29 January 2012

Missing the Big Band Bravado

Homage to Thad Jones
HR Big Band conducted by Jim McNeely
Suedbahnhof Musik Lokal, Frankfurt/Main, 27.01.2012
Tickets: 17 Euros

I had high hopes of the HR Big Band homage to Thad Jones, not least because it was led by Jim McNeely a seasoned veteran of The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra and a stunning jazz pianist in his own right. However, in the end the concert was rather a mixed bag.



Given that the halcyon days of big band music are long gone, it was fantastic to see such music performed live and to a sell-out crowd of some 300 fans. Indeed, the big bands funded by the German state broadcasters (in this case Hessische Rundfunk, hence HR) are amongst the few practitioners of this music remaining in Europe.

The 17-piece ensemble put in a professional performance of an impressive set-list that spanned Thad's entire career. Jim introduced each piece, giving just the right dose of anecdote in his smooth American accent.

The band took a while to get going and poor amplification did not help proceedings. Much of the original power and drive of the music was lost, especially since the drums were virtually relying on natural acoustics alone. Germany may be green, but who wants a sleepy windmill, when atomic energy is needed?

Nevertheless, 'A Child Is Born' with Jim McNeely himself taking the piano chair was an undoubted highlight of the concert. The audience stopped chewing their Wurst (sausage) for once, as the sheer beauty of this moving waltz demanded full sensory attention.


The set-up in the venue did not facilitate a full-out big band bash. The whole audience was seated at long tables and there was barely room for standing let alone dancing. In a mirror image to the aging audience, there was little kinetic energy on stage. At times, it looked as though these professional jazzers were just going through the motions, waiting for the next paycheck.

However, the finale went some way to bringing the house down. 'Suite For Pops' was a worthy blast of bebop magic and would have done Louis Armstrong proud. If only Jim could have whipped the band into such a frenzy earlier on, then this could have been a true revival of Thad's music. Like so many tributes, this could only hint at the genius of the original.

25 January 2012

Book review: The Fat Years

Shanghai-born author, Chan Koonchung

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung
First published in Chinese in 2009 by OUP, Hong Kong as Shengshi: Zhongguo 2013
English translation by Michael S. Duke, 2011
318 pages, £6.50 on amazon.co.uk

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung has been billed by some as the Chinese Nineteen Eighty-Four. Although the novel has been banned in China, it is far less radical than George Orwell's masterpiece that was first published in 1949.
 
Koonchung's story is set in the China of 2013. Whilst the rest of the world languishes in economic depression, China has forged ahead to a 'Golden Age of Properity'. As Old Chen sips his Lychee Black Dragon Latte in the local Starbucks, it barely crosses his mind to question his own feeling of contentment or that of anybody else around him. On the surface, everybody is happy.

It takes several encounters with old friends before he seriously starts to suspect that something is wrong with reality. First, the spiritual traveller, Fang Caodi, insists that a whole month has been wiped from people's memories. Second, Chen's ex-girlfriend Little Xi is constantly shadowed by undercover agents because of her internet activism.

The story follow's Chen's somewhat rambling path to unveiling the truth. Along the way there are plenty of essayistic style dialogues with wizened Party official, He Dongsheng. Although these offer interesting perspectives on Chinese history and politics, they clog up the action.

In the end, the book is more philosophical treatise, than straight thriller. Is it better to live a lie and be happy or live in truth and be unhappy?