Play that funky music, Gao boy

This year’s Hong Kong International Jazz Festival was a real treat, boasting more than 40 performances by some 300 musicians. Add Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nguyen Le, In the Country, Bjorn Solli Trio and Rusconi to the mixture, and you’ve got a recipe for success. 

On the first day alone, there were five free concerts.

The Wilson Lam Trio, featuring Lam, bassist Chan Kam Ming and drummer Anna Fan, served up a set that was mostly standards. A slow swinging groove, Lam’s craftsmanship on the guitar with his melodic sense catered for harmonic beauty.

Then, it was time for Trio D’en from France. Firm jazz traditionalists, they swung back and forth between free and avant garde segments while keeping the melodic and rhythmic line intact. 

Arnaud Rouanet and Yoann Scheidt took the musical interlude to the max with Scheidt adding the vocals and encapsulating D’en’s unconventional, ingenious music making.

Cuba’s Estudiantina Ensemble is all about the danzon music of Santiago de Cuba. Despite the torrential rain, this group gave a vivid and high energetic performance to the cheers of the crowd. Leader Oscar Lorient Vedey played a spirited series of crowd pleasers like “Historia de un Amor”, “Ya No Estas a Mi Lado” and “Besame Mucho”.

The 2011 version of the Aseana Percussion Unit counts 10 members and while the Unit’s only recorded two CDs in 10 years, they never stop performing.

At celebrated festivals like the Rainforest Music Festival in Borneo, the various backgrounds of the members is depicted musically and through the instrumentation. You name it, they have it on stage.

“World Dance Rhythm” opened the set and bassist Jude Fernandez Theodore Fernandez and drummer Edwin Nathaniel kept the funky groove going throughout the entire performance.

Vocalist Sirisena David Victor never stops dancing. He also sings with lots of energy and charisma. His swing version of “Caravan” was top notch, as was “Quando Quando Quando”. He followed with one of the best known jazz standards “What a Wonderful Wonderful World”, making the crowd go wild.

The final performance on the first day was Beijing funk group Gao Hong Zhang and Acid Live. This act is a world apart. Their music is eclectic, it’s different and has a funky rhythm with a steady yet dynamic groove.

Zhang Zhang on keyboards punched solid dark, funky chords stimulated by ’60s-style funk. Wen Xiang on guitar played an overwhelming flow of musical lines and enticing funk interludes, while DJ Christopher Cook added sonic and visual effects.

But the magical ingredient of the group was Gao Hong Zhang on vocals. Dressed to kill in a fur coat, with large earrings hanging from his ears, he looked as if he had just come off the set of a Japanese television series. He sang in Cantonese in an incredibly powerful, surprisingly soulful voice, with his mesmerising stage allure displaying another facet of the music.

Groundbreaking and enormously funky, the beauty of urban acid jazz in tandem with roots music, which comes from the blues, made for a perfect ending to the day.

 

Santi Wongsawat is the director of International Jazz Festival Alliance Foundation.