Articles by Jenn Chan Lyman

Blue Koi Collective at JZ Club in Shanghai

by Jenn Chan Lyman
April 29, 2010

Blue Koi CollectiveJZ ClubShanghaiApril 5, 2010JZ Club welcomed a special evening with free jazz group Blue Koi Collective on Monday night. Led by Italian pianist Gabriele Meirano, Blue Koi Collective has been playing at JZ Club for the past two years, performing their unique rendition of “free jazz" with stalwarts Alec Haavik on saxophone and Feng Hao on percussion, along with various special guests. Featured guest of the evening was Li Daiguo, an ...

Willow Neilson Quartet at JZ Club in Shanghai

by Jenn Chan Lyman
February 24, 2010

Willow Neilson Quartet JZ ClubShanghai February 22, 2010 Shanghai's jazz haven JZ Club was fairly full for a Monday night in anticipation of Willow Neilson's Lightbulb Lives, a performance based on original works and inspired by Neilson's varied musical background (from the rainforests of Terrania to the mountains of Yunnan). Neilson has been a stalwart of the Shanghai jazz scene from as far back as 2003 and hails from Australia. In Lightbulb Lives, Neilson intertwined Shanghai's soundscape ...

Alec Haavik Friction Guzheng: Fusion With A Chinese Flair

by Jenn Chan Lyman
December 20, 2009

Alec HaavikJZ ClubShanghaiDecember, 3rd, 2009In an interview a few months ago, local Shanghai sax machine Alec Haavik mentioned his desire to include more Chinese elements into his band, Friction Seven, which plays regularly at JZ Club on Thursday nights. On Thursday, December 3rd, JZ was abuzz with tons of people anticipating Alec Haavik Friction Guzheng, a union of Chinese traditional guzheng with Haavik-style jazz fusion. The set list included songs that Haavik has written for ...

Kazumi Watanabe at House of Blues & Jazz, Shanghai

by Jenn Chan Lyman
December 11, 2009

Kazumi Watanabe House of Blues & Jazz Shanghai November 25, 2009It was quite a pleasure to walk into the HoBJ and find an acoustic guitar and a flute onstage. Wednesday, November 25th, heralded a special performance entitled Castle In The Air by Tokyo-based guitarist Kazumi Watanabe and his quartet. I had no clue what to expect when Mila, the House's lovely manager, invited me to attend, except that Watanabe is one of the top guitarists in Japan. Watanabe has ...

Theo Croker 4 Swing at Cotton's Shanghai

by Jenn Chan Lyman
November 27, 2009

Theo Croker 4 Swing Cotton's Shanghai November 11, 2009 For the past three Wednesdays, Shanghai's favorite “bar-in-a-lane-house" has been presenting A Swinging Affair at Cotton's from 9pm to 12:30am. The quartet performs on the floor right beside the patrons, sitting on the same plush red chairs that Cotton's is renowned for and playing as if they were in their own living rooms. Trumpeter and band leader Theo Croker managed to gather together four ...

Theo Croker Quintet at House of Blues & Jazz in Shanghai

by Jenn Chan Lyman
November 4, 2009

Theo Croker Quintet House of Blues & Jazz Shanghai, China October 26, 2009

On Monday nights House of Blues & Jazz offers a rarity on the Shanghai jazz scene: original music. Tunes written by the players on stage are a special treat when you've been around town listening to covers of standards for the past couple of months. No better place than the o.g. House, where the sound will most likely be supreme ...

Theo Croker: Ace of Trumps

by Jenn Chan Lyman
September 23, 2009

If you've never seen Theo Croker before, he's a pretty easy one to spot. He's the one with the trumpet by his side at all times. The neat dreadlocks and mischievous glint in his eye are also dead giveaways. Having grown up in the U.S. in a musically oriented family, Croker was introduced to the world of jazz and the blues at a young age. He picked up the trumpet at 11 and has been a virtuoso ever since, recording ...