Introduction27.4 Timetable27.4 Artist Line-Up28.4 Timetable28.4 Artist Line-UpTicketingWorkshops
Come “Swing” by! It's a Global Music Party!
While it is a known fact that jazz originated from the United States and boasts a long line of all-time greats as well as classics from its home base, its influence on music circles of the world is also a given. In this age of globalization, the number of jazz musicians and fans has grown by leaps and bounds. And with the ongoing crossover attempts, jazz music has also evolved from its niche status to becoming a genre that is entering the mainstream and the academy.
As a cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong offers the best setting to explore the international jazz scene. To tie in with the International Jazz Day 2019, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department is presenting another edition of the popular Jazz Marathon. There will be non-stop programmes that run for two days, with the purposes of exploring the limits of jazz music, demonstrating the interactions between the mainstream and the niche, and showcasing the unique character as well as brilliant expressions of jazz music from different parts of the world. It will bring together renowned jazz players of all nationalities to jam and create “all that jazz”: bebop, fusion, big band sounds; variants like ethnic jazz, gypsy jazz, tango jazz, flamenco jazz, and more. The overseas artists will join with local musicians to create a borderless soundscape through jazz. They can be fittingly described as “médecins sans frontières” of the heart and the soul with their music.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department cordially invites all of you to embark on this borderless journey of jazz music at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium on 27th and 28th April. Let us all take part in this global extravaganza that truly knows no boundaries and celebrate “the music that unites us all”.
(English translation provided by KCL Language Consultancy Ltd.)
Workshop | Committee Room
3:00 – 3:50pm
Angelo Debarre, Ulf Wakenius
Guitar Demonstration
4:00 – 4:50pm
Rhani Krija, Jorge Pérez (Patax)
Percussion Demonstration
Concert | Arena
5:30 – 6:15pm
Patrick Lui Jazz Orchestra
Special Guests: RubberBand, Will Vinson
6:55 – 7:40pm
Angelo Debarre Trio
Special Guest: Sharon Lui
8:25 – 9:10pm
Doctor 3
9:50 – 10:35pm
Ulf Wakenius Scandinavian All-Stars Quartet
Patrick Lui (Hong Kong) (Piano)
Patrick Lui is an award-winning pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer. He has performed around the world including New York, Boston, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Bucharest, Singapore, and Taipei and has appeared in different music festivals such as EUROPAfest, Taichung Jazz Festival, Clockenflap, and Hong Kong International Jazz Festival.
Patrick was the winner of the Taichung Jazz Piano Competition and a semi-finalist at the Bucharest International Jazz Competition. As a composer and arranger, Patrick has led and performed with various big bands in Hong Kong and abroad. His compositions and arrangements have received performances under the direction of Grammy nominee Dr. Gene Aiken. Patrick also contributed to the score for three feature films: The Bounty, This Is Not What I Expected, and Chasing The Dragon which stars Donnie Yen and Andy Lau. He has also composed music for television programmes and theatrical works for Radio & Television Hong Kong and Hong Kong Dance Company. In the genre of pop music, Lui has frequently collaborated with the local band, RubberBand. Their works have won wide acclaim, the most notable being the album Easy which they co-produced. It was picked “Album of the Year” at the Ultimate Song Chart Awards presented by Commercial Radio Hong Kong. They also won “Best Performance by a Band” twice at the CASH Golden Sail Music Awards, with the songs Dedicated to... and Easy.
RubberBand (Hong Kong) (Special Guest)
No. 6 (Vocal)
Clem Fung (Guitar)
Lee Wa (Bass)
Lai Maan (Drums)
In 2007, armed with their own works, the band searched for a record company to help release an album for them. Finally, Mark Lui took notice of their music and signed them on. The following year, RubberBand released their first Album Apollo 18, featuring songs like MTR Early Morning, Car Ride, A Little Cool Companion and Tears. They also won the Best Group Newcomer Gold Award at the 2008 Chik Chak 903 Ultimate Song Chart Awards.
In 2009, RubberBand released their second album Beaming, which includes songs like Rooftop Flying Trapeze, Apollo, Summer Time, Team with Mud and Charge. The same year, they gave their first concert, RubberBand Concert#1 at the Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre. The band went on to win multiple coveted music awards, including the Metro Radio Hits Best Band Award and the Chik Chak 903 Ultimate Song Chart Best Group Gold Award, and their songs Apollo and Discovery became smash hits. In 2016, RubberBand formally became an indie band and gave their first concert at the MacPherson Stadium in Mongkok in December 2016.
