UPDATE: Obviously since we were playing I had to rely on other people to take pictures, unfortunatley the result is that I only have one worth posting. Here is the band, and check out the people in the window!
After living in Chengdu for about 6 months I have been fortunate to play a wide variety of gigs. However, last night's show was probably the most interesting and enjoyable thus far. Our band's drummer Xiao Wei 小伟 and pianist Larry 吕焱 are both teachers at the Sichuan Music Conservatory 四川音乐学院 about 45 minutes outside Chengdu. A good friend of Xiao Wei had recently opened a bar right outside the conservatory and invited the whole band to play a couple sets of jazz.
We departed from the conservatory's Chengdu branch on a bus that shuttles students between the two schools. The school, not too far from China's famous panda research and breeding center, is pretty isolated. The campus consists of a concert hall, a main building with offices and practice rooms, a large market, and a residential area with dormitories, some shopping, a few restaurants, and a couple bars. The place looked pretty depressing; extremely bland buildings, dark streets with neon lights from store fronts lighting the way, dust and dirt everywhere. Had there been a surrounding barb wire fence I would have easily mistaken the place for a P.O.W camp. From the looks on their faces however none of the students really seemd to mind their situation.
The bar we played at was packed full of students. Many people were standing in the back, and anyone sitting turned their seats to face the stage. The windows were also crowded with people on the outside, perhaps unwilling to pay the cover charge, trying to get a peek at us. After each song, and sometimes after individual solos, we were greeted with uproarious applause. I was even applauded for using Chinese and giving the classical and pop students a brief introduction to jazz. I think the atmosphere at the bar was better than any show I've played in the States or China. It was the first show I played that demanded an encore!
It's exciting to see our music get such a good reaction from the students at the conservatory. These students are really the future of the music scene here in the west of China. This was probably their first exposure to live jazz, or any jazz other than the Kenny G that somehow found its way to so many Chinese Mp3 collections. This was the first gig that really made me optimistic that a home for jazz and more creative and interesting music is possible here.
I'll post a couple pictures from our show soon...
-JK
