Compass
Magazine, October 2003
| The
Taichung Jazz Festival:
Great music comes to Taichung from around the
world
By Douglas
Habecker |
If you've
had this craving for live jazz music, or simply want
to get better acquainted with this quintessentially-American
musical form, October is the month to take some time
off and head down to central Taiwan. For 22 days,
Taichung will become the undisputed jazz capital of
Taiwan, thanks to the unprecedented Taichung Jazz
Festival, the largest jazz event ever held on the
island. This city government-sponsored festival will
see an explosion of jazz concerts, workshops and other
events, held by some of the best international and
local musicians at a wide range of venues around town.
The
Jazz Festival concludes what has been an extraordinary
season of cultural activity for Taichung city, all
organized by the city government and Taichung Cultural
Affairs Bureau in an effort to boost cultural and
artistic interest and activities, give Taichung its
own appealing identity, and help the city regain its
faded reputation as Taiwan's "culture city."
Towards these ends, this is being promoted heavily
as a national event, with tens of thousands of residents
from Taipei and elsewhere expected to descend on Taichung
throughout the festival. Various measures are being
taken to assist non-Taichung residents, including
special "Blues Trains" that will ferry Taipei
and Kaohsiung visitors to Taichung for the seven-hour
opening concert on October 4. The Taipei train departs
at 10:30 am from Gate 3 West, Taipei Train Station;
the Kaohsiung train will leave from that city's train
station at 10 am.
Performers
will include the likes of Jon Faddis, the Bill Mays
Piano Trio, Lou Rainone Jazz Band, the Helio Alves
Jazz Band, the Metamorphosis Jazz Band, Dizzy Jazz
Big Band, J.E.G. Jazz Band, the New Decision, Universal
Project Ensemble (UPE), Delta On Main Street (DOMS),
Duduka da Fonseca, and Jivestakes. In keeping with
a great tradition of jazz events around the world,
performances will take place in a wonderful variety
of places, including public parks, shopping malls
and streets, bookstores, pubs, restaurants and--believe
it or not--Taichung's popular and crowded Feng Chia
night market.
These
events will be bookended by the festival's two largest
events--seven-hour outdoor concerts at Feng Le Sculpture
Park on Saturday, October 4, and at Taichung Chungshan
Park (also celebrating its 100th anniversary) on Saturday,
October 25. October 4 will see a parade from 3 to
4 pm in front of the Taichung Culture Center (Yingtsai
and Wuchuan West roads), followed by the 3:30 to 9:30
pm opening and main concert, featuring Jon Faddis,
Bill Mays Piano Trio, UPE, Jivestake and other performers.
There will also be contests and food booths run by
local international restaurants like Finga's, Fatty's,
and Zackery's Café, in addition to cold beer
and beverage sales. The October 25 closing concert,
from 3:30 to 9:30 pm, will have the Helio Alves Jazz
Band's bossa nova music, the Dizzy Jazz Big Band,
the Taichung Grandpa Jazz Band, contests, food, drinks
and other attractions.
In
addition, there will be related contests, jazz book
and music sales at Eslite bookstores, and special
jazz radio programming on event co-organizer FM 97.7
Classical Radio. For more on who, what, where and
other details about The Jazz Festival, an extended
version of this article which includes a full schedule
of events and brief introductions to performing artists
can be found at www.taiwanfun.com, on the Taichung
COMPASS magazine pages. The official Chinese/English
festival website can be found at www.tccgc.gov.tw/report/2003-jazz/
