Two beautiful voice masters are immersed in the summer jazz style, shaking small fans and wearing floral shirts. Singers | Audiences | Fans

On the afternoon of August 6th, male mid bass singer Shen Yang, wearing a Hawaiian floral shirt, stepped onto the stage by the Suzhou River on the Bund, where there was more than just space. The huge chest resonates and sings the song "New York, New York" to the heart, instantly rendering the exquisite space of this old church with the atmosphere of summer Christmas.

That night, Shen Yang teamed up with the famous soprano singer Zhu Huiling and collaborated with the Shanghai Zhu Mang Jazz Band to present a music performance called "Graceful Summer" to the audience. During the afternoon rehearsal, Shen Yang's floral shirt and Zhu Huiling's small fan swaying leisurely while singing reflected their relaxed mood of enjoying music.

In private, Shen Yang is a well-known comedian in the classical music industry. The innate affinity and sense of humor of Tianjin people are in stark contrast to his rigorous artistic style on the stage of opera and art songs. On the evening of the performance, he took off his floral shirt and walked onto the stage in a proper black dress, his expression still relaxed and free. Before singing, he gave a heartfelt message to the audience: "Tonight, half are classical fans and half are jazz fans. Everyone came to see our performance for different reasons. Perhaps someone is thinking, is the classical music industry so popular now that everyone has to come and sing jazz? Actually, I want to tell everyone that music has no genre, only passion."

A speech made the audience burst into laughter and applause. Later, he passionately performed famous jazz songs such as Charlie Chaplin's "Smile", George Curry's "Heart for San Francisco", and George Gershwin's "Love Stays Here". Finally, the song "Night Fragrance" performed hand in hand with Zhu Huiling brought the atmosphere of the scene to a climax.

Shen Yang first touched the title ten years ago. On the stage of the 2013 Shanghai Summer Music Festival, he performed outdoor jazz songs with musicians from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra; Even earlier, years of studying, living, and performing experience in the United States had never made him unfamiliar with jazz music.

Soprano singer Zhu Huiling has also been a jazz fan for many years. A few years ago, Zhu Huiling found veteran jazz composer and pianist Zhu Mang and arranged a set of jazz songs together. Zhu Huiling is known for her emotional richness and delicate attention to detail on the stage of opera performances, and her magnetic deep voice has a more direct charm on the stage of modern music, exuding the aura of a jazz celebrity.

"Teacher Zhu Huiling has a diverse music taste, and she has a strong foundation in opera singing. She can skillfully use small languages such as Italy and Spanish to perform music works. At that time, she gave me a playlist of dozens of works she likes, and I selected songs suitable for jazz adaptation, many of which were presented to the audience on tonight's stage." After the performance, Zhu Mang told reporters.

In fact, the collaboration between classical musicians and jazz musicians has a long history. In 1999, at the concert "Pavarotti and His Friends" held in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti and Jazz King B B. King sang a song together titled "The Thrill Is Gone". In 2002, at the 90th anniversary concert of Decca Records, he sang the latter's popular work "It's A Man's World" with legendary singer James Brown. Both performances were a double story in the history of classical music and jazz.

However, unlike Pavarotti, who wore evening gowns and engaged in conversations with jazz masters using standard bel canto singing techniques, Shen Yang and Zhu Huiling chose to directly interpret classic jazz works by combining bel canto and popular singing techniques.

"I often say that for classical works collaborated with orchestras, singers need to look at the sheet music because musicians are an integral part of the entire complex music structure, emphasizing tight fitting with each other. Jazz, on the other hand, is different. It is best for singers to remember the lyrics because the singing of jazz musicians is actually about the singer speaking to and interacting with the audience." Shen Yang said.

At present, it is the end of summer break in the classical music world. The annual summer break is not only a good time for musicians such as Shen Yang and Zhu Huiling to return to their homeland and visit their families and friends, but also a good time for them to perform relaxed, diverse, and cross-border music works for the audience on a global stage.

After the summer break, Chinese musicians will embark on a new music season journey to Europe like migratory birds, and this "juicy summer performance" can be seen as a brief farewell between Shen Yang, Zhu Huiling, and domestic audiences.

If Chinese musicians go global, there will be musicians who have learned from overseas returning to their homeland. Xu Zhihan, the guitarist and composer of the Zhu Mang Band, was a returnee who studied in Germany for 10 years and obtained a doctoral degree in music. In his view, Shanghai and Beijing are the two cities in China with the most jazz foundation and atmosphere, and he ultimately chose to settle in Shanghai, and his connection with the members of the Zhu Python band was also an important reason.

"Jazz has always been relatively niche in China, and many concepts still need to be popularized. For example, the term 'jazz' is somewhat 'biased'. In fact, jazz is not a type of music, but a form of performance," said Xu Zhihan.

From the 90s to the 95s, Zhu Mang's jazz band is becoming increasingly youthful.

Band bassist Tian Beihe is an excellent musician and is sometimes jokingly referred to as a high school student by his teammates due to his doll face.

He envies the good times that young people have caught up with and appreciates the talents and talents displayed in them. He graduated from the Piano Department of Shanghai Conservatory of Music and has a solid foundation in classical music training, possessing the ability to engage in dialogue with the classical music industry; As an old cannon in the jazz industry, Zhu Mang has gone through the complete pioneering process of modern jazz in Shanghai since the 1990s, and has a deep network in the modern music industry.

"My dream is to reach retirement age, travel around the world, walk into any city's jazz bar, sit down, play and sing a song, exchange some travel expenses, and make friends."

"Has this dream come true?"

"Haha, not yet. Jazz in New York is just too strong. Any young musician is terrifyingly strong, but I will continue to work hard and believe that one day will come," said Zhu Mang with a smile.