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Scat concert gives new take on Broadway tunes
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BAROQUE music and Broadway songs will be presented in one concert at Shanghai Centre Theater in early May. Scat jazz will be used to present the very different styles.
The concert will be presented by Sun Lisha together with her band — a saxophonist, bassist, keyboardist, percussionist and trumpeter — on May 9.
The show is part of the Shanghai Spring Music Festival.
The audience will hear classic pieces from the Baroque age like “Ave Maria,” “Goldberg” and “The Bumble-Bee,” as well as the best-known Broadway songs like “Summertime,” “It’s Too Dawn Hot” and “My Funny Valentine.”
Elements like swing, Latin and world music will be combined with the classical pieces to give the songs an improvisational freshness. Multimedia and special sound effects will help bring life to story details from the Broadway musicals.
All of the pieces will be presented with scat jazz. Though there will be no lyrics for the Baroque pieces, Sun believes scat can fluently convey messages and emotions.
The highlight will definitely be found in the cadenza of the classical pieces, as they will be filled with improvisation between vocals and musical instruments.
“The cadenza part was traditionally unsettled in the Baroque age which allowed musicians to recreate or sometimes compete with each other off the cuff,” Sun says. “We want to retrieve the tradition of improvised cadenza on stage, which has long been lost.”
Sun admits it is hard to recreate and present some of the Baroque pieces through scat, especially “The Bumble-Bee” known for its quick pace. She plans to picture a fight between bees while scatting.
“It is a quite risky recreation for us, but it is definitely worth it. It will be so fun for both spectators and musicians,” she says.
Studying music since the age of 6, Sun has a master’s degree in jazz studies and classical piano. She loves both the beauty of classics and the freedom of jazz.
“There is no contradiction between the two in my view, as there are no barriers at all in the world of music,” says Sun.
Date: May 9, 7:30pm
Venue: Shanghai Centre Theater, 1376 Nanjing Rd W.
Tickets: 80-480 yuan
Tel: 5459-2199, 189-1701-6893, 137-0193-2377
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