Why No Black Tie?
NBT was the place where I began venturing into Jazz music with talented and excellent musicians like Tay Cher Siang, Salvador Guerzo, Vincent Ong and Rizal Soliano. The place provided us musicians to perform in an intimate environment with spontaneous interactions between ourselves and the audience.
NBT has been around for 13 years. What are your comments/views?
It’s not easy to own or maintain a jazz club like NBT in KL. The place has been offering good music and a great platform for local and foreign musicians for the past 13 years. There must be a passionate heart behind all this and I give my salute to Evelyn Hii; not only is she a music lover, she’s also a pianist herself. The jazz clubs wooden outfit, acoustic sound, cozy home-like stage and attractive music contents is what drives the place as the music and leisure choice for the urban inhabitants.
How has Tay Cher Siang changed your direction in music?
Cher Siang is one of the best jazz pianists in town whom I previously worked before in an album production. Not only is he excellent in music arrangement, he is also a great coordinator and conductor. Compared to the fusion music which I’ve tried with other musicians in Shi Dai Qu (Chinese oldies), playing jazz live is something new to me. It offers me a chance to explore my singing styling, renditions and interaction with the music which can be found in Shanghai Jazz.
Have you considered any other different styles?
As a songwriter, composer and singer, I’m always excited to try out something new. Pop and folk was my starting point in the Chinese music industry. I am currently working on a project presenting Nanyang tunes and recently I began to combine Electronic sounds and Gu Qin (ancient flute) into my music which results in a rather spiritual sort of tune.