IT'S not the most creative of names, but give the people behind the Memphis Cotton Club some credit for ambition. After all, they will have a hard job living up to the reputation of the club's American namesake.
The original club in New York was renowned in the 1920s and 1930s for its hot jazz, featuring legendary figures such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.
Die-hard jazz fans may be disappointed as the Hong Kong version is nothing like its forerunner in the Big Apple, but music lovers in general could be in for a pleasant surprise.
The club, which joined a growing number of nightspots offering live entertainment when it opened a couple of months ago, is the brainchild of businessman Steven Cheung and stalwart local singers Maria Cordero and Elisa Chan.
For Chan, the idea of having a 'live house' had been germinating for some time. When the subject cropped up during a chance meeting with Cordero, the latter lost no time in offering herself as a partner. 'We wanted to open in March and we didn't even know Steven then,' said Chan. Cordero found a venue in what was formerly the Memphis Bar in the Kimberley Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui - and with it, their new partner.
Given the entertainment luminaries involved in the project, will patrons be able to watch impromptu performances by the partners themselves? Chan said she does breeze in from time to time to surprise customers with a few numbers (though probably not in the next few weeks while she appears in the production of the home-grown hit musical, I Have A Date With Spring). Cheung added that Canto-pop notables such as Eric Moo, Anthony Lun, and Alan Tam have dropped in, as have composers Ricky Fung and Richard Yuen.