The jazz scene in China is booming as more young musicians discover the genre

One of the highlights of this year's Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival at The Venetian Macao, which runs from October 9 to 12, will be a battle of the bands. Twelve international groups will compete for cash prizes of HK$250,000, HK$150,000 and HK$100,000. Will the winners come from Hong Kong, Macau or the mainland? The last two winners were from the US and the Philippines respectively, so anything is possible.

Last year, Chekov — an international ensemble based in Shanghai which combines electronic jazz improvisation, brass, rap and the erhu — took third place. The previous year another mainland band, Red Groove, were runners-up.

That said, in Hong Kong the jazz and blues scene is not exactly dominated by youth. The best known musicians are for the most part in their 40s, or older. Even harmonica man Henry Chung is in his 30s, and the blues doesn't seem to speak much to a younger demographic.

But younger musicians are gravitating towards jazz, as well as playing pop and rock. Bassist Tsang Tak-hong, who as well as leading his own bands plays regularly with veterans Ted Lo and Eugene Pao, switched to jazz from rock in 1999.

In the 1990s, while The Jazz Club in Lan Kwai Fong was still open, Tsang recalls there being more opportunities for local players to interact with foreign musicians, both resident and visiting. Now he believes that is less true here than on the mainland.