Music

Happy to announce that one of our favourite ladies will take over our stage for a beautiful music Friday filled with original compositions!

Canadian born and Beijing based artist Ember Swift started writing songs at the age of nine, stage performing year later and released 12 albums and 1 DVD project since 1996.

Since she fluently speaks Mandarin and once was a student of Chinese language and culture, her music also melds these two traditions. It features lyrics in Mandarin, English and French and the arrangements feature both Western and Eastern instrumentation.

Specifically known for her unique, jazz-influenced guitar playing and elastic vocals, additional styles include folk, jazz, swing, R&B, funk, pop, folk-rock, and blues.

Her band, assembled in Beijing, includes Anthony Vancore from US on the drums, the UK’s Jack Lecomber on bass, Israel’s Yoav Volansky on keys, and China’s Wang Ya Qi on the erhu. They are five people who come from four different parts of the world but who have chosen Beijing as their current homes proving, once again, that Beijing is truly a global magnet.

Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana USA, Joe first picked up the saxophone at age 9 and by age 12, had already taken a strong liking to Jazz. He became a regular at the local jam sessions and by age 15 was playing a few local shows a month with various big bands and combos. He was even awarded First Tenor Saxophone in the Indiana All State Jazz Band during high school. Joe decided to attend Butler University and The University of South Florida to continue his musical education and eventually graduated with a Bachelors of Music and Jazz, and a Master of Music in Jazz Performance respectively. During his undergraduate degree, Joe was named one of Indiana's outstanding college Jazz musician by the Indiana Jazz Foundation. He also taught Jazz Band and Combo at Avon High School, part time, for one year during his time at Butler. During his masters degree, he taught three undergraduate music classes each semester which ranged from Jazz Theory, Jazz Improvisation, Small Group Combos, Big Band. Joe also lived in Madrid, Spain where he studied composition at the Escuela de Música Creativa and became an active member of the Madrid music scene. During this time, Joe also worked regularly for Carnival Cruise Lines. First in the show bands, and later as Musical Director. Since 2013 Joe has lived in Guangzhou, China. He became a freelance musician and worked and performed in many settings all around China and Asia. He was even able to be a Jazz instructor at the XingHai Conservatory of Music. Currently, Joe is an endorsed artist for the Korean Saxophone company, Kim's Korea Saxophone. For Kim's Joe travels giving saxophone demonstration sessions, teaches master classes and gives performances. Joe is also a member of the group Dragon Jazz. He is based out of Guangzhou, China and there he teaches, plays local shows and enjoys the climate. Joe has been a featured and guest performer for many local and international Jazz Festivals, been a guest soloist on many albums, guest directed big bands and composes music for a band under his own name. Joe's solo project and Dragon Jazz regularly tours with JZ Club and other venues to many locations throughout China and Asia. He is an annual performer at a few European Jazz festivals and other music festivals in Asia. In addition to being a performer and a teacher, Joe has many side projects. He works as a consultant to instrument manufactures, composes music for various setting, and is currently working with Spanish designer Josepet Bass to create their own line of woodwind accessories including saxophone mouthpieces, ligatures, clarinet barrels and eventually saxophone necks. Limited number of prodcuts are already for sale, and currently prototyping many more. Stay tuned.

Dont miss first post CNY holiday Modernista pop up show THE SPICE JAM from amazing The Spice Cabinet.

They are the instrumental jazz machine that slices, dices every pop number into the frenzy of a pop modern dance beat of wonder. It's pop according to jazz, sprinkled with funk, hip-hop, bebop, and rock.

FREE from 10PM!

The Rebel 5 consists of Ani on vocals, Fan Zhai on guitar, Joel on bass, Roy Sun on keyboards, and Fareed "Dojo Shaolin" on drums. Formerly known as The Rotten 5, is a soul, r&b and funk music emsemble covering some of the greatest songs of all times. Definetely, The Rebel 5 are one of Beijing's finest groups to get you moving on the dance floor.

FREE from 10PM!

One of the favourite regular weekly events at Modernista certainly is JAZZ SUNDAY.

We have a new program featuring amazing musicians and different bands from China and abroad playing at relaxed setting paired with the fantastic food and drink deals every last day of the week from 8.30PM.

Free entry but please try to book your tables in advance.

