Department of Cultural Affairs

By Yali Chen
STAFF REPORTER
Photo Courtesy of Taipei International Jazz Education & Promotion Association

Summer seems to be a great season for listening to improvised music in Taiwan. As part of the trend, Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs is holding a jazz festival from July 2 to July 23 in Taipei. The festival features a series of free concerts that aim to attract Taipei’s music fans.

Many great jazz musicians from here and overseas are set to perform in the 2011 Taipei International Jazz Festival. They include four Japanese jazz groups: Element of The Moment, a quintet of Okinawa; Koyo Conservatory Alumni Quartet of Kobe; Miluque of Fukuoka; and Senzoku College of Music All-Star Sextet of Tokyo.

Other foreign jazz performers are trombonist Alan Ferber of the U.S., saxophonist Rosario Giuliani of Italy, saxophonist John Ruocco of the U.S., drummer Mimi Verderame of Italy, bassist Bart De Nolf of Belgium, singer Tutu Puoane of South Africa, trumpeter David Smith of Canada, guitarist Joachim Schoenecker of Germany, and pianist Peter Van Marle of the Netherlands.

Ferber, world-renowned as a jazz composer and bandleader, was recognized as one of the leading trombonists of his generation in the 2010 International Critics’ Poll and Readers’ Poll, conducted by Down Beat Magazine. This was a rare double honor for a musician in his mid-thirties.

Ruocco, born in 1952 in New Haven, Connecticut, has performed at festivals in Berlin, Middelheim, Brussels, Oostende, Gouvy, Belga, Brosella and Cape Town. He also made regular TV and radio appearances with the Belgian National Radio Orchestra in Belgium, Germany and France. In 1983 he toured through Zaire with support from the Belgian Ministry of Culture.

Tutu has shared the stage with many great international and South African musicians. In April 2008 her fans at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival were engrossed in her voice, charisma and unique mix of jazz, soul and African music. Two years later she launched a show, titled “One Night Only with Tutu Puoane,” at Cape Town’s international convention center.

Besides the international jazz masters, local musicians such as violinist Hsieh Chi-pin and pianist Chang Kai-ya will also take part in the Taipei’s jazz party.

Senzoku College of Music All-Star Sextet and Miluque are set to perform this weekend at the EXPO Hall, where the opening ceremony of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition took place.

The outdoor two-night party that audiences can enjoy traditional jazz, Latin jazz, fusion jazz, funk rock and modern jazz is slated to take place July 22-23 at the auditorium of the Daan Forest Park in Taipei.