You can always rely on Shaolin Fez for an eclectic evening. "Shaolin Paradiso", their performance tomorrow at City Hall, is part of the Hong Kong Summer Jazz Festival, but it features the film music of two Italian contemporary classical composers, and guests Soler, the twin brothers rock duo.
"The organisers kind of broke with their own tradition and said 'You can do the whole show and basically play what you like'," says Shaolin Fez leader and bassist Sam Ferrer. "I've always had an interest in cinematic music and more acoustic music, but this time we're really pushing that a lot further. In the past we've had a touch of it in our shows, but this time it's all out there in the first half of the programme."
Shaolin Fez have a fluid line-up, but many of the core players come from the Hong Kong Philharmonic, among them Ferrer himself, French horn players Russell Bonifede and Marc Gelfo, Chris Moyse on trumpet, as well as violinists Zhao Yingna and Anders Hui.
Shaolin Fez "tend to have a high turnover of strings, but it's always from the same pool of players who come and go", Ferrer says.
"Our brass has always been pretty consistent. The biggest difference in this show is … new percussionist Floro Sernande, who doubles on jazz flute. That's very fun and this show is going to feature a lot more flute. Other returning players are local rhythm musicians Almond Yeung on drums, Ricky Wong on keyboards, Andrew Cheung on guitar, Yanice Tsang on jazz violin, Ben Pelletier on trombone, and of course Jennifer Palor as vocalist."
The emphasis on film music comes from the involvement of Soler twins Julio and Dino Acconci, who are part Italian. Ferrer is keen to perform his arrangement of a song, titled Cucurrucucu Paloma, sung by Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso in the 2002 Pedro Almodovar film, Talk to Her. Originally a traditional Mexican tune, the song has also featured in other films. "I asked Dino if he could sing in Spanish and he said, 'Yeah, sure', so we met up and we talked about it. The more we talked the bigger it became," Ferrer says. "It turned into something with both him and his brother Julio, so a Soler thing, and we came up with a bit more of an Italian theme."