Concert Report 40 Hong Kong Arts Festival Dr John and The Lower 911

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Wong Sau Ching 5B (26) The 5 times Grammy Award winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Dr. John is
famous and proud of his invention of the New Orleans R&B genre. Its my pleasure to sit in and enjoy a night with such a special kind of music, which is not in the mainstream and popular in Hong Kong.

In the performance, his piano improvisation and unique vocal style was appreciated by every audience. His music combines the rhythmic side of the blues and boogie woogie, the band sound of rock and roll, as well as the repetitive call-and-response pattern of jazz solo. In his classic hit Right Place, Wrong Time, chordal piano with drums accomplishment started the intro of the song while the band joined in later into this 8 bars improvisation. Vocals entered for the first verse and chorus together with the piano and the lead guitar outstanding licks (solos of guitar). It progressed to the 32 bars guitar and piano solo later on which received a round applause.

Other performances were similar with much solo section but mostly unrecognizable by audiences as he enjoys little popularity here. Though I didnt hear a lot of his songs too, his outstanding performance techniques and the chemical reactions with the band sound was a spotlight to appreciate. Music is an universal language which everyone understands and recognizes. Dr. John is trying to invent and elaborate things written in the past, to a level towards. As mentioned before, the mixing of various genres of music is a fresh try and eventually works. We are looking forward to new music in future at the same time preserving and appreciating classical music at the same time.