Jamming with jazz stars

Young and beautiful

Lo highly recommends the "incredible young talent", Joey Alexander from Indonesia. A jazz pianist and composer, Alexander, 21, is known for his eclectic tastes, drawing inspiration from the works of the Italian composer Ennio Morricone, American singer-songwriter John Mayer, American composer and pianist Burt Bacharach, and American blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter Bonnie Raitt.

Alexander is certainly not the only artist on the festival lineup to experiment with his music.

Lui likes mixing classical Western, traditional Chinese music, and jazz. Rmi Panossian from France is into a lyrical variety of jazz, imbued with rock energy and a cheerful groove. Ariel Bart from Israel is a rising chromatic harmonica player and composer who mixes contemporary European jazz with musical elements from the Middle East.

"For me, jazz is a constantly evolving genre with one fundamental element: improvisation," says Kung, explaining his reasons behind choosing a number of musicians who incorporate elements from outside the scope of classical jazz. "I am comfortable engaging ethnic or experimental musicians as long as they employ improvisations in their music-making."

Freespace Jazz Fest is offering daily free shows featuring 40 bands. "All of these bands display a personal approach to what they consider jazz," says Kung, adding that Richiman and Groove Nice, an American-style blues band from South Korea; Pakshee, a fusion and world music band from India; and Reikan Kobayashi, a Japanese shakuhachi jazz flute player, might be the ones to watch out for.