Hua Hin, a beach resort town 200 kilometres south of Bangkok, recently held its ninth annual jazz festival. In the past, I have been extremely critical of the festival due to poor organisation and lacklustre line-ups. You could certainly be forgiven for believing that most live jazz performed in Thailand is in the Kenny G mould of non-jazz as promoted by the appalling radio station, Smooth FM. Either that or it tends to sound like a gaggle of geese being worried by a sheepdog. Although the Hua Hin Jazz Festival has a long way to go if it wants to get serious, things are looking up.

This year, thousands gathered on Hua Hin’s beach to enjoy a line-up that featured virtuoso guitarist Lee Ritenour who gave a stellar performance. The superb Korean guitarist Jack Lee performed his own set and played a few numbers with Ritenour as well as inviting fellow Korean and vocal artist Hye Mi onto the stage. Other highlights included sax man Eric Marienthal with the outstanding Jeff Lorber on keyboards, bassist Jimmy Haslip, and drummer Joel Taylor.

The Hua Hin Jazz Festival has the potential to be a truly great event on the music calendar. Next year marks the tenth anniversary of the festival so hopefully the organizers will pull out all the stops and turn into in an event of international standing.

Here’re a couple of shots from Friday and Saturday night. You can see more in the Music Gallery.

Jeff Lorber on keyboards accompanied Eric Marienthal and also played some of his own compositions.

Renowned Korean jazz fusion guitarist Jack Lee in action at the Hua Hin Jazz Festival.