Join us every Monday (starting from March 5th) for SALSA LESSONS plus crazy LATINO PARTY afterwards open for all!

7.30 PM (INTERMEDIATE CLASS)

8.30 PM (BEGINNER CLASS)

To practice your steps after the class we arranged a very hot afterparty with SAVOR LATINO live band from 10PM! The band is formed by singer Gilberto Romero, Fraivan "Concha" on drums, Jose Gregorio on keyboard, Rolando on bass and Christian J. Ruiz on percussion. Every Monday, you know you can't miss them, because this band isn't any band, and this Latin night isn't like other ones in town!

ENTRANCE: 50 RMB (INCLUDES 1 MOJITO or SANGRIA)

CLASS FEE: 30 RMB / CLASS (to register scan the QR code on the poster or contact us trough Modernista's WeChat, Facebook or Instagram accounts to became part of our big Salsa community)

AND DON'T FORGET OUR MOJITO HAPPY HOUR!

MOJITO / 50 RMB -- ALL NIGHT LONG!

(The entrance fee comes along with one glass already)

If you don't drink, don't worry, we also make them alcohol free and delicious!

Come over to discover Interracial Staple's mix of music and humour at Yichang's intimate venue. They will be preceded by a set by indie folk wordsmith Susu.

Interracial Staple

Interracial staple are an interracial staple of the Beijing “eleven string” scene. First formed in Australia in 1974, they’ve struggled to find any success, even where success was abundant, and handsomely paid for. Once they learned the delicate art of interracially stapling things together, Andrew and Mike were then able to tell the tallest of tales, dance a nifty jig, and mesmerise interracial audiences. Come and behold their comic babble, itty bitty ditties, and incorrigible brand of variety entertainment.

SuSu

Susu Yan, indie singer-songwriter based in Beijing. She got her first guitar at the age of 15, and started to sing and write songs. After graduating from high school, she went to America to pursue her college career—to study in the best journalism school in the U.S. And then lived both in London and Florence for 4 months as a transfer student. The roaming life is where her inspiration comes from. Her music style is a mix of Folk, Jazz and Brit-pop. And the songs are all about love, pain and hope. You can check out one of her concerts at DDC by following this link: https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzE3MzYzNDczNg==.html?spm=a2h0k.8191393.bodydiv.5!2~5!4~A&from=s7.8-1.2

Please note presale tickets can be bought on showstart, until 10am on the day of the concert. You can access showstart by scanning the QR code on the poster, or through their website.

Juwon Park, a Korean guitarist, composer, arranger and producer. At the age of 9, Juwon Park started to practice classical guitar with influence from his family. By growing up, Juwon Park was influenced by many different style of music such as Paco de Lucia, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, George Benson and Vicente Amigo etc. At 20, He entered Seoul Institute of the Arts to study music deeply and also met his musical colleagues to cooperate in the future.

In 2009, Juwon Park released his first solo album ‘Time of Gypsy’. With its title track ‘Time of Gypsy’ and other tunes, Juwon Park became known to the public as ‘gypsy guitarist’ and even acclaimed as ‘young maestro’ by critics and media for his amazing performance and techniques. There were certainly many guitar albums in Korea but no one ever tried to play anything like his music that requires special techniques as well as creativity.

While performing all over the country, Juwon Park and his band quickly became one of the most in-demand band for music festivals and concerts in Korea.

In 2011, the second album ‘Fiesta of Sorrow’ was released. His first and second albums were chosen as ‘Album of the Year’ in 2009 and 2011 respectively from NAVER (the biggest search portal in Korea) and selected as ‘Remarkable Rookie’ from Hankyoreh daily newspaper. In 2012, ‘The Best Jazz & Crossover’ from Korean Music Award was awarded to him. His sweeping-award ability didn’t stop. He was also selected as the ‘Best Guitarist’ and ‘Rookie of the Year’ from music magazine ‘all around music SOUND’ for 2 successive years.

In 2013, Juwon Park released his 3rd album ‘Captain’ and was invited to Singapore Music Matters, which is a world renowned music market, giving great impressions to the audiences and people concerned.

He also extended his field to being a composer, putting his name on K-Pop singer IU’s second album ‘Modern Times’ and participating in composing movie and drama OST; movie ‘Love Fiction’ and SBS drama ‘Incarnation of Money’.

