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Sexy Danish vocalist Malene Mortensen is one of artists in The Colour Yourlife: European Jazz series

Weekend Highlight

Jazz fans are likely familiar with New Orleans jazz and fusion, but European jazz is little known in Thailand. Slowly, however, this new genre, which blends Western classical music, European house, acoustic, drum and bass, electronica, techno and sampled sound is gaining a following.

Hitman, the biggest distributor of European jazz acts in Thailand, has teamed up with Nation Multimedia to give the musical genre a further boost with the "Colour Your Life: European Jazz" concert series.

"After two years of hard work promoting it, European jazz is increasing in the Thai market," says Vichart Jiratiyut, Hitman's managing director.

"There has been an enthusiastic response to our releases - more than 100 CDs from our back catalogue - and we're reaching a bigger target group, the 25 to 35-year-olds."

Colour Your Life is part of a year-long series of events marking Nation Multimedia's 36th anniversary.

"The Nation has been educating Thai society for over three decades. We have teamed up with Hitman to introduce this music series to Thais," says Aeumsree Boonhachairat, Nation Multimedia's president of corporate special events.

Danish jazz diva Katrine Madsen kicks off the concert series on June 30 at the Thailand Cultural Centre in Bangkok. She will team up with the Danish-Italian Trio consisting of bassist Jesper Boldilsen, drummer Morten Lund and pianist Stefano Bollani.

A leading European jazz vocalist, Madsen has released seven albums. For her 2005 album, "Close to You", she was nominated for a Danish Music Award in the Best Jazz Vocals category. The album is a compilation of love tunes like the Beatles' "And I Love Her", Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" and Burt Bacharach's "Close to You". Her latest album "Supernatural Love" features world-class Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius.

To Thai audiences, European jazz is quite new. Therefore, organisers of the concert series plan to also hold workshops.

"All artists playing in our concert series will share their knowledge with Thai people and musicians at these sessions. This is the kind of experience you can't get at music school," Vichart explains.

Madsen and Jesper Boldilsen Trio will join the Audiophile Fair workshop from 6pm to 8pm on June 29 at Emerald Hotel on Ratchadaphisek Road. Then the artists will be down south to entertain fans in Phuket on July 1 and 2 at the Katathani Hotel's Beach Bar.

After Madsen, modern jazz band Extreme Trio from Germany will perform the next concert in the series, probably around September. The trio comprises pianist Regina Litvinova, drummer Christian Scheuber and bassist Markus Schieferdecker. Extreme Trio is known for its fast tempos, melodic ballads and irregular rhythms.

Sexy vocalist Malene Mortensen will also sing in a Colour Your Life concert. The 24-year-old, who made her Thailand debut last year at the Hua Hin Jazz Festival, is popular for her hit song "All I Want" from the album of the same name. For her upcoming show, tentatively scheduled for November, Mortensen will come along with the Kasper Villaume Trio, which won a Danish Grammy Award for Best CD of the Year in 2005 for "Hands" and "Best Newcomer of the Year" in 2001.

And pencilled in to sing in February 2008 is Benni Chawes. Born in Copenhagen, the young Dane studied piano there before heading to the US to further his career. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Chawes pushes the boundaries of music in his solo performances, demonstrating his virtuosity with his vocal instrumental sounds. Chawes sings the bass, drums, percussion, synthesiser, guitar, tuba and more - all is his voice. Chawes won an award for Outstanding Musicianship (bass singer) in 1993 from the International Association of Jazz Educators and Band of the Year award in Denmark in 1991.

Right now, the Kingdom only hosts two major annual jazz events, in Hua Hin in June and in Bangkok in December.

"To help fill that gap, our concerts will be educating Thai people about jazz," Vichart says. "We intend on participating more in the local jazz scene, especially in terms of promoting Thai musicians in foreign markets. Some young jazz bands have a lot of potential. In the near future, we will sign them to our label."

Hitman is also planning to take Thai music fans to the Copenhagen Jazz Festival next month.

"We're planning to hold our own festival in the near future, too," he says.

If the Colour Your Life concert series proves to be popular, Thailand may see more major jazz festivals in the future.

The Colour Your Life European Jazz series highlights Katrine Madsen with the Jesper Bodilsen Trio, and kicks off with Madsen and her trio at 7pm on June 30 at the Thailand Cultural Centre (MRT: Thailand Cultural Centre). More possible concert dates are being planned through February 2008. For more information call, (02) 262 3456.

- Weekend Staff