?? 台中爵士音樂節 Taichung Jazz Festival ??

The Taichung Jazz Festival is one of the major festivals in Taichung each year, and is a must go for many locals, especially the expat community living here. This year it started last Saturday and will continue for 9 days till next Sunday.
台中爵士音樂節是台中市每年的主打音樂項目。很多本地居民，尤其是外國人士都一定會到場享受音樂。今年的爵士音樂節在上個星期六開始。

I went with my friends to the opening concert on Saturday evening. One of my friend is a jazz lover and he went over to the venue in the afternoon to lay his mat down in order to get a good location. Thanks to him we ended up pretty much in front of the stage. The atmosphere at the festival was really great, and a lot of people took a picnic along. My friends and I met up after dinner, so we just took some snacks and a bottle of wine along with us.
開幕當天，我與一班朋友去欣賞。其中一位朋友是爵士音樂愛好者，所以他一早就到現場放下墊子拿個好位子。多得他的熱心，我們幾乎坐在舞台的最前面。音樂節的現場氣氛很熱鬧，有很多人也帶同食物一起去野餐。我們大部份人在晚飯後才集合，所以只帶了紅酒及一點點零吃去。

We saw two bands perform that evening. The first was Mission Formosa which consisted of members from Italy, plus a pianist, a saxophonist and a drummer all from Taiwan.
當晚我們欣賞了兩隊樂隊的演出。第一場是Mission Formosa ，是一隊意大利和台灣的樂隊，鼓手、鋼琴手及其中一位薩克管手是台灣籍的。

The mixed culture of the band members adds a Taiwanese jazz element into the international contemporary jazz scene making their performance quite unique. During their closing tune, they mixed the beginning and end with a famous classical Taiwanese song. I thought that was a very nice nod to the festival.
因為樂隊的團員是跨文化，所以他們表演的現代爵士音樂也加插了一些台灣爵士元素。他們表演的最後這一首樂曲，在樂曲的前端及後端混合了這一首著名的台灣歌曲~橄欖樹。我覺得這是他們對台中爵士音樂節的一個很貼心的表演。

The last performance of the opening night was by a quartet which consisted of a well known drummer called Billy Drummond from the States, a guitarist from Hong Kong, a saxophonist from Japan and a Japanese double bassist from US. I don’t normally listen to jazz, but according to the Modern Drummer magazine, Drummond is “one of the most crisp, popping and sensitive drummers around”. I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to listen to such an excellent performer.
當晚開幕表演最後一隊是一個四重奏。鼓手是來自美國的Billy Drummond ， 結他手來自香港，吹薩克管的來自日本，而低音大提琴手是一位來自美國的日本人。我對爵士音樂不熟，但原來 Billy Drummond 是一位國際著名爵士鼓手，他的表演風格被Modern Drummer雜誌形容為”俐落，驚喜，同時不失細膩”。真幸運能夠欣賞國際大師級的表演。

The festival finishes at 10pm each night as there are residential building around the venue. Although it was still around 28/29 degrees at that time, it was still quite nice, so my friends and I hanged around till 11pm, chatting and enjoying the summer evening breeze.
音樂節場地在住宅區附近，所以每一晚都會在十時前完畢。雖然當晚天氣有差不多28/29度，但還有點涼風，所以表演完畢後我們繼續坐在草地上聊天，直到十一點才離開。

On Sunday evening I went again, this time with another group of friends (in fact another friend just invited me to go with her on Thursday, so I will be going for the third time). This time we were sitting quite far away from the stage, as we arrived a bit late.
星期日晚，我跟另外一班朋友又去參加爵士音樂節。(其實剛才又有另外一位朋友約我星期四一起去，所以我至少將會去三次!) 這次我們比較遲到達，所以坐的地點離開舞台較遠。

We bought a picnic with us this evening. I baked a kiwi sponge and my friends brought a pizza.
我們帶同食物去野餐，我烤了這一個奇異果蛋糕，朋友買了一個意大利薄餅。

There was also fried chicken, and fruit and wine.
另外也有炸雞腿，生果及紅酒。

When we were tucking into our food it suddenly it started to rain. We continued to sit in the rain for a few minutes hoping it was just be a drizzle passing by, but the raindrops started to get bigger. Eventually we had to pack all our stuff and retreat further away from the stage to wait underneath some trees. We ended up camping underneath the trees, but that was fine as it was quite spacious at the back.
野餐中途，突然開始下雨。我們繼續坐在哪裏，希望這只是一場小驟雨。但是雨越下越大，結果我們要趕快收拾東西，走到離開舞臺較遠的樹底下躲避。結果我們就在樹底下繼續欣賞爵士音樂節。雖然離開舞台較遠，但也沒所謂，因為在這裡地方比較寬闊，沒那麼逼。

I even had enough space to lie down and admire the not so clear sky whilst listening to the jazz.
我甚至有空間可以躺下來，一邊聽爵士音樂，一邊欣賞那雨後不太清朗的天空。

As I mentioned the festival last for 9 days, and each evening there are two or three performances on the main stage. The bands hail from different countries around the world such as Netherlands, Italy, USA, Spain, Belgium, Israel, Finland, Japan, Lativia, Korea, Canada and of course Taiwan.
台中爵士音樂節一連舉辦九天，每一天晚上在主舞臺上都會有二至三場表演。表演樂隊來自世界各地例如荷蘭，意大利，美國，西班牙，比利時，以色列，芬蘭，日本，拉脫維亞，韓國，加拿大，當然還有台灣。

And the best thing about this ~ this is a free concert. So if you can make it week (if you can get here quick enough) or next year, I guarantee you will have a great time in Taichung. Hope you see you here sometime.
台中爵士音樂節不單止是一個有高質素表演，而且還是免費噢！如果你這個週末趕得上來，又或者出年有打算來的話，你一定不會失望。