Taichung Jazz Festival 台中爵士音樂節 2019

15th October 2019 0 By livinguktaiwan

It’s October and it’s time for the annual Taichung Jazz Festival. This is the highlight of the local culture calender and something that I never miss. The festival started last Friday 11th, and will continue till next Sunday 20th. That’s ten full days packed with jazz performances from around the world.

踏入十月份，又是台中爵士音樂節的日子。我已經是第四年來這個音樂節，每年的氣氛都超棒！今年也不例外。下午時，我在家預備一點炒米粉，然後帶著幾包零食，大概6時左右到達現場。當時已經人山人海。大會說開幕當天有18萬人次，我猜今晚也可能有10萬人左右。我一直走到舞台前，幸好找到一個空位剛夠放下我的野餐墊。之後朋友到達，帶備生果和啤酒，野餐可以開始了。

今晚有兩場演出，第一個表演團隊來自德國。第二位來自美國，而且在1997年還得過格林美大獎最佳爵士樂器獨奏提名。來頭不小喔！大師級即是大師級，他的演出實在太精彩，帶動了整個場的氣氛，觀眾還站起來跟著音樂在拍手。實在太開心了！

音樂節還有7天的演出，我相信我一定還會多來幾次，在秋涼的晚上欣賞爵士樂。

COMING TO THE TAICHUNG JAZZ FESTIVAL AGAIN

This is my fourth year straight coming to the festival and as usual the atmosphere is brilliant. I arrived around 6pm and it was already full of people who had come out to enjoy the beautiful autumn evening. Most people plonk themselves down the first space they find at the back of the venue. My experience tells me that most people don’t go all the way up to the front because they think it’s packed with people. Well, let me tell you, they’re wrong. I walked all the way up towards the stage, and there it was. A space just big enough for my picnic mat. Now I had front row seats to the jazz festival. Look at all the people behind me and there’s a lot more that’s not in the camera. The organisers said there were 18 thousand attendance on the first day of opening. So my guesstimate there must be at least around 9 or 10 thousand people here.

I didn’t have time to buy any food or drink for my picnic today, so quickly rustled up some fried noodles in the afternoon. I found a few packet of snacks at the back of the cupboard which has been there for some time. This is the best ocassion to finish them off as all food taste good when the atmosphere is right. Luckily when my friends came, they bought more snacks and some beer.

TOP NOTCH PERFORMANCES

There were two one hour performances tonight. One quartet came from Germany and the other from the State. I know next to nothing about jazz so the festival is a great way for me to explore new genres. Not to mention the festival always has a fantastic vibe every year.

The second quartet, was led by a saxophonist called Antonio Hart who had a Grammy nomination in 1997 for “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo”. Boy! Was he good!!! A novice might make a rookie mistake about what’s good jazz or not, but when you have a musician who can lift the atmosphere and get everyone on their feet, you know he’s definitely good. I’ve added a little clip of his performance so you can take a look yourself.

Luckily, there’s still seven more days performance till the festival closes next Sunday. This is a great time of the year to spend an evening chillaxing outdoors under the autumn night, I’m pretty sure I will be going to a few more nights.