'Love Jazz'

When Trinh Cong Son's music is played in a Jazz style.

“Let’s Love Jazz” is a music project that revitalizes and spreads the songs of Trịnh Công Sơn through arrangements in Jazz, Fusion, and Acoustic styles, combined with translations into English, Japanese, and Korean. The project welcomes and creates a creative platform for many young Jazz artists and talented vocalists from Vietnam and internationally, aiming to reach a young, open-minded, and art-loving audience with depth, hoping to become a bridge of musical culture between Vietnam and the international community.

Quynh Pham Quynh, founder of Hanoi Blues Note and one of the rare and enduring jazz singers in Hanoi for the past 25 years, shared the reason behind the project: “For more than a decade, ‘reimagining Trinh Cong Son’s music’ has become an inspiring undercurrent in Vietnamese music life, especially among young people. However, most of these are still just individual experiments, or in other words, beautiful notes… but not a comprehensive arrangement. No one has truly mapped out a well-structured, systematic, and interconnected musical journey to bring Trinh Cong Son’s music closer to the new generation and to the world .”

Established in 2019, Hanoi Blues Note is a pioneering music production studio connecting the jazz community in Vietnam. It's a creative space where Vietnamese jazz is revitalized, infused with contemporary elements, and inspires a new generation. It supports young artists on their journey to discover their individual identities through emotionally rich genres like jazz and blues. Fussion Acoustic.

According to Quynh Pham, "Let's Love Jazz" was created to build that connection through a long-term plan, spanning from October 2025 to the end of 2028, encompassing three phases with numerous events and activities. Phase 1 of the project, from now until 2026, includes communication efforts, searching for suitable young vocalists; organizing mini-shows and small-scale online concerts; and producing and releasing new albums reimagined in the spirit of "dialogue" between Jazz and Trinh Cong Son's music, and between generations who love Trinh Cong Son's music.

The project will also build and develop "Jazz Lovers' Stations" in Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City – places that guide, inspire, and empower young local artists to perform live and launch reimagined works. In 2027, the project will enter phase 2, focusing on strengthening collaborations with international artists and releasing digital albums and small performances outside of Vietnam.

Simultaneously, the project also plans to organize four larger-scale concert events in Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. In Phase 3 – 2028, “Let's Love Jazz” will continue to produce and release new works, organize a series of music events showcasing Vietnamese and international jazz music both domestically and abroad, release albums overseas, and aim to feature performances by several popular international singers.

Cherishing a genuine love for Trinh Cong Son's music.

Singer Trinh Vinh Trinh shared the reason why she and Trinh Cong Son's family support the project: "I sense in the artists of 'Let's Love Jazz' a sincere love for Trinh Cong Son's music and a desire to engage in dialogue using their own language."

“When we talk about Jazz music style, we're talking about improvisation from many different angles, from the structure of the work, rhythm, harmony, or solos on the melody... But when we talk about Trinh Cong Son's music, it's about the meaning and beauty of the lyrics, the familiar and simple melodies. I considered how to combine Jazz style with Trinh Cong Son's music, while still maintaining simplicity and familiarity to the listener, but with a different, more interesting color, from harmony and rhythm to the way each singer and artist interprets the work,” shared Vu Quang Trung, Music Director of “Let's Love Jazz,” about his experience in arranging Trinh Cong Son's music into Jazz-infused music.

According to Mr. Nguyen Nhat Tuan (Head of the Graduate School, Hanoi University), the project's language advisor, he not only "translated the lyrics" of the song but also had to rewrite the emotions in another language: "Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language, rich in tones - even a small accent can change the emotional nuance; while English has a completely different rhythm and stress pattern, with different emphasis and release points. Therefore, interpreting a Trinh Cong Son song in English is a parallel journey between meaning and music: preserving the meaning can easily disrupt the music, while preserving the music can easily lead to the loss of Trinh Cong Son's soul. He always carefully researches to find an equivalent emotional rhythm, rather than a word-for-word translation."

“The differences between the two languages are also evident in the arrangement and performance. Vietnamese songs often have short breaths, almost like whispers, while English versions require expansion, adding or removing syllables to create a natural melody. When singing in Vietnamese, singers can sustain notes according to the tone; while in English, they must follow the stress and mouth shape. Therefore, with the same melody, the Vietnamese version evokes nostalgia in the mist, while the English version is a clear narrative with a more Western rhythm,” shared singer Quynh Pham, founder of Hanoi Blues Note.

The entire project team emphasized: “Whether sung in Vietnamese, English, or any other language, the melody still tells the same story: about love, loneliness, loss, and the yearning to live a decent life. We believe Trinh Cong Son can “live” in many languages, like different winds blowing through a single soul. Each translation, each voice is a new dialogue with beauty and sadness – a dialogue that never ends.”

Dubbed "The Jazz Lady"—one of the rare jazz voices in Hanoi, emerging from the Military Academy of Arts and Culture in the early 2000s—Quynh Pham, the founder of Hanoi Blues Note, has been involved with the jazz scene for over 25 years. She is known as a "storyteller" through music, bringing the essence of Trinh Cong Son's music closer to young people with her improvisational yet gentle style.

As the founder of Hanoi Blues Note, Quynh not only sings but also creates an artistic space connecting young artists with Jazz through her enduring passion and unique talent. Her debut album, "Then Like Naive Stones," is a personal milestone for her with Trinh Cong Son and Jazz, where Trinh Cong Son's music is retold through the voice of a seasoned and tranquil soul.

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/hay-yeu-jazz-di.html