TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — On a cold weekend night in Taipei, the long-running jazz fusion band Skyline (天際線融合爵士樂團) reunited at the hidden music club Corner Max across from Taipei Dome.
Session musicians and musical producers stood outside the heavy black door and red velvet rope. Inside the 1,000-person venue, the two-tier stage is stacked with two full drum kits, congas, keyboards, microphone stands, amps, percussion instruments, and spaces for guest artists.
In the final event of Skyline’s 20th-anniversary concert tour, which began in Kaohsiung and Taichung, a standing-room-only crowd celebrated the band and their jazz genre, which only expert musicians dared to try. Founded in 2003, Skyline is one of the few Taipei bands that adhere to the musical genre of jazz fusion, an eclectic mixture of jazz, funk, rock, and rhythm and blues.
“We have loved jazz and jazz fusion since we were kids. For example, our co-founder, Jazzy Su (蘇逸哲), was influenced by Japanese jazz fusion since high school. I started to listen to all kinds of jazz music starting from high school,” said band co-founder Richard Li (利啟正).
He said the night was a special milestone for the band, as very few jazz bands can last for 20 years. Skyline may be the only band to last for so long in the region, he added.
At age 10, Li began playing the violin before migrating to the guitar in high school. He eventually became president of the National Taiwan University Guitar Club.
In Skyline, he plays bass and contributes his talent as a composer and bandleader. He is well known in Taipei music circles, and many top-flight music producers and guest artists regularly work with the group.
Li said their origin came 20 years ago when a group of young people met near the riverside for open jam sessions, covering popular jazz fusion classics. Later, the group formed Skyline and performed in a more structured manner, leading to recordings and touring.
Throughout the band’s evolution, Skyline was eager to collaborate with musicians from the local jazz scene and promote Taiwanese jazz to the world. “Both Jazzy and I were classically trained since kids. He is a doctor with his own clinic, and I am a marketer, as we both have daytime jobs, but we never lost our love of jazz fusion; that’s why we have the band for so long," Li said.
The jazz fusion genre, which emerged in the 1960s, is a level of musicianship that few bands can achieve. Mixing influences on a stage requires an excellent band leader and musicians who commit to the rehearsal studio and bright stage lights.
Skyline's first studio album "City Glide" was released in 2014 and nominated for the Best Newcomer (Group) Award at the 5th Golden Melody Awards. The release led the band to perform at the Java Jazz Festival and tour in Japan, China, and Hong Kong.
The band followed up with the album “City Colors” in 2016 and "City Explorations" in 2018. “City Explorations” mixes world music influences spanning five continents, as well as electronic music, progressive rock, and symphonic compositions. The album earned a nomination for the "Best Jazz Album Award" at the 10th Golden Melody Award and other accolades.
Skyline was also invited to collaborate with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra for a live DVD titled "Symphojazz," which was shortlisted for the "Best Crossover Music Album Award" at the 30th Chinese Music Awards. It won the "Best Live Performance Album Award" at the 18th American Independent Music Awards.
In 2021, Skyline released its fourth studio album "City Silhouette" with the concept of “Back to the Roots.” The band has been fortunate to have some of the best musicians in Taipei throughout its four albums.
Saxophonist Lee Cheng-yu (李承育) has performed at live houses and jazz festivals around the world. Another notable member is drummer Chen Guan-yi (陳冠毅), who entered the top ten in the Mapex Drummer of Tomorrow competition and is a session player for popular rock act Quarterback (四分衛).
Guitarist Chung Cheng-yang (鍾承洋), who is the hidden seventh member of the pop music group Sodagreen (蘇打綠), and saxophonist Jimmy Lu (魯湘永), also a session player for Wu Bai & China Blue (伍佰), also make up the group.
Under the direction of Li and Su, Skyline continues to recruit new jazz members, incorporating each person's playing style and technique into the band's evolving sound. Li compared the band to a large family eager to celebrate important events such as the band’s 20th-anniversary concert tour.
Li said that jazz involves complex music theory and techniques along with an open mind for new musical influences. As the band celebrates two decades, it also looks to the future when music will transcend more boundaries and move in a new direction aided by technology and the richness of world music.