Will Vinson (U.S.) (Alto Saxophone) (Special Guest)
Originally from London, alto saxophonist/composer Will Vinson moved to New York City in 1999. He is a member of a number of leading ensembles, including pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s Quartet, Ari Hoenig’s Punk Bop and Nonet, Miguel Zenon’s Identities Orchestra (Grammy-nominated for Identities are Changeable), and his own groups including the critically acclaimed OWL Trio alongside bassist Orlando le Fleming and guitarist Lage Lund.
Vinson has performed in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Australia, and Japan, etc. His saxophone playing is executed with incredible power and dramatic sensitivity. Influenced by saxophonists like Chris Potter, he nevertheless brings his own unique approach to every performance. He combines the century-long jazz tradition with explorations into the rhythmic and melodic realms of contemporary forms. All About Jazz New York described Vinson as playing “with a relentless force”while Time Out London calls him an "exciting young altoist with a lethal approach to writing and soloing”.
Angelo Debarre Trio (France)
Angelo Debarre (Guitar)
Raanji Debarre (Guitar)
Denis Chang (Bass)
Debarre is a legendary French guitarist in Gypsy Jazz. He is considered as one of the absolute contemporary masters of jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt. For Debarre, Reinhardt’s music never loses the dynamism and richness of the past: it is a living, everlasting music.
Born in Paris, Debarre began playing at age 8. In 1984, he formed his first group, the Angelo Debarre Quintet. In the following year, he began touring the world with gypsy musicians. Gypsy jazz was the music that he knows inside and out, and his enthusiasm and passion at concerts and festivals proved it. In 1985, the group was hired by Serge Camps to play at his Parisian café, La Roue Fleurie, where Debarre was discovered by producer and guitarist Jon Larsen. His career quickly rose to the top and he has performed in festivals all over the world.
Sharon Lui (Violin) (Hong Kong)
Sharon Lui received classical music training since young. However, since listening to the jazz albums of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapplli, she became hooked with jazz. She went to the Netherlands to study with renowned jazz violinists Tim Kliphuis, Karin Van Kooten and Christiaan Van Hemert. Sharon has participated in the Hong Kong Swing Festival, Le French May “World Music Day”, and the local music event Free Happening. She is actively performing with different swing bands of Hong Kong.
Doctor 3 (Italy)
Danilo Rea (Piano)
Enzo Pietropaoli (Bass)
Fabrizio Sferra (Drums)
Doctor 3 was formed in 1997 on the occasion of their first album, The Tales of Doctor 3, judged as the Best Italian Album of the Year by the Musica Jazz magazine in 1998. The same magazine with the annual Top Jazz referendum also named them the Best Italian Jazz Group in 1999, 2001 and 2003. The group has recorded several records, with the characteristic of making improvisation on the Italian songs as a necessary element. The group uses heterogeneous musical materials for producing original interpretation in a jazz key: from Pietro Mascagni to Sting, from the Beatles to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from Domenico Modugno to Tom Waits. The members went on separate individual journeys to explore new ideas and different experiences in 2009, and reunited in 2014. They released a new album, Doctor 3, with newfound enthusiasm and creativity. Their repertoire was accessible to all audience genres. A large number of songs in the album were of the 60s and 70s, and dug into the origins of jazz.
Ulf Wakenius Scandinavian All-Stars Quartet (Sweden and Denmark)
Ulf Wakenius (Guitar)
Lars Jansson (Piano)
Paul Svanberg (Drums)
Jesper Bodilsen.(Bass)
Wakenius held a prestigious spot in jazz for a guitarist as a chair in the Oscar Peterson Quartet between 1997 and 2007. Wakenius’ guitar duo Guitars Unlimited rocked Scandinavia in the early 80s, culminating in the 1985 Melody Grand Prix, which was seen by 600 million viewers. Shortly after, Wakenius started an extremely successful and long-lasting collaboration with bass player Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen (NHOP). He made two duo albums with bass icon Ray Brown, both of which topped the Jazz Charts in the USA. He had also toured the world with the amazing Korean singer Youn Sun Nah. Canadian jazz pianist-composer Oscar Peterson has publicly described Ulf as one of the greatest guitarists alive and many of today’s most acclaimed jazz guitarists are among Ulf’s fans, including Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, John Scofield and Mike Stern.
(Information provided by the artists)
(English and Chinese translation provided by KCL Language Consultancy Ltd.)
