Five Favourites
Jazz pianist and composer Allen Youngblood


Who is your favourite jazz musician (including singer) of all time?
Male: Miles Davis, because he was a visionary and explorative, never resting on his laurels. Female: Billie Holiday as when she sang, you felt she really was part of what she was singing about, especially with her own compositions.

What is your favourite jazz album of all time?
A Love Supreme (John Coltrane). The purity and self-reflection of this work inspired me when I was young to delve deeper into the non-commercial side of music.

What is your favourite song at the moment?
From the Bottom of My Heart (Stevie Wonder) – anything by Stevie is well crafted and beautiful with meaning and depth.

Who is your favourite actor or actress?
Robert DeNiro – I like his attitude of earning the right to play a role through absorption of a character.

What is your favourite book of all time?
The Autobiography of Malcolm X – one man’s journey to seek reality in life and change when necessary.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club’s musical director, Allen Youngblood, regularly presents a jazz series at Grappa’s Cellar. The Saturday, October 13, edition will feature the music of Allen Youngblood and Jazbalaya along with the return to the Hong Kong stage of Guy LeClaire and Brigitte Mitchell. Showtime is 8pm and the $238 admission price includes one standard drink. For reservations, call 2521 2322.

Tanya Rocks!
Ten years ago, popular Singaporean singer/songwriter Tanya Chua made her debut with an English song entitled Bored. Despite a stated desire to release an album in the USA, she subsequently switched to singing in Mandarin and now has many fans throughout East and South-east Asia. This Thursday, October 4, the multi-award-winning singer makes a rare Hong Kong appearance at the Hard Rock Cafe: the Tanya Live concert is due to kick off at 10pm. Tickets cost $220 and include two San Miguels. Note that there’s no seating plan – and diners get priority entry.

Escalator Music
The term ‘elevator music’ (aka muzak) is commonly used for music that is excessively bland but the sounds of live electronica/groove project Escalator promise to be anything but. With improvisational work by Sydney’s Nick McBride on drums, top Oz electric guitarist Carl Dewhurst, composer/musical strategist Peter Scherr on bass guitar, the multi-award-winning Phil Slater on trumpet and electronics, and dance movements by the rose-among-the-thorns Patricia Chiu, Escalator induces euphoria and – we quote from the press release – “a sense of puzzlement or awe in the face of mysterious, invisible processes”! Showtime at Le Rideau on both October 11 and 12 is 9:30pm. General admission is $120, with an extra $230 getting you a 3-course dinner along with the show. Either way, reservations are recommended.

Sigesmund’s Strands
Toronto-based trombonist cum composer Darren Sigesmund and his jazz quintet are touring Australia and East Asia to promote his new Strands CD – and, he also hopes, demonstrate the virtues of the trombone as a major solo instrument. On Sunday, October 14, this Canadian group will be performing Sigesmund’s original compositions – an amalgamation of jazz, classical and Latin influences (Sigesmund credits Wayne Shorter, Argentine musician Astor Piazzolla and Johann Sebastian Bach as major musical inspirations) – at the HK Arts Centre’s agnès b. CINEMA!. The concert is set to begin at 8pm. Tickets are $225 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Born to hula they may be, but the quirky new three-piece band playing at Underground 48 on October 6 will entertain you more with drums, guitars and a double bass than hula-hoops. Another set of new kids on the block, the intrepid Urban Butterfly, also plans to be in on the fun, as will regular Underground favourites, The Sinister Left, the all-expatriate band who specialise in “dark, hypnotic and experimental” music. Last but not least, the musical slate includes KillerSoap whose stated philosophy of music is “to make people enjoy, including both the composers and the audiences”. Sounds good? If so, be at the Cavern on Saturday, October 6 from 8-11pm. Entry costs $80 at the door. For enquiries, call Chris B at 9486 4648.

This autumn, the free Friday Fest series returns to celebrate creative fusion jazz at Island East. Japanese jazz band the Chinda Trio restarts the outdoor series on October 5 with a live performance out on TaiKoo Place’s Tong Chong Street; then, one week later on October 12, it’ll be the turn of those amphibian-loving Frenchies, the memorably named frogNstein to show audiences what they’ve got. Showtime both Fridays is 6-8pm. For further details, call 2844 5095.

Stringed Treat
Sought-after violinist Gu Wenlei makes her Hong Kong debut this October: at the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra’s Enchanted Strings concerts, this rising star in the classical music universe will be the featured soloist in a programme of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on the G String (from Suite No 3 in D, BWV1068), Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op 64, and Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D, Op 77. The Saturday, October 13, show is set to take place at the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium while the Sunday, October 14, performance will be held at the Tsuen Wan Town Hall Auditorium. Both are scheduled to commence at 8pm. Tickets are $100, $80 and $60 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

“Thank God it’s Friday!” takes on new meaning for music lovers at Fringe Club’s Fringe Gallery as every Friday in October something new will appear to make their neck hairs curl.
On October 5 the motley crew – we’re talking an architect, a taxi driver, a computer expert, a retired lawyer and a drummer who wishes to keep his day job a secret! – that is Just Another Band play their brand of eclectic soul, blues and funk. The music starts at 10:30pm and tickets costing $90, including one standard drink, are available from 9:30pm on the night.

The following Friday, October 12, will see the return of Henry Chung to the Fringe Club with the HK Blues Allstars and some special guests. An evening of raw energetic blues is due to kick off at 10:30pm. Tickets at $125 on the night include one standard drink.
Those who have to wait until Saturday evening to let their hair down needn’t feel entirely hard done by though. Hiroshi Ishikawa has been in Hong Kong spending making business deals but on October 13, he morphs into Elvis Ishikawa, and he and his band will belt out some of Elvis Presley’s greatest hits starting from 10:30pm. Tickets for $90 include – yes, you guessed it! – one standard drink, get them only on the night.

The hardworking HK Sinfonietta have not one but four concerts slated for October. First up will be the Birthday Rhapsody to celebrate the birthdays of composers Igor Stravinsky (who would have been 125 this year) and Edward Elgar (who would have been 150) and the HKSAR (10, in case you forgot!). Pianist Cristina Ortiz and the Grainger Quartet join the orchestra for a programme that includes Peter Heidrich’s Happy Birthday Variations and the world premiere of Angel On-ki Lam’s In Search of Seasons. Ortiz will be the soloist in Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini while the Grainger Quartet and the orchestra play Elgar and Lam. Stravinsky’s Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fée is also on the programme. The concert on Friday, October 5, is at the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall and starts at 8pm. Tickets are $220, $150 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Then, on Sunday, October 7, the Grainger Quartet takes centre stage with principal members of the orchestra for Mozart’s Flute Quartet No 1 in D, Haydn’s String Quartet No 42 in C, Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet and Beethoven’s String Quartet No 10 in E-flat, ‘Harp’. The Grainger Quartet Chamber Concert in the HKAPA Concert Hall will begin at 8pm. Tickets are $200 and $100 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.

The following Sunday, October 14, the HK Sinfonietta presents the CLP Light Classics Concert, a programme of favourites like Johann Strauss Jr’s On the Beautiful Blue Danube, and Handel’s Water Music. This concert will begin at 3pm in the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall. Tickets are $180 to $80 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Finally, on Friday, October 26, the Guitar Extravaganza features the Grigoryan brothers Slava and Leonard, back at the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall with that all-time favourite Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and Vivaldi’s Concerto in G for Two Guitars. Also on the programme are Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture and Respighi’s Fountains of Rome. Tickets are $220, $150 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009, and you’ll need to be seated before the start of the concert at 8pm.