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Alexia Gardner's Grappa's gig is not only the launch of her
latest CD, it's the singer's swansong for Asia, writes Robin
Lynam
ALEXIA GARDNER IS keen to stress that her gig in Hong Kong
this Saturday is an au revoir rather than a farewell
performance. But she's headed for pastures new. 'I've spent
five years in Shanghai and 10 years in the Asia region,' she
says by phone from Dubai, where she's nearing the end of an
engagement at the Shangri-La Hotel.
'Now, my husband - whom I met in Beijing in 2000 - and I
are both moving back to Switzerland, because of his job. It's
not really a farewell to Asia. I'm sure our paths will cross
again.'
A decade is a big chunk of anybody's career, and Hong Kong
has loomed large in Gardner's life since she arrived here in
1996 for a six-month residency at the China City nightclub.
Local jazz musicians were quick to pick up on and applaud
her interpretative skills and versatile, velvety voice. At the
end of her contract, she moved to Tiffany's New York Bar at
the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hotel, before crossing the
harbour for extended gigs at the Conrad and Island Shangri-La.
The Shangri-La connection led to work in Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore, before she accepted a residency at the
Four Seasons Hotel in Shanghai, which became her adopted home
town. However, she continued to visit Hong Kong for gigs, and
her debut album, The Rest of Your Life (released in 2002), was
recorded here with local musicians.
Saturday's show doubles as a launch for its follow-up,
Jammin', also recorded live, but this time in Shanghai with
what at the time was her regular trio. 'You try to select the
best musicians that you can,' she says. 'I selected a
wonderful piano player from LA, based in New York, Dwight
Dickerson, Nicholas McBride, an Australian, on drums, and
Davide Bertolone on bass, who has been based in Shanghai for a
few years now, like me.'
Gardner had been accustomed to working mostly with acoustic
bass players, but says Bertolone's electric work was a
revelation. 'We started on a three-month contract that got
extended to six months and had a wonderful time.
'I thought I'd like to document the past six months with an
album, which is when Skip Moy came into the picture. I flew
him in from Hong Kong because he was responsible for the live
recording of the first CD, and he did a great job.' The album
includes a song by fellow-Jamaican Bob Marley - the title
track, given a jazzier spin than the reggae original - Kris
Kristofferson's Help Me Make it through the Night, and Paul
McCartney's Fool on the Hill, as well as standards such as
Irving Berlin's Cheek to Cheek, Neal Hefti's Girl Talk, and a
Dickerson original, Even as We Speak.
Bertolone's distinctive bass work features on a soulful
version of a 1990s Eric Clapton hit, Change the World,
performed as a bass and vocal duet. Traditional Chinese song
The Moon Shines on My Heart, sung by Gardner in Putonghua,
opens and closes the set.
'When you work in a hotel there are different clients with
different tastes for whom you have to play,' she says. 'I'm
made up of different kinds of music myself. I'm of Jamaican
origin and love reggae as well as jazz standards, classical
music and show tunes. When I do long-term gigs we include
different genres. For this CD, I wanted to show a selection of
tunes that we did during that residency.
'I think I'll be playing a few of the songs from this
album, and a selection of others that I enjoy singing. I've
also started writing. I'm practising an original tune that I'd
like to perform. It's called Chasing Hope, and it's the
beginning of new things.
'I'd like the third album to have several original tunes.
For Grappa's, Skip is organising the musicians. I'm playing
with Jason Cheng on piano, and I'm hoping Sylvain Gagnon will
be available to play bass. I'm not sure yet who will be
playing drums.'
Gardner says she's looking forward to a change of scenery
and to performing again for European audiences. Basel is
within easy reach of London, Paris and several other cities
with appreciative fans of jazz and cabaret. But she says
she'll miss Hong Kong, and Shanghai, where she has been one of
the key figures in a fast-developing music scene.
'When you're leaving you really appreciate what you have,'
she says. 'When I first arrived, there was no JZ, which is a
very important jazz club. It's owned by musicians and it's for
musicians, right in the heart of Shanghai. It's the venue
where all the musicians who are engaged in hotel or club
contracts go after work, have fried chicken wings and potato
wedges, and jam until three or four in the morning. The more I
travel, the more I realise that there aren't many cities that
provide that sort of climate for music.'
Gardner is confident that she'll be back soon. Although her
husband will be based in Switzerland, his work will involve
travel to China, and she's assured of a warm welcome in jazz
bars and clubs in any of the cities where she has worked.
Alexia Gardner, Sat, 9pm, Grappa's Cellar, B/F Jardine
House, 1 Connaught Rd, Central, HK$238 (includes one drink).
Inquiries: 2521 2322
