Fri, Aug 10, 2001 page7

• Jazzing up Taiwan's music

  Playing jazz is not a lucrative pursuit, but Metamorphosis isn't in it for the money

  • By Vico Lee / STAFF REPORTER
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  Without fanfare, the first-ever original jazz album by a Taiwanese group was released last month.

  Though out of the media spotlight, this milestone record Metamorphosis Live (變形蟲爵士樂團現場實況錄音) marks the latest effort by Taiwanese jazz artists to have their voices heard and to prove Taiwan is not a desert for this musical style.

  Metamorphosis is a familiar name among Taiwan's jazz fans, having built a reputation with its regular shows at local jazz bars.

  

  Metamorphosis performs in Ta-an Forest Park. The group enjoys performing live, as it offers a chance for interaction with the audience and improvisation.

  PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHU CHIEN-I

  Seven of the eight members of Metamorphosis have known each other since they were in the Dizzy Jazz Band in 1993. The Dizzy Jazz Band, founded in 1981, was the first jazz band in Taiwan to perform at the National Concert Hall, a venue reserved mostly for classical music. The band's fame came mainly from a series of joint concerts with acclaimed Taiwanese pop singers, such as Tiger Huang (黃小琥), Tsai Chin (蔡琴) and Su Jui (蘇芮).

  Though enjoying Dizzy's fame, the seven musicians' enthusiasm for solo performances, improvisation and a small-band format made them discontented with Dizzy's big-band format and swing style, which emphasizes meticulous composition and fixed scores that restrained their creative energy.

  In 1997, Chiu Chien-erh (邱建二), Chang Kun-ter (張坤德), Peng Yu-wen (彭郁雯) and three other friends decided to set up their own group to realize their musical ideas. After recruiting two more players, the Dizzy Combo came into being.

  The group made its first appearance the same year at the Witch House. Being the only jazz band there with an audience accustomed to rock or folk music, they did not make a big splash. The turning point for the band came the next year, when they moved to Blue Note, Taipei's oldest jazz bar, to perform on Monday open jam sessions under their new name Metamorphosis.

  Making it local

  For the members of Metamorphosis, playing jazz music is more a kind of religious discipline than a job. They all agree that the pay from performing is far from enough to make ends meet. Hanging on requires uncommon devotion. "You have to eliminate all your material desires to become tough," Chang, the group's soprano sax, said in a recent interview.

  In a market where less than 5 percent of the population buys jazz music, the album is not a big moneymaker.

  What is the group so devoted to? The answer is to create a distinctly Taiwanese form of jazz.

  "Localizing jazz is a worldwide trend. It started when Dizzy Gillespie combined Afro-Cuban music and bebop in the 1940s," Chang said.

  The only example of jazz combined with Asian music is when John Coltrane turned to Hinduism for inspiration and created A Love Supreme. There seems to be no instance of Asians creating jazz combined with Eastern music.

  The group is set to change that.

  "There are two ways to create Taiwanese jazz," Peng, the group's composer and pianist, said. "One is remaking Taiwanese songs." That was the route taken several years ago by the late trumpeter Weng Ching-hsi (翁清溪) with his remakes of traditional Taiwanese folk songs into a Gllen Miller-influenced swing style.

  The second way to create Taiwanese jazz is to just write original music. "We are Taiwanese. Certainly, what we write is also unconsciously Taiwanese," Peng said. Except for an adaptation from Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances, all the tracks on the album are original works by the group.

  Recorded live last year at the Youth Art Center (幼獅藝文中心) and Ta-an Forest Park (大安森林公園), the album "cannot achieve audio perfection like studio recordings, yet they show better the improvisational skills and cooperation that we are good at," Chiu said.

  True to its name, Metamorphosis' selection of pieces in this live recording shows versatility through a variety of styles. The moody and energetic hard bop piece Dr. Cynical opens the album.

  Inspired by a walk on Taipei's tree-lined main street, Chui's composition Chungshan N. Rd is a jazz-samba piece with tunes easy to hum to. It evokes the picture of a lazy afternoon on a walk under the street's trees in the breeze with sunlight coming through the leaves.

  Other pieces include a crossover blend of rock and Latin music with acoustic jazz.

  This kind of music is not quite what Jingo Records (金革唱片), the band's marketer and distributor, expected at first. The company, which imports foreign records, planned to launch a product line of new age music by local musicians. Metamorphosis' Peng was then invited to make a new age solo piano album.

  The company changed its mind after Peng played a tape of the group's live recordings. "We know it's a risky deal, as jazz has never made it on the record market. But the high quality of their performance made us willing to give it a try," said Liao Chun-ren (廖雋人), marketing planner at Jingo Records.

  In it for the love

  What makes the band special is not the fact that it made an album but the solidarity among the group members. Members in its rhythm section have broad backgrounds in rock 'n' roll. The trumpeter and leader Chiu received classical music education since childhood. "At one point, these people from different backgrounds began to like jazz and formed the same ideas about music. Then we become a jazz band. We perform jazz simply because we love it," said Chiu.

  However, the love of jazz is not enough for any performer in Taiwan to become a real jazz musician.

  Many of Taiwan's jazz musicians learned the style playing at local bars for American troops stationed in the country. But when the troops packed up in 1978, jazz was left in limbo.

  In recent years, thanks to radio stations like Philharmonic Radio Taipei (台北愛樂電台) and the promotion of music reviewers such as Su Chung (蘇重) and Li Shi-chao (黎時潮), the jazz audience has been slowly growing.

  These efforts, however, can only have a limited impact on the local jazz scene. Because jazz is mainly about creative improvisation, a stage for groups to freely jam with other groups is vital to the development of jazz.

  Many in the jazz scene feel the venues open to jazz performers are not spots for exploring the musical form, but rather are entertainment spots where familiar songs are expected.

  "What Taiwanese customers want is not to appreciate music but a trendy spot to socialize and have fun. Someone on stage singing popular songs they already know makes them feel entertained," said Tsai Hui-yang (蔡輝陽), owner of Blue Note and former host of Jazz Marathon at Philharmonic Radio Taipei. To entertain this audience, pub owners prevent players from playing anything too obscure. In this way, it becomes impossible for players to show their improvisation or creative talent.

  Jeromy, a pianist at Blue Note agreed. "I'd get fired playing like this if I was still at Brown Sugar," he said after improvising Ruby My Dear in a fluent, refreshing way in his solo session.

  Many jazz bar housebands are usually hurriedly put together by the pub owner to back up singers, while Metamorphosis' members see each other as comrades of a common cause.

  "They are the most conscientious group I've ever seen. They play skillfully enough to make big money performing at fancy hotels or restaurants. But they chose to eke out a living at small pubs that allow them creative freedom and attract attentive audiences. They really love music. That is their driving force," Tsai said.

  Will Metamorphosis Live be the one and only Taiwanese jazz record or does it herald a lively local jazz scene? "The album is certainly a strong encouragement to other creative jazz bands to put forward their works." But with a music style that lacks an audience in Taiwan, "that requires courage. A lot of courage," Tsai said.

  Metamorphosis will launch its album at the Witch House tomorrow with a gig starting at 10pm. The Witch House is located at 7, Alley 56, Hsinsheng S. Rd. 3 Sec., Taipei (台北市新生南路3段56巷7號).
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