Gigs galore all week
Music fans are spoilt for choice as festival gets under way
Fans of live jazz have an enjoyable but potentially exhausting week ahead, as there is something worth catching every day.
The Hong Kong International Jazz Festival 2013 (HKIJF) has its opening party today at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza, starting at 3pm. It continues for the next three days, with a late-night show at Backstage Live tomorrow featuring Cameroonian singer Ntjam Rosie and her band, and two nights at City Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday.
James Chadwick only discovered he could sing like Sinatra [when a neighbour] asked him if he could stop playing the same Sinatra record every day
Tuesday will feature Israeli drummer Asaf Sirkis' Trio, and a duo of Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo and pianist Alexandre Martins. And on Wednesday, those who enjoy the kind of European jazz championed by Jazz World proprietor Clarence Chang have a difficult choice. Playing at City Hall for the last night of the HKIJF are two fine piano trios, one led by Danish pianist Soren Bebe, the other by Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson, a leading light of the German ACT label which Chang has promoted. By coincidence, Chang has booked the Benny Lackner Trio to play on the same night as Danielsson.
Lackner is a fine young pianist, born in Berlin, who moved to the US at the age of 13. In the late 1990s, he studied with Brad Mehldau, to whom he is sometimes compared. Like the late Esbjorn Svensson, Lackner has developed a modern style of writing for the piano trio, and is influenced by rock as well as jazz.
In Mehldau's words: "Benny Lackner has a distinctive compositional voice that sounds lucid and fresh. He's found a cool way to write for this trio." Lackner will be accompanied by two French musicians: bassist Jerome Regard and drummer Matthieu Chazarenc.
Lackner versus Danielsson is a tough call, but some jazz fans could be swayed by the fact that Chang - perhaps mindful of the competition, but also as a way of thanking the people who have turned out for the Jazz World Live Series concerts this year - has made this a free gig, at the Tom Lee Academy Hall at Mega Box in Kowloon Bay.