The festival is hosted in three venues around the Oct-Loft - two converted factory spaces, B10 and A3, plus Old Heaven, a book and music shop run by Tu Fei, who "co-curates" the festival with Teng. In addition to performances, there'll be a series of lectures, workshops, exhibitions and film screenings throughout the fortnight's festivities. "This year we have more than 100 musicians playing in about 30 bands," Teng says while looking through the festival programme.

"We're cooperating with Sun Livehouse in Zhongshan, Guangzhou's Fei Bar and Red Live in Changsha. They'll share some of the bands."

The Oct-Loft Jazz Festival is believed to be the biggest of its kind outside Shanghai. The genesis of this world-class gathering came about with the chance meeting of the organisers almost eight years ago, in a very different Shenzhen. "When I returned to China after 17 years in Europe, I missed music," Teng says. "In Germany, I used to host musicians in my art studio and I'd go and see bands every week. Live shows are a place for creative people to meet and exchange ideas.

"But in Shenzhen all the bars were noisy discos. You couldn't have any kind of conversation, never mind an artistic one. Then I met Tu Fei. He was booking bands at Musibase [bar] and selling books and records in Hua Qiang Bei market. He impressed me a lot."

The art aficionados' partnership would prove an enduring one. After years trying to find suitable venues and financial backing, their tenacity impressed the powers that be at the Oct - a state-owned real estate company charged with converting an old manufacturing space into a creative hub. "They saw we had the network and know-how to deliver," Teng says.

Across the street from B10, Old Heaven Books is something of a bohemian mecca in the city. During the festival many of the workshops and lectures will be held in the bookstore-come-coffee shop. Deng Boyu, a drummer, originally from Inner Mongolia, is often seen hanging out there when he's not performing.

Deng is a founding member of DLB Jazz Group, one of Shenzhen's few local jazz bands, and the only group from the city booked to play at the festival.

He cites American musicians Ornette Coleman and John Zorn, and German musician Peter Brötzmann as his influences. His band plays anything from jazz standards to free, avant-garde jazz, and their performance on October 24 is likely to be a festival highlight.

"This city is a young, migrant city, without any deep cultural identity," Deng says. "But in a sense, it is like an early New York, with people from everywhere, and it's very welcoming. Jazz is still quite fresh in China, it will develop step by step. I think Shenzhen has a part to play in that development."

Co-organiser Tu, who hosts a world music show on Shenzhen Radio, is arguably even busier than his counterpart Teng. Yet it is his great affection for live music that is the cornerstone philosophy underlying the Oct-Loft Jazz Festival.

"I'm most looking forward to Ganelin Trio," Tu says from Xinjiang, where he's working with experimental Kazakh band, IZ. Vyacheslav "Slava" Ganelin, billed as the virtuoso father of Russian new music, will perform - as a soloist and also with his Ganelin Trio - on October 22.

However, Tu admits he is passionate about the whole line-up at this year's festival. "What's important to understand is that everything we book is something we like," he says.

Tu mentions his commitment to live music in Shenzhen, and refers me to a media statement that he issued before the festival: "It is live performance that still maintains its ancient and mysterious nature and beauty."

With such strength of purpose, it's easy to understand why the Oct-Loft Jazz Festival - in only a few years - has become the largest and most prestigious in the Pearl River Delta region and beyond.

SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED

Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival is returning to Macau for the third — and what promises to be biggest — edition. Backed by 12 finalists from five continents who were selected from YouTube preliminaries, this year’s festival may be the most ambitious yet.

The four-day event will cover more ground, provide an additional floating stage on the pier for local acts, and, for the first time, feature a musical guest — rising English jazz star Anthony Strong.

All finalists will be assessed by a panel of four judges, including the founder of the Pennsylvania Blues Festival, Michael Cloeren, and Xu Kui, lecturer at the Macao Conservatory, as well as a veteran jazz saxophonist.

The festival is growing and reaching out for more global recognition, according to a spokesman for the host, The Venetian Macao. Organisers are expecting a 20 per cent increase in turnout over last year’s 52,000. Performer applications have also increased from 118 last year to 180.

Festival spokesman Brett Ingram says the increase in participants has also made the competition harder in preliminaries. “The volume of this year’s entries made the selection of the final 12 a difficult decision for the judges,” he says. “There were so many fantastic bands.”

One disappointment is the lack of local acts this year, and Ingram encourages homegrown lineups to reapply next year. The only band registered in Hong Kong that made the cut for the final 12 this year is 3-0-3 Tango Fusion. The band’s harmonica player, Leo Ho Cheuk-yin, says the festival is encouraging a more vibrant and active local jazz scene.

“Just a few days ago, the North Sea Jazz Festival was cancelled because of poor ticket sales,” he says. “Cotai Jazz & Blues is a better festival compared to other large ones. The Chinese community doesn’t get to listen to jazz too much. It will lead us to get in touch with the genre.”

You can’t say 3-0-3 Tango Fusion has much practice time together — the two other members are from Buenos Aires. Hernan Valencia on the piano and percussionist Gerardo Solnie are flying in to be a part of the festival.

Ho is just happy that tens of thousands of people will enjoy his band’s peculiar blend of tango and ja.

ZZ”We don’t worry too much about the competition,” he says.

“It’s a huge opportunity to share our music. The most important thing is to enjoy the stage.”

Alec Cheung Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival, October 9-12, 1pm-midnight, The Venetian Macao, Cotai, free. Inquiries: [email protected]