Jazz strikes a chord with Chinese notes

• Source: Global Times
• [13:44 April 12 2010]
• Comments

Burnett Thompson swinging through a composition. Photo: George Wyndham

By Nick Muzyczka

Last night, the JZ Club welcomed renowned American jazz pianist and composer Burnett Thomp-son. Performing with a selection of Shanghai's musical luminaries (Lin Di, pipa; Peng Fei, violin; Alec Haarvik, saxophone; E J Parker, bass; Chris Trzcinski, drums) Thompson presented a varied set list that included rearrangements of Chinese traditional music and songs from his new collection, the "JZ Expo Suite."

Dressed in a traditional Chinese tang zhuang, Thompson warmed up with a fast-paced swing number full of displaced rhythms, before inviting Lin Di on stage to perform a composition entitled "Mercury" from his Planets suite. This expansive, lyrical piece evoked an intense ethereal atmosphere with the oscillating pipa underpinned by Thompson's lush harmonies.

The set wound its way through a diverse range of styles, including rock and roll and waltz. Playing to a hushed audience, Thompson's minimalist piano arrangements created a delicate wall of sound that gave full scope for Lin Di to explore subtle rhythmic and melodic ideas. Joined later on stage by Alec Haarvik, the band moved through a series of numbers that were innovative yet retained strong melodic com-ponents. The set was glued together by Thompson's warm and witty repartee between songs.

The Washington D.C. jazz cat has returned to Shanghai as part of his sixth tour of China. Thompson has received funding from the US State Department and has delivered a series of performances and lectures around China. He has already addressed audi-ences in Wuhan and Shanghai, and will visit Dalian and Shenyang later this week. The focus of Thompson's tour is "Parallels in the history of music in China and America."

Thompson sees connections between the development of musical culture in New Orleans, especially in the struggle musicians faced when trying to take their music from the streets to the concert hall, and the evolution of Chinese music in the 1920s. "In [1920s] China we saw a sudden explosion of improvements, western influences, rearrangements of traditional tunes and advances in the technique of traditional Chinese instruments. The erhu, morphed from being a street instrument into a genuine concert instrument, with a new generation of virtuoso performers," he said.