Talking Tunes: Grammy-Nominated Jazz Royalty, Elephants and the Monster Mash

A relatively slow week on the Beijing music news front, but it was probably due after the torrent of announcements we've had in recent weeks. The biggest snippet was regarding the highly-anticipated Cannibal Corpse show being relocated very late on last Saturday. For reasons as yet unknown, the Yugong Yishan performance was pulled and had to be hastily moved to The One Club near Gaobeidian.

In the end the show went off very well in the alternative venue, and good times were had by all that were able to quickly rearrange their plans. But a late cancellation is a worrying occurrence as we head into a politically sensitive period when we're set for a bundle of big names coming to town in November.

To the here and now; we received some late notice of a performance from Swiss jazz maestro Yannick Barman on Saturday (October 27). He'll be putting on a show at the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). His performance melds acoustic and electric perfectly as he live samples the sounds of his trusty trumpet to fine effect.

Another show we caught wind of late on is a performance by the city's leading punk-funk-rap-rock outift, Elephant Fresh. You might remember them from our New Music Showcase where they gave a fine show in the summer. They'll be sharing the stage with Black VA from 10pm at VA Bar on Saturday.

One date we can provide you with slightly more notice of is Yugong Yishan's Metal Day 2012 which is scheduled for November 9. There'll be performances from Hyonblud and Ritual Day amongst still-to-be-confirmed others, but it's sure to be a head banging night of performances.

Tomorrow night sees Grammy-nominated Cuban jazz troupe Ochun play Yugong Yishan as part of the Jz Festival, and the weekend brings a few fiendishly-themed Halloween shows at Cafe CD Blues, 2 Kolegas and Temple. Plenty to keep you rocking.

And with this most haunting of holidays in mind, I'll leave you this week with the classic Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett and The Cryptkickers.

Don't forget to check out of events section for details of more music shows coming up.

Happy Halloween!

Photo: Deadfix.com