In recent years, Shanghai has fully embraced its heritage forged in the 1920's as an international calibre jazz city, and although it's still a point of debate for some, Shanghai in the 2011 century boasts a world class jazz scene, replete with several quality jazz clubs to match.

One of the key Shanghai tourist experiences is enjoying a jazz performance in a club, and the city is home to a wide spectrum of local and international jazz musicians playing in a gamut of styles -- classic standards, original compositions, big band combo shows, free jam sessions... the works.

Emerging in the last five years as the dominant entity when it comes to jazz in this city is the JZ Club -- a beautiful live jazz lounge that hosts nightly performances and international performers. JZ Club is the ground zero for a tightly-knit Shanghai jazz community with local celebrity performers and their regular fans. The rise in affluence of the new wealthy class in Shanghai has seen a correlative increase in interest in Shanghai's jazz roots, and the JZ Club is a favourite of wealthy Chinese looking for in-roads into their jazz heritage. It's a twinkling, classy affair: weekly nights are comprised of a rotating class of famous Shanghai faces, playing in a variety of jazz styles and permutations. In recent years, JZ Club has increased their community involvement and exposure with the opening of the JZ School - a music school for aspiring jazz musicians of all ages. At the JZ School, regular performers at the clubs double as music instructors, instilling a love of the art form in the next generation of players and fans. In addition to that, JZ Club is also behind Shanghai's largest music festival, the JZ Festival. See below for more information on that.

Although JZ might be the highest profile and most well-known jazz club in the city, the music flows freely from a number of live jazz venues throughout town, and if you're looking to delve into it further, here are some safe bets: The House of Jazz and Blues is just that, located in The Bund area and featuring performers in residence. There are also two for thought in Xintiandi: CJW, a long-standing Shanghai jazz club, and Brown Sugar, a larger, more bombastic affair, popular with expats, tourists and locals alike. Cotton Club is another mainstay, providing a more laid-back, neighbourly experience and Sound Blue is another nice little jazz cafe.

For larger events, again it's JZ Club, and they host an ongoing live jazz concert series called "JZ in the Orient", located in Shanghai's Oriental Arts Center. Performers are usually international imports, although stand-out locally-based jazz musicians have taken part as well. SmartShanghai's ticketing service, SmartTicket, sells and delivers tickets to JZ's events in the Oriental Arts Center. Click here to be re-directed to the SmartTicket landing page to see if anything is on.

The JZ Music Festival

The largest yearly, multi-stage, outdoor music festival in Shanghai is the JZ Club-organized, JZ Music Festival, usually taking place at the end of the summer in Pudong district's Century Park. The Festival features world class jazz bands and musicians descending on Shanghai for a packed week of live music. Previous years have seen performances by Giles Peterson, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis, Fourplay and more. Although jazz is the main focus of the festival, in recent incarnations the JZ Festival has made overtures to rock, pop and folk, and has even featured an electronic/dance stage. If you're in town for it, it's a must-see - Shanghai's musical event of the year.