Workshop | Committee Room
3:00 – 3:50pm
Ted Lo, Patrick Lui
Special Guests: Angelita Li, Sharon Lui
Sharing on Composing and Arranging
4:00 – 4:50pm
Quadro Nuevo
Demonstration on European Jazz
Concert | Arena
5:30 – 6:15pm
Ted Lo
Rhani Krija
Chinese Ensemble on Jazz
6:55 – 7:40pm
Quadro Nuevo
8:25 – 9:10pm
Patax
Special Guest: Angelita Li
9:50 – 10:35pm
Steve Smith and Vital Information NYC Edition
Ted Lo (Hong Kong) (Keyboard)
A veteran music maker in Hong Kong and a member of the Hong Kong Jazz Association, Ted Lo graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1976 with a degree in Arranging and Composition. In 1979, he moved to New York City and worked as a freelance jazz keyboardist. He was 21 when he entered Berklee, and in the same year, he made his first recording Colors with trombonist Raul de Souza.
Lo’s first live show was with Herbie Mann and Family of Mann. Later, he joined Ron Carter Quartet and became a professional accompanist in recording studios. The artists he has collaborated with make an impressive list of who’s who in modern jazz, such as Michael Franks, Herbie Hancock, Joe Lovano, Tania Maria, Kenny Werner, Earl Klugh, Larry Coryell, among others.
Lo is now based in Hong Kong, and is an esteemed figure on the local music scene performing diverse roles as a music maker, composer and producer. The local singers he has collaborated with include George Lam, Sally Yeh, Eason Chan and Sandy Lam.
Rhani Krija (Morocco) (Percussion)
As a teenager, Rhani Krija began to work professionally as a percussionist with some of the most respected musicians of the traditional Moroccan music scene and was soon established as a sought-after musician. A few years later, Krija moved to France for a while before eventually moving to Germany. Over the years, he has been featured on many television shows as well as at Jazz & World Music festivals in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Tunisia, Morocco, Argentina, Slovenia, and many other countries.
Mastering a large variety of percussion instruments such as the Darbouka, Riqq, frame drums, congas, bongos, djembe, Caribbean timbales and many others, his musical influences today are derived from a combination of traditional Arabic and North African rhythms, Latin American styles, Blues, Reggae and Pop. In 2003, Krija was invited by Sting to record percussion tracks for their new album Sacred Love. The collaboration continued as Krija was prominently featured as the percussionist of the band, followed by the worldwide promotional tour. This gave him the opportunity to share with other jazz greats of the likes of Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.
Chinese Ensemble on Jazz (Hong Kong)
Chan Pik-sum (Erhu)
Chau Chin-tung (Percussion)
Lam Tsan-tong (Pipa)
Cass Lam (Sanxian)
Wong Lok-ting (Zhong)
Lau Wai-yan (Guzheng)
Zhang Zhi Yong (Dizi)
Wu Chun-hei (Shona)
Ma Wai-him (Guan)
Tan Cong (Cello)
Tong Wai-ho (Cello)
The Chinese Ensemble on Jazz is made up of the pick of budding talents in the wind, plucked-string, bowed-string and percussion sections of Chinese music. Among them, there are multiple award-winners and musicians of renown who are lecturers in academic institutions. The Ensemble’s configuration includes erhu, zhonghu, and gehu of the bowed-string category; zheng, pipa and sanxian of the plucked-string category; dizi and guan of the wind category; and percussions. The members are avant-gardists eager to experiment with music-making. For this concert, by employing the traditional performing skills they have acquired, they will create a unique style of jazz with Chinese timbres.
Quadro Nuevo (Germany)
Mulo Francel (Saxophone and Clarinet)
D.D. Lowka (Acoustic Bass and Percussion)
Andreas Hinterseher (Accordion)
Evelyn Huber (Harp)
Arabesques, Balkan swing, ballads, daredevil improvisations, the melodies of old Europe and the lightness of the Mediterranean merge into fabulous songs full of joyful colours, Quadro Nuevo is Europe’s answer to the Argentine tango. Quadro Nuevo has been touring the globe since 1996 giving over 3,000 concerts in places as far-flung as Sidney, Montreal, Ottawa, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul, New York, New Orleans, Mexico City, Beijing, Seoul, and Singapore.
