Growing the market for Jazz

On Nov 4, the Red Groove Project released its second album, Proper Up!. The release was marked with two shows in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively. Chen Nan looks at the history of the band and its founder Lawrence Ku

When Chinese-American guitarist Lawrence Ku came to Beijing in 1997, he found that the jazz scene in the capital was small but burgeoning.

Ku, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and who had a music degree from the University California, San Diego, soon made friends with local jazz musicians, such as bassist Huang Yong, pianist Xia Jia and saxophonist Liu Yuan and they jammed every weekend.