Pressestimmen
A wall of sound with heavy swing and romantic
While the Dutch drummer Han Bennink was giving a wild performance, the
Chinese Zheng soloist Yu Jun delivered the lyrical touch, when Pierre Doerge presented his voluminous
jazz-festival-jungle orchestra.
This wall of sound contained lots of heavy swing and Duke Ellington-inspired music, with plenty of
beautiful and expressive solos and the concert had a nice lyrical touch, with the Chinese string
instrument, played by Yu Jun. She opened the concert with a beautiful piece in classical Chinese
style. This transformed into a majestic version of a Carl Nielsen piece. During the concert, Yu Jun
delivered other fine and romantic elements, and though the festival is far from over, her facinating
and original solo playing in "St. Louis Blues" must be remembered, as one of the memorable highlights
of the Copenhagen jazzfestival 2002.
Berlinske Tidende (Danish newspaper), Kjeld Frandsen
Party in Jungle
The concert started with the Chinese Zheng soloist Yu Jun, who made a soft melodic intro with her
instrument, and then the orchestra entered the stage, and the concert started.
After the intermission, Yu Jun was sitting and smiling politely with her instrument, which this
evening, was a nice contrast to the lively orchestra.
In the final slow blues, Yu Jun played an emotional blues-solo on her
Chinese Zheng. Where else could this happen, but in Pierre Doerge's lively orchestra?
Information (Danish newspaper), Christian Munch-Hansen
China meets Danish Jungle
With 21 strings, the Gu Zheng has a resemblence to a harp, but each of the
strings can be tuned individually, with the small moving bridges. Yu Jun plays the strings so the
note will vibrate or go up or down in pitch. The sound can be both dramatic, dynamic, sad and
brilliant.
In the 1920's and 30's Shanghai was a jazz city with lots of small jazz clubs
and lounges. Today the western improvisational music is very hip again, especially among the young
generation. One of them is the musician Yu Jun, who plays with virtuosity the classical Gu Zheng, a
kind of harp which is over 2000 years old.
Politiken (Danish newspaper), Per Munch
