Red Hand Jazz Band Bio

For a long time much of the jazz we saw coming out of Beijing tended towards new age, fusion and jazz lite, but for us everything changed when the Red Hand Jazz Band performed their first tryout at D22 in October 2006.  We were so impressed that they were immediately booked to perform every Sunday at the club, and within a few months had made themselves one of the best bands, if not the best, in China.

Red Hand performs a mixture of classic bop and post-bop standards and, increasingly, their own compositions, which tend to be extremely sophisticated, rhythm-driven pieces.  Fronted by Nathaniel Gao on saxophone, who has a tremendous ear and brilliantly orchestrates the very deep, and widely differing talents in the band.  The band consists of
trumpetist Wen Zhiyong, percussionist Xiao Dou and Da Huai on upright bassist.  Individually some of the most talented and intelligent jazz musicians in China, together they sizzle and burn like nothing we’ve seen in a long time.

It would take too long to describe how good each of these musicians are – the only common denominator being a very refreshing intelligence in their musical approach – but when they are really burning they must be one of the tightest jazz bands in Asia.. Their performances not only draw a regular crowd of jazz aficionados, but usually at the very front of the stage you can catch a who’s who of Beijing underground rock and punk musicians fascinated by the ferocious rhythms and intellectual brilliance.  Among the performers in the band we would single out teenage prodigy Da Huai on upright bass – someone who we are going to hear a lot from in a few years.