Blue notes
'I was distributing a few European jazz labels back then, but found it hard to convince shops to stock the titles. There was great music crying out to be heard but it seemed that nobody wanted to take a risk with it,' he recalls.
In the best Hong Kong tradition, Chang took the risk himself. During the past decade the shop has been obliged to move twice and Chang has staged many concerts and two fully fledged jazz festivals under the Jazz World banner. Some of these events have made a loss. Most have done not much more than break even, but Chang has always regarded that as an acceptable result. The business has survived, and his passion is undiminished.
'Into the 10th year of our operation I've decided to move out of the shell a bit more,' says Chang. 'We are developing a series of releases for the public Jazz World Presents. They will be titles licensed from overseas as well as newly produced material.'
The first of these releases is entitled Jazz World Presents Voices ACT 1, a selection of 11 vocal tracks previously released on the German ACT label, which Chang believes is 'arguably the best independent jazz label in the world right now'.
ACT is another jazz survival story, founded by record producer Siggi Loch in 1992. The label has released a string of audiophile-quality CDs which Chang has championed, mostly featuring European and Scandinavian jazz musicians, but also American and Asian artists.
'Jazz World has been representing the label since our conception. We have brought many ACT artists to Hong Kong for concerts - Nguyen Le, Ulf Wakenius, Jan Lundgren, Richard Galliano, Youn Sun-nah - and there will be many more to come soon,' Chang says.
Although many of the CDs in the racks of Jazz World's retail premises in Room 806, 1 Jubilee Street, Central, are filled with more challenging music, Chang's own CD projects aim for both musical quality and popular appeal.
Voices ACT 1 is no exception. The CD comprises performances of jazz and pop standards by a cast of vocalists which includes Scandinavians Rigmor Gustafsson, Viktoria Tolstoy, Ida Sand and Nils Landgren, plus Germany's Muriel Zoe and American star Norah Jones. It is a fitting celebration of Jazz World's first decade in business.
Take Three
Three of the best CDs on ACT featuring vocalists on the Voices ACT 1 CD.
Alone With You (2007, ACT): Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson performs a strong and highly personal set with a strong band led by bassist/producer Lars Danielsson.
My Russian Soul (2008, ACT): Viktoria Tolstoy - Leo's great, great granddaughter - is a Swedish national but turned to her Russian heritage for this set of tunes by the great Russian classical composers given jazz treatments.
Funk For Life (2010, ACT): trombonist and vocalist Nils Landgren leads his Funk Unit band through a set of original tunes to raise funds for the work of Medecins Sans Frontieres in Kenya.
