Live Music: “Chou Dofu Band” – A breath of fresh air for the Beijing jazz scene!

Stinky - The Chou Dofu Band Mascot Bill Zorn thinks of language as music, and music as language. “When I write a song, and when I play a solo, I try to think of a conversation, with all the pauses, inflection and rhythm that the natural flow of ideas imposes. I try to leave spaces to ‘take a breath’,” even though he plays guitar. Playing for 47 years, he is new to the Beijing scene, but his acoustic fingerstyle guitar has already caught the attention of the local cognoscenti.

Zorn’s latest musical offering, The Chou Dou Fu Band, has the critics all agog (or perhaps agag) again. With two guitars, bass and drum the CDF Band explores the more pungent regions of electric jazz. You won’t turn up your nose at the first whiff; their repertoire of originals and contemporary jazz covers is not your average 1950’s cheesy appetizer, but rather a hearty main course of energetic, danceable music for today. “The great classic jazz used themes from what was then contemporary media. We write most of the tunes we play, but we also reinterpret the great music from the ’60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s. Actually we’re still looking for great music from the ‘80’s, but haven’t found it yet”, says Zorn. And yes, they do manage to blend some of the acoustic guitar into the mix. But the addition of Dominician bassist Tim Timothy, French drummer Yvan Keller and Cuban guitarist Hansel Gonzalez, The Chou Dou Fu is definitely “zui chou de” (the best!).

For those that don’t already know, Chou Dou Fu is the traditional chinese ‘stinky tofu’, best described as smelling like a combination of roadkill, sewage and old basketball shoes.

Please see the ‘Upcoming Events’ box on the right of our web page for their next performance. Seen them play before? Please give them a star rating below. Post your reviews in the comments.
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