a decade in Shanghai — the guy plays a mean acoustic guitar and his songs are painfully beautiful. We weren't sure what we would think about the falsetto he sometimes uses, but it worked. We actually think we like him better live than on his CD (which we bought after the show).

"Sax in Shanghai" (not to be confused with a certain blog) is a concert and workshop given by the London-based National Saxophone Choir and it will take place on Thursday at JZ Club from 5-8pm. The event, organized through the JZ School, will feature about 20 saxophonists who regularly play with the NSC as well as any and all sax players who attend the workshop. During the workshop, which runs from 5 to about 6:30, the NSC members will invite everyone to play and prepare a few pieces that will be performed by everyone together at the concert. The concert itself will start at 7pm and will include a short feature by the saxophone group from the Shanghai Conservatory led by Zhang Xiaolu.

The announcement below is from composer and arranger John Huie, who produced the Shanghai Jazz CD. The music from this disc was featured in the Hollywood production The White Countess, which was filmed in Shanghai, and features many of Shanghai's best local musicians playing John's arrangements of music from dancehall-era Shanghai.

As part of the ongoing "Twocities in Tune" concert series, tonight there will be a duo concert by Steve Sweeting and Coco Zhao at 7:30 pm. These two have done a few of these concerts together already, some of which we reported on previously, also at the last minute. All of the concerts in this series are held at the Twocities Gallery at M50 on Moganshan Lu, and each one features Steve's masterful piano skills together with a talented vocalist. This particular duo has recently recorded an album, which is still in the production process. We'll be sure to let you know when the CD release (party) is when we catch word of it.

All you reggae fans who missed the legendary Byron Lee on his Shanghai tour last year must be kicking yourselves. (Actually, everyone missed the legendary Byron Lee on his Shanghai tour last year, because his band showed up on stage at the Shanghai Centre but he didn’t).

One of our favorite Hammond organ players, Steinar Nickelson, is coming back to Shanghai for a few weeks. Another fantastic Norwegian musician, drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, will be in town also for only a few days and will play a short concert with Steinar and — shameless plug alert — the writer of this post at JZ Club this Monday night (the 26th). We will play one set, performing a selection of original compositions written by Steinar and, yes, the writer of this post. This show is not replacing the regularly scheduled performance, as Monday night players Arlene, EJ, and Yuko will still play the second and third sets as normal.

In a city not exactly synonymous with the word "culture," it's refreshing to find the ever-so-rare odd subculture existing, nay, possibly even thriving.

The last time Shanghaiist saw Sonic Youth live was 10 or so years ago on a blistering hot day on Australia’s Gold Coast, as they played the most self-indulgent set of music since Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. Twenty-five minutes into one noisy (noisome, even) free-form jam of whiny guitars, we wandered over to the festival’s other stage only to find a heinously drunk Beck (pre Odelay fame) sitting on a stool, almost slumped over the microphone, making incomprehensible attempts to produce music. Ah, those were the days.

Having just spent some time in Denmark ourselves, we were delighted to discover that some great Danish musicians would be arriving in Shanghai to play so soon after our return. These guys are quite well-known in Denmark and Europe, having recorded and toured around the world a bit. When we asked our Danish friends about these guys, they said that drummer Emil de Waal is famous as a player of every kind of music, not just jazz. It appears from the press release for the tour on the promoter’s website that he will be playing by himself with computer(s) acting as the rest of the band. Sounds interesting. We believe he’s the type of player who can hold up a show like this on his own, just judging from his reputation.

Sunday night we headed down to the House of Blues and Jazz to check out the new band from New Orleans, “Continuum”. They started a couple weeks ago but already have their groove on, with an easy stage presence that shows they are comfortable playing together and a group sound that is starting to come together nicely. Front man Thaddeus Ford, who plays the trumpet and acts as MC, is a 6th generation New Orleans jazz musician, and has about four different names for each of the musicians onstage as he announces them. He and the vocalist Evelyn are actually the only ones originally from New Orleans, as their band was originally scheduled to come play later in the year but was recently contacted by the club and asked if they could come earlier. Because of the short notice they were not able to use their regular band members, but were still able to bring some solid players to fill in on piano and drums. In fact they were never able to line up a bass player before arriving in town, so they picked up Michael Brownell, a bass player who has been based in town for the last half-year or so now. In any case they are creating a good atmosphere already, mixing some jazz standards in with the funk, soul and R&B where Evelyn really shines.