Five stages. 40 artists. 14 Grammy Awards. After last year’s triumphant 10th anniversary, JZ Festival is eyeing even bigger things when it takes over Expo Park on October 17-18. Over 30,000 people are expected to attend, revelling in all shades of jazz. While the Mainland debuts of headliners Joss Stone and the Earth, Wind & Fire Experience featuring the Al Mackay All-Stars may draw the most attention, festival founder Ren Yuqing has shaped a bill highlighting the city's finest that are ushering in Shanghai's next Jazz Age.
“I believe that organizing a music festival means more than just creating entertainment,” Ren explains. “China does not have as many domestic music artists compared to other countries, so we make a conscious effort to support and develop the local music community.”
No VPN? Watch video of JZ Festival 2014 on Tudou.
The former bass player for China’s original rocker Cui Jian now oversees the sprawling JZ empire that includes four venues, two seasonal festivals, a music school and a record label in Shanghai.
While the Fairmont Peace Hotel may boast the city’s oldest jazz band and the Cotton Club opened up first, Ren’s JZ brand has been the biggest patron to the local jazz scene since the notorious gangster Du Yuesheng ordered the creation of the first all-Chinese jazz group in 1935.
Ren cites the 1994 Beijing Jazz Festival, as inspiration. "I felt that Shanghai was a city that could support its own music community The vision for JZ Club was to provide a home for musicians and music lovers. I’m proud that it’s grown to this size, but I have always imagined big things for the scene.”
While JZ Club is routinely packed these days, it was a much different environment when the venue first opened its doors in 2004. “Ten years ago, the average young person in the city would have a hard time telling you what jazz was,” Ren recalls.
One of the musicians that was down with Ren’s goal was Hunan-born singer Coco Zhao. The charismatic crooner first discovered jazz in 1996, while still a student at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
“I was playing in a rock band doing Guns ‘n’ Roses at the Cotton Club,” Zhao recalls. “We were playing a gig and a traveling musician came in and asked if he could play. He brought his guitar and played jazz. As soon as I heard it, I thought, let’s do it.”
No VPN? Watch Coco Zhao perform live with Sinne Eeg on Youku.
As one of the country’s first modern jazz artists, Zhao has performed at festivals across the world while building a national fan base. He was among the city's musicians that vowed to support Ren, who had played bass in his band, when he opened up JZ Club.
“For me, JZ is truly a music club like in New York. It’s kind of dirty and underground, but has a great vibration,” he says. “It’s great to have a home base for all the musicians where they can mingle, catch up and jam. It’s a good platform to develop this music scene.”
When Zhao takes the stage at this year’s festival, he will be the special guest of the Estonian Dream Big Band. The singer had performed months earlier at the famed Artibus Festival in France, as part of a cultural exchange between the two festivals.
“Ren has big balls,” Zhao says complimentarily. “He said let’s make a jazz festival in Shanghai. We said if you do it, we’ll support you. Now it’s been 11 years and I’ve played every one of them.”
Ever the boundary pusher, Zhao spent the last month recording China’s first big band record, backed by the JZ Big Band as conducted by saxophonist Alec Haavik.
Slated for an early 2016 release, it’s the latest disc to be produced by Damien Banzigou. The Mauritian bassist moved to Shanghai nine years ago and has been an in demand producer since, working on recent releases by Noukilla and the Lawrence Ku Trio. He’s a regular performer at the JZ Club as a member of RTM, TTechmak and the Red Groove Project.
“There are so many good names that play JZ, so it’s a real privilege to play on that stage,” Banzigou says reverentially. “And you never know who’s sitting at JZ watching you. I had a lot of opportunities come up from playing JZ.”
No VPN? Watch RTM perform at JZ Club on Youku.
For years in the background, Banzigou has moved to the forefront with his world fusion RTM project. The multi-ethnic group will make their JZ Festival debut and plans to record their debut album next month.
“It makes a lot of sense to be here,” he says. “Shanghai is awesome because I don’t have to go around and find players from around the world; they are all coming here.”
Despite the full schedule, Banzigou recently agreed to join Guangzhou-born singer Jonas Seetoh’s band and produce his sophomore record.
The Xinghai Conservatory of Music graduate discovered jazz on campus and the school helped him arrange an audition with the famed Royal Welsh College of Music. Seetoh won a scholarship with the Cardiff school where he studied under luminaries like Tina May. After his first year abroad, the headmaster of the JZ School approached him on Facebook to gauge his interest in teaching classes after graduation.
“The lessons are always full,” Seetoh says. “Most of the professional singers here at the conservatories want to get into jazz, so they go to the JZ School.”
A teacher by day, Seetoh transforms when he performs at JZ Club with his R&B inspired jazz group Seetoh Soul Sensation. “Every jazz musician born in China wants to play here because it’s such a legendary place,” he says. “JZ is a home for musicians. People always go to jam and they develop. It’s like a school.”
No VPN? Watch Jonas Seetoh live at JZ Club on Youku.
Last year, JZ released Seetoh’s debut album This Island and organized a five-city national tour for the singer. Earlier this year, he got to duet with May at her JZ Spring concert and he will be performing at the JZ Festival for the third straight year.
“Jonas has a commanding stage presence and represents a new direction for male jazz singers,” praises Ren, who also shouts out Australian trumpet player Toby Mak as recent JZ Club standouts.
With such a vibrant music community supporting JZ Club, Ren admits, “I only play there when our booking manager approves.”
However, Ren plans to expand the concept across China. Venues in Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shenzhen have recently opened, while the JZ Festival will make its debut in Dalian and Guangzhou later this year.
Eventually we hope to have between 20 to 30 venues across the country,” he says. “With more venues and festivals across the country, it is more feasible to bring over higher level artists. This network would also provide more performance opportunities for domestic artists and elevate China’s jazz scene on a national scale.”
// Oct 17-18, 2-11pm, RMB180-230 per day. Expo Park, tickets. See event listing here. Check out a preview of the festival with the full schedule here.
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