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Now in its 6th year Hong Kong Summer Jazz is the brainchild of local the Big Band leader Taka Hirohama, founder of the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra. The Summer Jazz festival aims to share and introduce the joy of jazz music through high quality performances featuring both local professionals and guest artists, and provide a unique experience for Hong Kong music lovers.
The guest artist at this year’s three concert festival, organised by the Hong Kong Big Band Jazz Federation, is international jazz giant Richard Sussman. The festival is slightly different from previous years as the three concerts aim to showcase the history and evolution of jazz. As in previous years the festival includes a free two day Jazz Academy with the HKU Big Band to promotes jazz within the community and offers expert tuition by leading local jazz artists.
21 June: Hot Jazz with Aya Takazawa
The summer jazz concert series starts off with a tale of a hundred years ago, and a story to be told. From explaining the origin of the word “Jazz”, to the rising in popularity of this unique style of music through the early years, different pioneers of Jazz music will be introduced. Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Glenn Miller are only be a few of the names whose music would be considered as Jazz classics, and will be presented to all in the first day of the concert.
22 June: Pops in Big Band with Richard Sussman
The Pops in Pig Band concert has two halves, the first features the sounds of contemporary jazz composer Richard Sussman and showcases how jazz music has evolved in the twenty-first century. The second half is all time Japanese Classic Pops performed in a retro style by young singers from Japan and Hong Kong joining together to bring back the melodies of the good old days.
23 June: All That Jazz with Alan Chan
A grand finale of all time great jazz tunes and beats including masterpieces once sang by Frank Sinatra, such as Fly me to the Moon, and more recent popular songs such as Michael Buble’s Feeling Good. The evening is curated and arranged by composer Alan Chan.
The Performers
Aya Takazawa started playing the piano at five and the trumpet at ten years old. She graduated from Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and studied under Hitoshi Kumagai principle trumpeter of Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. After graduation she was part of an all female brass ensemble the Tokyo Brass Unit which had a big hit in the Japanese jazz music charts. In 2009 Aya performed at the commemoration ceremony of the United Nations Population Fund in New York.
She is currently leading her own jazz band the Takazawa Aya Quintet and released her first album Patterns in 2012. She’s established a reputation as a talented and versatile musician and appeared at “Summer Jazz” held in Hibiya-Kokaido and played with Manhattan Jazz Quintet at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Richard Sussman is a jazz pianist, composer, music technologist, educator, and author. He has performed with many jazz & pop greats including Lionel Hampton, Lee Konitz, Houston Person, Randy Brecker, Donna Summer, Blood Sweat & Tears, and many others. Richard has recorded four critically acclaimed albums of original music.
Known for his large ensemble arrangements and compositions, his music has been performed by, amongst others, the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra of Holland, featuring legendary jazz pianist Hank Jones and the American Composers Orchestra in New York.
Alan Chan is a multi-faceted composer, with a goal to create original and innovative music that incorporates elements from across artistic disciplines, cultures and styles, to bring refreshing experience to audiences. He has received commissions and recognitions from ArtEZ (Netherlands), ASCAP, American Composers Forum (ACF), twice from Percussive Arts Society (PAS) and Los Angeles County Arts Commissions, among others.
He is a member of the prestigious BMI Jazz Compositions Workshop under legendary Jim McNeely in 2008-2011. His songs have been performed by the Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge band, Millennium Jazz Orchestra (Netherlands) and by college big bands in Los Angeles, Miami and Redlands. Holding a doctorate from the University of Southern California, he is the Artistic Director of the Gateway Performance Series in West LosAngeles.
Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) established by Taka Hirohama in 1990, the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra is one of the hottest jazz groups in Asia today and comprises some of Hong Kong’s top professional jazz musicians. The SNJO is highly active and has appeared in many events such as the Hong Kong International Jazz Festival, Hong Kong Big Band Festival, also the ‘Swing For All’ at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, the “Hong Kong Week 2012” at the historic Zhongshan Hall Guangfu Auditorium, Taipei. The SNJO is always keen to foster and support new talent via the Summer Jazz “Big Band Workshop and Concert”, where they provide a platform for young musicians to learn about big-band jazz.
Yoko Wende born and raised in Japan. Yoko moved to New York to study acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She now sings regularly in Hong Kong and will host the three Summer Jazz concerts.
HKU Big Band is the first big band ever set up among the universities in Hong Kong. Established in 2014, HKU Big Band strives to create a platform for jazz lovers in the University of Hong Kong to share their passion towards the genre and to promote jazz music among the HKU community.
The Band made its debut performance at the Hong Kong Summer Jazz Festival 2014 with the support of University’s General Education Unit and the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra. The HKU Big Band regularly give in-campus performances at Student Halls, academic buildings, and the University’s High-Table Dinner events. The group aims to promote and spread out jazz culture to other academic institutions in Hong Kong so as to cultivate a group of young audience and musicians to enter the local jazz scene.
Co-hosting the Big Band Jazz Academy Series, the HKU Big Band will act as a bridge linking students and public alike interested in knowing more about jazz and continue to spread the joy of making music in a Big Band.
Jazz Summer 2016
Hong Kong Big Band Jazz Federation
Date: 21-23 June 2016
Venue: HK City Hall, Theatre
Tickets: $300, $250, $150 from Urbtix