Two of the jazz highlights of the 2014 Hong Kong Arts Festival take place this week with the performances by Madeleine Peyroux on Wednesday and John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension on Friday.
Peyroux, who is making her Arts Festival debut, is a singer often likened to Billie Holiday, who is clearly an influence, but one alongside an eclectic range of other artists, including Ray Charles, to whom she pays tribute on her latest album, The Blue Room, released last year.
The album includes Peyroux's interpretations of some of the country songs Charles tackled on his groundbreaking 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, including Bye Bye Love, I Can't Stop Loving You and You Don't Know Me.
However, rather than remake the album, she and producer Larry Klein included some songs written after its release which Charles might have arranged in a similar way, including Leonard Cohen's Bird on the Wire, Randy Newman's Guilty, and Warren Zevon's Desperadoes Under the Eaves.
Some of that repertoire, presumably, will be included in her performance here, but since 1996 she has recorded seven albums worth of songs, including a number she has composed or co-composed.
Peyroux is passing through Hong Kong on her way from Australia back to the US, but McLaughlin has fitted his concert here with his 4th Dimension Band - a multicultural fusion outfit comprising Gary Husband on keyboards and drums, Etienne M'Bappe on bass, and Ranjit Barot on drums - into a full-scale Asian tour.
His itinerary takes in concerts in Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Seoul, Chennai, Mumbai, Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the more predictable dates at the Blue Note clubs in Nagoya and Tokyo where jazz musicians of McLaughlin's stature can always be sure of a full house. The tour will conclude on April 9 with a performance at the Ramallah Cultural Palace in the West Bank.