Minh Quyen Van (Binh Minh Jazz Club)

Quyen Van Minh, originator and maestro of Vietnamese Jazz, first encountered jazz on the American radio and BBC some 30 years ago and fell in love with the music immediately. Since then, he learned jazz saxophone on his own and became the first jazz/sax instructor at the Hanoi Conservatory. There he teaches young musicians to develop their own style of jazz unique to Vietnam.

Minh felt the need to create his own style as a Vietnamese saxophonist and composer and started experimenting mixing traditional Vietnamese themes with jazz. This was over 10 years ago. Since then, he played with an ordinary jazz combo an original style of jazz which is close to the Vietnamese heart and exotic as well as familiar to foreign listeners.

Now he performs nearly every night at his Jazz club with his students who are to become the next generation of jazz musicians in Vietnam.