Embracing all that jazz

"I play contemporary instruments, like guitar and bass. I also love traditional music since I have been exposed to many traditional Chinese musical works and contemporary musical works written for traditional musical instruments. It's natural for me to combine Chinese music with jazz, which is like a language exclusively used by me," Liu says.

The other members of the trio, Zhou and Xu, recorded with Liu on his album, titled Bamboo's Murmurs, which was released in 2017.

"Though they are very young, they have impressed me with their musical talent," says Liu, adding that, before recording Bamboo's Murmurs, he heard about Zhou and Xu, but didn't know them. After rehearsals, they quickly recorded the album in the studio.

"It was a fun experience, recording with a real audience," says drummer Xu, 28, who started to learn the piano at the age of 4 and could play jazz drums by 7. "Liu Yue's music is full of originality and one of my favorite pieces of his is Apple Pie, which is lovely and rhythmic."

A graduate of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich in Germany, with a doctoral degree in jazz performance in 2019, Xu has known Liu for a long time, since Xu's twin brother studied guitar with Liu as a child.