衛武營國家藝術文化中心 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

by Patrick LIN

It was the biggest jazz item on Weiwuying's agenda (if not the whole of Taiwan's) for the first half of 2023. 20 years since jazz king and trumpet player Wynton MARSALIS came to Taiwan, he returned this March to put on only one show—at the Weiwuying Concert Hall. Tickets sold out with the speed of sales for an A-mei concert, proof that jazz can be just as hot as pop music in Taiwan. For this reason, Weiwuying is getting ready for an even bigger program, "Jazz at Weiwuying," in the latter half of the year. Over the course of a weekend, three programs will link Kaohsiung to the entire Taiwanese and global jazz realms. Just looking at the content and numbers lined up, it's not hard to see that Weiwuying has put much thought into how to please fans and is working to make southern Taiwan's future jazzier.

On September 8, when the weather has cooled down a bit, two stellar musicians from Kaohsiung, S'yo FANG and aDAN, will team up for the program White Dews Jazz Night, the opening act for Jazz at Weiwuying. S'yo, a pianist, composer, and arranger living in the Netherlands, has won numerous major international honors ever since studying at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. From his first album, Lonely Country, to last year's I Prefer, he has written refined interpretations of CHOU Meng-tieh's poetry that are both romantic and rich with aesthetic. Vocalist aDAN, one of the music world's few female contralto vocalists, began to thoroughly impress audiences during her time with the O-Kai Singers. After leaving the group, besides occasionally singing jazz, she embarked on the road of becoming more than just a vocalist (writing music and lyrics). Her songs "Sugar Coating"and "Nanmen Road" were nominated for Golden Indie Music Awards, and her first solo album, Flashback, was produced last year. She wanders among different music styles and writes all her own lyrics. S'yo and aDAN are both highly talented and create refined music full of creativity and emotion. Saxophonist SU Shen-yu, bassist Han HSIEH, and drummer HUANG Tzu-yu will join them for the show. It's going to be a hard but worthwhile to wait and see what novelty they're going to birth from traditional jazz! 

Compared with the more traditional jazz of White Dews Jazz Night, our program It's a Good Time for Jazz! will present the clarinet, violin, and washboard among other instruments to give you a different yet still completely pure taste of jazz that will ignite a fire! Reputed trumpet guru Stacey WEI, producer and music director for the program, has brought together eight other highly experienced Taiwanese jazz musicians to reinterpret incidental music from a classic cartoon, a film, the Beatles, and Stevie WONDER, so it's perfect for the whole family. Come and enjoy an afternoon of jazz that is sure to pump you up!

Aside from the many Taiwanese musicians, this year's Jazz at Weiwuying will also see Indonesian international sensation Joey ALEXANDER, whose last trip to Taiwan was in 2019. He may only be 20 years old, but more impressive is that his legendary musical journey began when he was still in single digits!

Born in Denpasar, Bali, and gifted with an amazing talent for music, Joey was able to play jazz classics with a deeply touchinging skill, feeling, and sense of melody before he was 10! He gained a name by his fans posting videos of his performances on social media. In 2014, Lincoln Center artistic director Wynton MARSALIS (that's right, the same Wynton, who came to Weiwuying this March!) invited the young prodigy to perform with Jazz at Lincoln Center, officially starting Joey's career as a professional musician. In 2015, Joey released his first album My Favorite Things; the following year, at just 12 years old, he was nominated for a Grammy. In 2018, he won the Anugerah Musik Indonesia Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Artist, gaining even more popularity. Before the age of 18, he had already achieved what so many musicians spend a lifetime working toward, and his fans are always excited about what he'll do next. Last year, he released his sixth solo album, Origin, all ten pieces having been written by his own hand. He wishes to use his music to proclaim to the world that "I'm here!" This September, he will lead a trio (something he's long excelled at) at Weiwuying. Even if you were here for his 2019 show, coming to see him again and how he has matured is definitely worth your while!

As a jazz lover and promoter, I'm so happy to see the birth of Jazz at Weiwuying, instilling jazz into Weiwuying's DNA for the first time. Over the past few years in southern Taiwan, universities and colleges have been bringing up more talent in the jazz field, and with the collective promotional effort by numerous organizations, the number of jazz musicians in the region has steadily grown. I look forward to seeing jazz continuing to expand and gaining more momentum to obtain an even bigger stage in southern Taiwan!