In 2015, Juwon Park released a special album ‘Gypsy Cinema’, which is filled with classic movie soundtracks with his own special arrangement. As ‘Gypsy Cinema’ released, Juwon Park held a concert at LG Arts Center, one of the largest concert venue in South Korea.

In 2016, Juwon Park was invited to Frankfurt, Germany to perform at Brotfabrik. In 2017, Juwon Park did a collaboration with Brown Eyed Girls member ‘Jea’ for a cover version of Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’. In August 2017, Juwon Park was invited to perform at PizzaExpress Live in Soho, London, whose former guest performers range from Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse and Gregory Porter to Brad Mehldau. Currently he is writing and recording his next studio album.

Line-up

Guitar/Voice: Juwon Park

Bass: Daeseung Ko

Trumpet: Seungchul Yoo

Percussion: Kwang-Hyun Park

Kwang-Hyun Park - Perucssion

1989年出生于韩国，2005年开始演奏鼓和打击乐，2008年在ROK Navy Band工作，毕业于donga 媒体艺术协会，J.Leiva 打击乐品牌转让人，2012年参加Jarasum国际爵士乐音乐节。2016~2017年参加首尔国际爵士乐节，2015年参加了Ulsan国际爵士乐节，2017年受邀去PizzaExpress LIVE soho演奏。

Daeseung Ko - Bass

1993年出生于韩国首尔，贝斯演奏家。擅长爵士、嘻哈、放克、流行等等，毕业于howon大学音乐专业。录音及参加的现场演出有：block B, mayson the soul, after school, zico yoonhan, nu’est,JUWON PARK与jea合作《despacito》, JUWON PARK 和jeon je duk伦敦与柏林的演出，jang hyo seok X masato honda在t-square的演出。参加的音乐节有：jarasum melody forest jea和juwon park的演出，daejeon国际吉他节，grand mint音乐节,daegu爵士音乐节。

Yoo Seungchul - Trumpet

1983年出生于首尔，2002年在Gimpo 大学学习吉他专业，2008年在首尔艺术家协会攻读小号专业。2015年至今在Dankook大学攻读硕士学位。Park Juwon的吉普赛吉他乐队成员，Jazz Park大乐队成员，拉丁爵士乐队La Isla Bonita成员。参加的演出有：2010年与爵士乐歌手共同参加Israel音乐会，2013年新加坡 Korea Music Matters，2014年哈萨克斯坦的韩国爵士夜，2017年德国柏林音乐会，2017年英国伦敦音乐会。

TOUR SCHEDULE

4月13日 周五 19:30 北京 璃墟剧场

4月14日 周六 15:00 北京 DDC 黄昏黎明俱乐部

4月15日 周日 19:00 北京 山谷空间

4月17日 周二 21:30 合肥 ON THE WAY乐馆

4月18日 周三 20:30 南京 欧拉艺术空间

4月20日 周五 20:30 苏州 山丘LIVEHOUSE

Alex Cummings is a multi instrumentalist specializing in saxophone from Camden, New Jersey. Since the age of 10 Alex has used his musical efforts to uplift and unite the community around him beginning with the mentorship of community heroes Jamal and Nasir Dickerson. While attending Oberlin Conservatory, Cummings studied with Gary Bartz, Billy Hart, Paul Samuels along with many other excellent educators and performing artists. After finishing graduate school at Aaron Copeland School of Music under the mentorship of Antonio Hart and Michael Mossman, Cummings is now based in New York City and performs internationally collaborating with legends of the performing arts world including Stevie Wonder, Robin Eubanks, and Billy Hart, as well as the bands he is closely involved with including Twilyte Axis, earthTone, Robin Eubanks Big Band, Street Beat Brass Band, Directions, Spice Cabinet and Beijing Blue Note Jazz Orchestra.

This Sunday he'll be joining forces with 4 other talented musicians, namely Sejin Bae on piano, Terry Hsieh on trombone, Charlie Wang on bass and Xiao Dou on drums!

FREE from 8.30PM!

Parakeet is a group of musicians from all over the world that met in Beijing and started playing together. Their style is a mix of jazz, blues and pop music. They are inspired by mostly classical jazz music with most of them having played jazz for many years .