Shanghai-born Huang Jianyi is, at 35, the Godfather of Shanghai jazz. A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied classical piano, Huang's first band, Footprints, founded in 1999, was among the first revivalist jazz acts to come out of China. Now a veteran of the world jazz festival circuit and musical director at JZ Kids Music School Huang is a pillar of the Shanghai jazz scene.

For his performance at the Oriental Arts Center, tickets are 100rmb, 150rmb, and 200rmb -- available here. Starts 3pm.

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Huang Jiangyi: 3pm is a great time to play jazz. I've played gigs before lunch that have been great and these monthly JZ concerts are really popular. In the concert hall you don't know what time it is. It's a great place to play and the sound is fantastic. You just turn up with your instruments and get on with it.


Huang Jiangyi: This concert will be about my band playing 8 or 9 original arrangements of my songs. The band is a 6 piece including drums, bass, guitar, saxophone and keyboards. I'll be playing my Rhodes electric piano this time. I've also added a trumpet player, who is my favorite trumpet player in China and because my regular drummer is away, we are working with a great player from Mauritius. He's awesome and he's totally changed the way we play. The whole band has moved sideways.


Huang Jiangyi: I am Shanghainese and I have seen the jazz scene in Shanghai change dramatically over the last 10 years. Back then it was hard to make money as a musician. There was nowhere to play and there were very few bands. I think there was probably only one band made up from Chinese musicians in the whole city. Today Shanghai is a place where you can make a living as a musician. There are lots of opportunities and jazz musicians from Beijing are moving here to be part of it. I doubt that young musicians in the US or Europe would be able to play what they love and get paid enough to live on.


Huang Jiangyi: We had to play Chopin all of the time. Really, I tried my best, but after four years of study I realized I was never going to be a classical pianist. It was just too hard. I was 24 before I first heard any jazz. My roommate at the Conservatory was also a pianist and he played me this tape of "Take The A Train" (Duke Ellington's signature tune). I was immediately hooked. I just couldn't see how these musicians worked together. How did they know when to start and stop? It was amazing. So, when another student asked me to join his jazz band I accepted immediately and started to learn. These days, I enjoy playing jazz far more than I ever did classical. It is so much freer. There are no wrong notes in jazz and in my classical playing there were many.


Huang Jiangyi: Around 1999 I formed a band called Footprints, which was one of the first, real Shanghai jazz bands. Our first gig was at a place called The George V, which was on Wulumuqi Lu. We would literally play there for free beer on a Sunday. At that time we just played the old standards. Getting jazz CDs was really hard. There were almost no fake CDs available on the streets, but occasionally you would find CDs that had been damaged, but were still playable. We'd swap these precious items between ourselves and play them over and over. We would also find arrangements for these songs in books and slowly we started to experiment. We didn't know anything else. Little by little we started to create our own arrangements and experiment. Then in 2002 we had a concert at the Conservatory and it was a huge success. We were the first Chinese jazz band ever to play at this traditional music school and the place was packed.


Huang Jiangyi: No. Not at all. My family are engineers and practical people. But there is a bit of natural talent in the family. We all had piano lessons as children and my father, uncle and grandmother all play. When I was 7 my grandmother asked me if I wanted to learn, so I said 'OK'. I'd never thought about it before, but they took me to for a lesson and I just never stopped playing.


Huang Jiangyi: Economics plays a large part in music's growth in any country. Music is a luxury for most people. If you have money then they can afford the arts. As China gets wealthier, more and more young people are learning to play a musical instrument. It will just take time to grow.


Huang Jiangyi: Jazz and music generally in China is still very young. There has yet to be a truly important modern Chinese musician who creates a style and a sound that defines us. We are still feeling our way. There is a tradition of improvisation in Chinese folk music and there are good players here in China. Some of them are pretty damn great! But a real master has yet to emerge. There are a few people around who maybe have that potential. It will be exciting to see.


Huang Jiangyi: When I play jazz I just feel happy. Unless I play badly, of course.

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