 THE Penang Island Jazz Festival 2010, now in its seventh year, will feature nearly 200 musicians. To be held from Dec 2 to 5, its organisers say it will have a main stage, four fringe stages and a big band programme. As in past years, the “Jazz by the Beach” stage (main stage) programmes a variety of groups with different styles and this year is no different with varied musical styles being performed -- from a 35-piece philharmonic to world renowned solo guitar players to standard jazz trio, quartets, etc.
The performers for “Jazz by the Beach” are a mixture of local Malaysian and international acts. They are ther Penang Philharmonic featuring Ray Rozells and James Boyle, Celso Machado (Brazil), SC Yun Trio (South Korea), Electric Barbarian (Netherlands, USA and Brazil), Stouxingers (Germany), Carefree (Malaysia), Roger Wang Trio (Malaysia), Boi Akih (Netherlands), Rain Sultanov Quartet (Azerbaijan), PELbO (Norway), Tommy Emmanuel (Australia) and ZHAN (Malaysia, Japan and Australia).
The afternoon fringe stage sessions have increased from three last year to four stages this year – the “ORIS Stage” at Bayview Beach Resort, the “Rock Stage” at Hard Rock Hotel Penang, “G Stage” at G Hotel and “Javana Stage” at ParkRoyal Hotel. Performances are held from 3pm to 5pm simultaneously at all four stages on Friday, Dec 3 and Saturday, Dec 4. On Sunday, Dec 5, there will only be performances at the “ORIS Stage” at Bayview Beach Resort.
The performers for this year’s “Fringe Stage Programmes” are Rozz & Frequency, Raggy Project, Sound of Light, Florence Koh Quartet, PRIORity, Sax Organ Project, Ocean of Fire & Dasha, JazzHats, Aseana Percussion Unit, sTrAiT sAx aHeAd featuring Russell Curtis, Reza Salleh, Clair V Rozells & Allan G Murrilon, Jonathan Tse Trio and Winner of “Get Inspired” Competition.
Other supporting activities for this year include the ongoing “An Evening-With series” at G Spot at G Hotel and this year the featured acts for the series are Aca Pella group Stouxingers from Germany on Thursday, Dec 2 and Malaysia’s own Carefree on Friday, Dec 3. The “Jazz with a Heart” Charity Dinner will this year be jointly hosted by Bayview Beach Resort and Bayview Hotel, George Town and the “After Hours Jazz Jam” sessions will as usual be held at Celsius Pub at the lower lobby of Bayview Beach Resort.
There will be five “Workshops” this year – “Brazilian Guitar and Rhythms” by Celso Machado, “Musical Unity in Diversity” by Boi Akih, “Voices in Harmony” by Stouxingers, “Boogie Woogie Piano” by Razif “Jeep” Mohd and “Finger Picking Guitar” by Tommy Emmanuel. The annual “Community Drum Circle” will once again be held at the Bayview Beach Resort Gardens.
Exhibitions being held in conjunction with the festival this year are “Penang Music of the 1940s & 1950s” at the Penang State Museum from Nov 25 2010 to Jan 15, 2011, The Jazz Gallery at the Bayview Beach Resort will house the exhibition of the past editions of the Montreux Jazz Festival posters courtesy of Montreux Jazz Festival and supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Malaysia, the Photography exhibition of renowned jazz photographer William Ellis, Festival’s collection of photographs, posters, paintings and percussion instruments, the ORIS Jazz Legends Poster Collection, Musical Instruments and other exhibitors.
For the first time, the festival will be introducing a “Big Band Programme” featuring two big bands performing for 30 minutes each per day in the afternoon on Saturday, Dec 4 and Sunday, Dec 5 at the Grand Ballroom of the Bayview Beach Resort. The featured bands for this year are PFS Jazz Jam Crew, Northern Jazz Ensemble, Jeep Jazz Band and UPSI Big Band from Sultan Idris University of Education Malaysia.
In conjunction with the festival, ORIS is organising a contest open to all ORIS members in which three pairs of winners will be given accommodation for two nights (Dec 4 to 6) as well as tickets to the festival. Non members can sign up at www.oris.ch to be eligible to enter the contest. To enter the contest, contestants need to log in and head over to the quiz section under MyContent and answer three simple questions and complete a slogan. Contest closes on the Nov 14, 2010.
Tickets for the “Jazz by the Beach” main stage programme on Saturday, Dec 4 and Sunday, Dec 5 are RM60 per day. Ticketing information is available at www.ticketpro.com.my.
The Penang Island Jazz Festival 2010 is organised and managed by The Capricorn Connection, with Partners, Bayview Beach Resort, Mercedes-Benz Sdn Bhd, ORIS, Red FM and supported by Embassy of Brazil, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Ministry of Culture & Tourism and Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Embassy of Switzerland, Norwegian’s Musicians’ Union, West Norway Jazz Center, Norway’s Fund for Performing Artists, Goethe-Institut Malaysia, Penang Global Tourism, Penang State Museum, IJM Land Berhad, AmBank Group, KK Jazz Festival, G Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel Penang, ParkRoyal Hotel, Starbucks Coffee, Heineken, JS Music, Roland Asia Pacific, The Guitar Store, Homegrown Productions, LBS Music World, Penang Philharmonic, Danai Spa, Tree Monkey @ Tropical Spice Garden, Little Penang Street Market, Penang Jazz Community and GR8 Music.
For more information on the Festival, please visit the Festival website at www.penangjazz.com or contact:
The Penang Island Jazz Festival The Capricorn Connection 25-1 Lorong Setiabistari 2 Bukit Damansara 50490 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Tel: (603) 2093 4725 Fax: (603) 2093 4726 Mr Paul Augustin, Festival Director (012 296 7800,
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) Ms Chin CY, Festival Administrator (012 356 5544,
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