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 assume the renovated site of the former US embassy on Tiananmen Square.
The building -- the only surviving embassy building from the imperial era -- briefly served as the Beijing base of the Dalai Lama before the Tibetan leader's flight into exile, and most recently was a failed restaurant by French celebrity chef Daniel Boulud.
AFP
