The jazz component of this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival came to a triumphant conclusion with Roberto Fonseca and his band's exuberant performance at the Cultural Centre Concert Hall on March 21.
This concert made up for my having missed the shows by Sam Lee and Friends, and Gregory Porter.
Fonseca might not have won the Latin jazz Grammy for which his latest album, Yo, was nominated - unlike Porter, who did pick up the best jazz vocal album award for Liquid Spirit - but Yo was a strong album by any standards and came fully to life in concert.
The band included percussionist Joel Hierrezuelo and drummer Ramses Rodriguez, both of whom played with Fonseca on the recording; plus bassist Yandi Martinez and kora player Cherif Soumano, who didn't.
A showman as well as a musician Fonseca had the crowd singing along on Bibisa and Besame Mucho, and the band received well deserved standing ovations.
Etienne M'Bappé, who played electric bass on Yo, performed at the festival with John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension. I found their performance slightly anti-climactic although going by the audience response I was in the minority.
The quality of McLaughlin and M'Bappé's musicianship, and that of Gary Husband on keyboards and drums, and Ranjit Barot on drums, is not in dispute. But the compositions sounded monotonous and McLaughlin seemed to be relying more on his legendary speed than on his imagination. I was reminded of Frank Zappa's remark that McLaughlin had "found out how to operate a guitar as if it were a machine gun", but he is also renowned for his electric guitar tone and that he certainly delivered.