The quartet has established its own form of melodic poetry. By their devotion, they performed with excitement, verve and empathy with cultures that are foreign. The Quartet’s venues are as diverse as the roots of their music and are not limited to concert halls and festivals. Their CDs have received the German Jazz Awards and climbed into the Top Ten of the Jazz and World Music charts. The “ECHO”, German Phono Academy’s highest distinction, was presented to Quadro Nuevo in the category of “Jazz/World Music, Best Live Act” in both 2010 and 2011.
Patax (Mixed)
Jorge Pérez (Percussion)
Alana Ferreira (Vocal)
Lidon Patiño (Dance)
Dayam Abad Garcia (Guitar)
Jorge Vera (Piano / Keyboard)
Carlos Sánchez de Medina (Bass)
Valentin Iturat (Drums)
Daniel Morales (Timbale)
Patax is a group of 8 musicians who come from Spain, Argentina, Chile and Cuba. Picking up the baton of fusion greats like Weather Report, Chick Corea's Electric Band and Herbie Hancock, Patax includes the influences of Jazz artists such as Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Hermeto Pascoal, and Paco de Lucia. They began with the ambitious goal of taking fusion music to a new place, a communion between flamenco, funk, and Afro-Cuban. Their videos on YouTube have accumulated over 10 million views.
It is rare to experience a percussionist assuming the leading role and the composer's seat in a Jazz band. With their album A Night To Remember in 2016, Jorge Pérez, who is the director, composer, percussionist and group leader, undoubtedly showed that it was possible to transform a theatre packed with live audience into both a recording studio and a movie set. Driven by the same fascination with live sound, this 2018, Pérez has started to create a new record, again performing live and in a theatre, but this time emphasizing original compositions.
Angelita Li (Hong Kong) (Vocal)
Local jazz singer Angelita Li took part in TV commercial jingles since the age of 9. In 1991 she sang as the chorus for Beyond in their concert. She later moved to Bangkok where she lived for 5 years and worked with various jazz groups. She signed up with the Thai record company as a vocalist and released her first English album. Li then moved to Los Angeles where she began performing with a renowned local Samba group at Brazilian music festivals in California. She also went on the road with some of the top bands in Los Angeles singing in opening acts or choruses. After she returned to Hong Kong, she released her Chinese jazz album, Mystery. She has collaborated with the famous jazz musician Eugene Pao. Over the years, Angelita has sung as the chorus for many renowned singers including Sally Yeh, George Lam, Faye Wong, and Khalil Fong and has been invited to perform in many international as well as Hong Kong jazz festivals.
Steve Smith and Vital Information NYC Edition (U.S.)
Steve Smith (Drums)
Vinny Valentino (Guitar)
Mark Soskin (Piano)
Baron Browne (Bass)
Drummer-bandleader Steve Smith has managed to keep three bands working for the past three decades. His jazz-rock band, “Steve Smith and Vital Information”, has been touring and recording for more than 30 years, while his other groups “Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies” and “Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy”, (a group dedicated to playing the music of some of great drum set masters such as Art Blakey, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams).
This prolific artist, who has made a career out of amalgamating the many twists and turns of his musical calling, blended all three bands for a studio album release entitled The Skyline Sessions in 2015. The updated version of his recording and touring ensemble is called STEVE SMITH AND VITAL INFORMATION - NYC EDITION. The lineup brings together members of all of his bands: guitarist Vinny Valentino (from Vital Information), pianist Mark Soskin (from Jazz Legacy and Buddy’s Buddies), bassist Baron Browne (from Jazz Legacy, Buddy’s Buddies and Vital Information), and Smith himself on drums. Smith refers to this new line-up as, “The best of all worlds. Vital Information NYC Edition is a lot of fun to play with and is a high-energy, creative jazz unit”.
(Information provided by the artists)
(English and Chinese translation provided by KCL Language Consultancy Ltd.)
Tickets available from 23 January at URBTIX outlets, on Internet, by Mobile Ticketing App and Credit Card Telephone Booking.
Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and the minder, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (Limited tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first come, first served basis).
Early Bird Discount 23.1 – 13.3.2019
30 % off for purchase of any standard Marathon Pass during the period.
Group Booking Discount*
For each purchase of standard Marathon Passes, the following concession applies:
10% off for 4-9 passes; 15% off for 10-19 passes; 20% off for 20 or more passes.
Marathon Concert Package Discount*
20% off for each purchase of standard Marathon Passes of both marathon concerts.
*Available from 14 March after the early bird period.
Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discounts offers.
Marathon Pass holders can join the workshops for free. Seats available on a first come, first served basis.
Audience is strongly advised to arrive punctually.
The programme does not represent the views of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme and substitute artists.
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