Eyeing jazz empire, Blue Note club expands to China

NEW YORK: Blue Note, one of the world´s best-known jazz clubs, announced an expansion Thursday to China as it banks on a growing appetite for live performances among moneyed consumers.
The club, based in New York´s Greenwich Village, said it would open a Blue Note Beijing in the Chinese capital in March, and within three years spread to Shanghai and Taiwan´s capital Taipei.
Blue Note will also open next year on Honolulu´s Waikiki beach, a location chosen in no small part due to the popularity of Hawaii with Asian tourists.
The move comes as Western musicians from veteran pop stars to classical orchestras look to expand their footprint in China, eyeing future growth in the maturing economy of 1.3 billion people.
“Do I believe there is a large demand for jazz in China right now? No, not necessarily. But I believe we can help develop the music and the market,” said Steven Bensusan, president of the Blue Note Entertainment Group.
Bensusan said the 250-patron club could distinguish itself in China by offering an intimate concert accompanied by food, which will be adapted to local tastes.
“In some senses, it´s not like buying a concert ticket and just relying on the artist to draw people,” he told AFP.“It´s more about a venue. It´s a lifestyle place, it´s a place for people to experience the music, even not knowing who the musicians are,” he said.
Aptly for a venue devoted to the American-born art form, Blue Note Beijing will set up in the renovated site of the former US embassy near Tiananmen Square.
The complex — a group of elegant stone buildings around a grassy courtyard — dates from 1903 and briefly served as the Beijing base of the Dalai Lama before the Tibetan leader´s flight into exile. It now houses several high-end businesses.
Blue Note is taking a page from its success in Japan, where it opened a club in Tokyo in 1988 and later in the industrial hub of Nagoya.Bensusan said that the cases were not an exact parallel, as Japan had a dedicated jazz scene well before Blue Note.
But he said that the club has succeeded in building Blue Note´s brand, with Japanese visitors now making up a significant portion of the clientele at the original New York venue.