This week, we explore a topic close to our hearts: the world of jazz in China. Jeremiah and David bring their respective musical experience to the table—Jeremiah as a rock and blues keyboardist, and David as an active pianist in Beijing's jazz scene.
David takes us back to his experiences in the 1980s, a period of renaissance for jazz in Beijing, when Chinese rock musicians began to discover—or rediscover—this intricate Western genre. During China's early "Reform and Opening Up" era, musicians with little prior exposure to jazz and scarce recordings embarked on the challenging journey of mastering its fundamentals: the elusive "swing" rhythm, the art of improvisation over complex harmonies, and the pursuit of a unique musical "voice." For them, jazz represented a liberating contrast to the structured pop music of their youth, offering a sense of artistic freedom and boundless creativity.
David reports that a new generation of post-millennial jazz musicians has emerged who, having grown up with the genre, are quickly ascending to world-class status, gracing stages at prestigious international festivals.
In a previous podcast, we covered the origins of the jazz scene in 1920s Shanghai in our interview with Marketus Presswood about his award-winning documentary "Yellow Jazz, Black Music."
David's article on Jazz in Beijing: The Book of Changes: Twenty-five Years in Chinese Jazz
