Stratification of Jazz Listeners in China

After playing jazz here in Chengdu for nearly a year I've noticed that there are three general groups when it comes to the appreciation of jazz music. The first, and admittedly most fun group to play for, is the Lao Wai, or foreigner. Although meeting an actual jazz fan is rare amongst this group, I imagine the music induces a feeling of nostalgia or at least an escape from the nauseating Chinese pop music that can be found in most establishments. The second group is the educated, middle to upper class Chinese. This group is the most confusing to me. They usually still love their Chinese pop, yet are willing to tolerate jazz, although they don't necessarily understand or even like it. Some however will say that the music makes them "comfortable." The final group is the middle to lower class Chinese. Some of the "Lao Wai" gigs we play are targeted towards this group, and it's amazing how quickly jazz can take a smile off a person's face. I have a picture I will try to upload of the audience at one of these particular shows. Every single person has either a digusted or perplexed look- and that's the few people who remained after the music began. Why are we continually hired to perform this type of gig? I'm not so sure. Of course there are outliers and exceptions, such as the jazz-loving music student, or the nescient foreigner, but for the most part interest in jazz is pretty stratified along these lines. I've heard that different personality traits will lead a person to be more inclined to like particular types of music, but I find the reaction to jazz interesting. The divide along social lines, and the wide spectrum concerning level of interest seems pretty unique. I guess I could see this applying to classical music as well. I haven't put too much thought into the implications- anyone have any ideas?

Hartford Jazz Gets Upgrade from Homegrown Talent!

Last night I was pretty thrilled to watch a longtime musical idol perform side by side with a longtime friend and former high school classmate. The "Noah Preminger Group" took part in Hartford's International Jazz Festival, playing duo at Feng restaurant in downtown Hartford. Noah, a friend and former arch rival, has been doing pretty well for himself recently living in Brooklyn as a freelance musician. I really had a hard time believing my ears as I listened to him and the great Ben Monder mesh so seamlessly. Do yourself a favor and check out the website to listen to some of his music. (Or you can wait for me to upload the Mp3's to Limewire before I sell the autographed CD on EBay.)

Last Night's Gig

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

New Blog!

Some of you may remember my last blog... It began during a very exciting time in my life, right after I started my new job sorting, ironing, and hanging curtains in a country home furnishing store. Every day I would rush home from work and immediately get on the computer to share with the world my fascinating life. A few weeks after it began somehow the blog failed. I think I just had too many stories to share and was overwhelmed by the burden of putting it all into print. Well, after nearly a 1 year hiatus, I have decided to resurrect my career as a blogger.

As you may know from word of mouth or the title of this blog I'm currently in China, making ends meet as a jazz musician (and as the son of two generous and loving parents. It was just Olympics time and the visa prices were insane...) I've decided to create this blog for a few reasons. 1) It should help put an end to the nagging I get from certain friends or family to update them about my travels. 2) It can serve as a memento when my time here is finally up. 3) It should become a major source of revenue in the future when I cover the site with Google ads. So please, tell all your friends.

In the future look to find posts about my gigs, my experience learning and using Mandarin, my thoughts on the Chinese culture, some pictures, music, and anything else I feel like posting. Enjoy, and God Bless!