Jazz lovers in Bangkok should mark the evening of 3 December in their calendars because then the Blue Jazz Orchestra of the Stockholm Concert Hall Foundation gives a two hour long concert at the Thailand Cultural Center in honour of HM King Bhumibol’s birthday two days later.
Composed by the best jazz musicians Sweden can muster, this orchestra will entertain the audience with more than twenty compositions, including a few by HM King Bhumibol of Thailand, for example Candlelight Blues and HM Blues. The concert takes place to honour HM the King’s 78th birthday on 5 December and to mark the 60th anniversary of HM the King’s accession to the throne next year.
“And the proceedings of the concert will go to the royal Prachanukra Foundation,” said Ms Uraiwan Tienthong, Thailand’s Minister of Culture, when the concert was announced at a press conference recently. “Jazz is a music genre His Majesty loves and care for,” she added.
The event’s main sponsors are Nation Multimedia Group, the Ministry of Culture, the Swedish embassy and Nai Lert Park Hotel.
“It is a great honour,” said Sweden’s ambassador Jonas Hafström in his remarks on the upcoming event as he briefed the participants about the background of the Swedish orchestra.
The Blue Jazz Orchestra has 18 members. Its roots go back to 1998 when the Stockholm Concert Hall, the venue for the Nobel prize presentations by HM King Carl XVI Gustaf every 10 December, started a jazz series called Blue House jazz. This soon became a trademark for world class jazz performances featuring the best jazz personalities in Sweden and the world. This spring, on 22 April, did the Stockholm Concert Hall introduce its own band named The Blue House Jazz Orchestra, led by trumpet player Peter Englund and saxophone and flute player Magnus Lindgren. Both are young and represent the new Swedish jazz generation and at the Bangkok concert their band will show that they play all kinds of jazz, be it classics or new compositions, with the same high level of feeling and excellence.
Tickets to the concert can be purchased at Thai Ticketmaster counters.
