Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival | All the world’s jazz tunes in town

Anthony Strong

Budda Power Blues

A ‘feel-good’ formula could easily describe British jazz singer and songwriter Anthony Strong’s approach to music. He does energetic covers, but has a handful – and more – of his own originals to show off when he plays at this year’s edition of the Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival, taking place in the Venetian Macau between October 9 and 12.
The four-day event brings to town international jazz stars, but also promotes a competition between 12 finalists selected from over 180 applications representing 42 nationalities. They come from Portugal, the Philippines, USA, Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, India and France, amongst others, and will be competing for a cash prize pool of HKD550,000.
For this year’s event, organizers invited British jazz singer Anthony Strong, as well as last year’s competition winners Bleu Rascals and the finalists Andy Frasco and the U.N. The festival has the support of the Cultural Affairs Bureau and is free to attend.
As an invited musician, Anthony Strong will be playing on opening night in a free-of-charge concert. In an interview with the Times via email, the musician recalled how he first fell in love with the harmony only a piano can entails.
While studying at music school, Anthony was offered piano lessons. After all, he was often seen jamming on the piano “for hours and hours instead of practicing scales.”
“I have a pretty good ear, and so most of the music I’d heard up until then I could play straight away. This wasn’t the case with jazz and as well as falling in love with these new sounds, I welcomed the challenge – it was something I’d never really heard before then,” he said.
He received scholarships to Whitgift School and The Purcell School of Music in England, and funded his way through university at the Guildhall School of Music by gigging in London.
Hailed as “England’s new jazz superstar,” Anthony’s first album was all about originals. But as he recognized, “this is a funny industry,” where some labels are fond of albums with 90 percent originals, and others say “no, way!”
“Nowadays I try and play more a 50-50 mix of standards/covers and originals. The audience enjoy hearing something they recognize and I enjoy taking a standard and trying to put my own stamp on it,” he stated.
Anthony Strong’s last album, “Stepping Out,” was released in 2013, as his first with the “Naïve” label. “For me it was a bit of a dream come true! I suddenly had a substantial budget and that meant I could hand-pick the musicians and studios,” he recalled.
The English musician is now working on a new album due out early 2015. He describes it as a big band record, which he says has the same “feel-good” formula as “Stepping Out” but “it’s got a much bigger sound. “There are some incredible soloists on it and a duet with one of my favorite American singers,” he added.

Lowcal

For his Macau gig he pledged “lots of fun.” Anthony Strong will also be bringing along his band from London, and said he’s proud to be playing at the Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival.
The four-day event will also feature a series of 30-minute performances for visitors, where the 12 finalists will show off their potential to a panel of judges. Lowcal, a band from the Philippines, is among those selected to perform.
Replying to the Times via email, the band said that they adapt their music each time to the audience. “We aren’t about pushing what we think music should be on the audience, so we often re-arrange songs with the target audience in mind,” they said.
Band members are former X Factor Philippines finalist Mark Mabasa, who has a background in pop, alternative, R&B, and jazz; Sam Santos, a composer for different Filipino artists, also writing songs and music for TV and movies; Arnold Jalloares, a guitarist and a recording engineer and producer; Lyndon Aguilar, a faculty member at the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, having participated in numerous jazz groups over the past 20 years; and Harald Huyssen, a session drummer, who’s a graduate from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA.
“Every new member brings in a new angle, opinion, and flavor. Over the last four years, we have had six or seven members coming and going, and that really pushed our music into places you don’t expect,” they said.
The band has explored anything from the New Orleans vibe to more modern pop jazz. Each of their songs or arrangements “grows and takes on a life of its own,” they assured.
Entering the competition too is Portuguese jazz band Buddha Power Blues. As a trio, they started experimenting in 2004 just so they could jam a bit and have fun. But it all became a bit more serious, as now they’re celebrating their 10th anniversary. “We didn’t even dream that people would like our music or understand all of our jams, and the fun we had doing it. It was a pure selfish act: just for the extreme pleasure of playing blues,” they recalled.
The band appreciates the jazz and blues’ past but they look primarily into the future; they like to be extreme, but to come down to the quietest piece ever.
“We are a blues band from the 21st century. We [look for influences in the past], we are ‘vintage’ oriented, but we don’t want to be playing that ’50s Chicago blues. We try to bring something new to the table, while greatly appreciating what’s been done in the past,” they stressed.
As their music evolved, the trio’s ties grew stronger. Budda (vocals and guitar), Nico (drums and vocals) and Tó Barbot (bass) promise “great moments filled with great music” in their local gig. Music played by performers “who love to play and entertain others. It will be a great party and a great music celebration at the Venetian Macau.”
The competition also features bands from Taiwan (Skyline), Brazil (AfroJazz), Hungary (Trio Ricardo Special), the USA (Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds), France (The Kandinsky Effect), Hong Kong (3-0-3 Tango Fusion), India (Soulmate), as well as from Finland (The Northern Governors) and Mozambique (The Moreira Project).
A panel of judges will see them perform while assessing style, improvisation, technique, musicality, and audience response. This will lead to a final round with six shortlisted bands playing a half-hour set each on the last day of the competition, when the three winners and a special recognition award will be announced, too. The Venetian Macau’s Cotai Jazz & Blues takes place between October 9 and 12 in the outdoor lagoon area.