Iowa City native a part of Beijing’s growing jazz scene

BEIJING - On a sultry summer Saturday evening, jazz lovers will find Nathaniel Gao performing on the cramped stage of the second-floor East Shore Jazz Cafe in China's capital city. Gao, who grew up in Iowa City, steps onto the center stage and puts his saxophone to his lips. The notes glide from his instrument and cut through the cafe's smoky haze.

The 30-year-old has strong connections to China and jazz, however the two struck a chord with Gao at different points in his life. His mother, University of Iowa journalism professor Judy Polumbaum, was born in the United States. His father is from China. Gao visited the Middle Kingdom as a child, though he didn't take much interest until he spent a summer there learning Chinese in 2006.

'Even though my dad is Chinese and there's been that element of Chinese culture ever since I was a kid, I never thought to connect with that side or explore it until I was older,” he said.

It was during that time Gao tuned in to Beijing's budding jazz scene. The American art form first gained traction in China during the 1990s, Gao said, and continues to rapidly grow in popularity. There was only one jazz club in 2004, when Gao saw his first performance in China. Several other venues have since opened up.

Gao said he enjoys playing in Beijing, where he's involved with a variety of groups including the Xia Jia Quartet or the Nathaniel Gao Quartet. It's not like New York, where Gao went to graduate school, but he said the small scene gives musicians the opportunity to be creative, perform their own work and collaborate with musicians from all over the world.

One of those projects includes Daniel Callaghan of Ireland. The two are part of a trio called DNA. Callaghan said he enjoys playing with Gao.

'I get to play with American musicians (in Beijing), which is something I never got to do in Europe,” the 25-year-old bassist said. 'It's a different vibe.”

Gao and Callaghan are both adjunct instructors at Beijing's Contemporary Music Academy but spend their nights and weekends performing. Gao said in China, the audiences are a lot younger than in America's jazz clubs.

'In New York it's on average nine out of 10 people in the room have gray hair,” he said of audiences.

He too latched onto jazz at an early age. He got his first jazz album at age 15, John Coltrane's 'Blue Train.”

'It was records like that … I had no idea what I was hearing but something really resonated,” said Gao, who played in band and jazz band as an Iowa City West High School student. He later studied music at the University of Northern Iowa.

Michael Giles, a professor of saxophone and jazz studies at Iowa State University and Gao's former private saxophone instructor in high school, said Gao's knack for improvisation and picking up on jazz's abstract concepts was immediate.

'For me, (jazz) is about carving out your own place in the world,” Giles said. 'It's exciting to see that he's doing that internationally.”

Gao has made a place for himself amid the teeming streets of Beijing, where smog often overrules blue skies. He doesn't know if he'll ever leave but for now he enjoys being a part of jazz's growing influence.

'It feels like something is blooming, something is on the rise so it's exciting to be here when that's happening. I don't know what it'll be like in 10 years,” he said with a laugh. 'Ten-year-old prodigies might be kicking me out.”