| Farewell
to Charm
Thursday
September 7 2006
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 |
