Chinese singer winning over US jazz scene

Chinese jazz performer Annie Chen has been winning over American music
enthusiasts in New York City's jazz scene.

But what makes this Beijing-born singer stand out in one of the most
competitive jazz circuits in the world?

We sent our New York correspondent Liling Tan to find out.

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UPSOUND Annie Chen
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Described as a "small woman with a big voice," singer-composer Annie
Chen surprises.
The petite Chinese jazz singer and her band — the Annie Chen Septet —
wowed this evening at Club Bonafide, located along Manhattan's
historic jazz street in Midtown East.

UPSOUND Annie Chen

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The Beijing-born vocalist and composer began studying piano at the age
of four and has performed extensively in China.
But it was her passion for jazz that made her stand out in China's
nascent jazz scene, and her love for the voices of Billie Holiday,
Carmen McRae and Betty Carter that eventually drew her to New York.

STANDUP ON LCOATION: I'm here on 52nd Street in Manhattan. Famously
known as "The Street", this road was lined by jazz bars in the heyday
of New York's jazz scene, and it's where icons like Billie Holiday,
Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis frequently performed. It's this rich
jazz legacy that drew Anniehere to Manhattan. But the road here was
not easy.

Annie Chen, jazz singer, Full Sot: "Well, this is so much challenges.
I think here at the center of the jazz world, too many good musicians.
You can't even imagine. So many good singers."

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We're at Annie's home studio in Brooklyn, where she is jamming with
her boyfriend and bandmate Marius Duboule.

Annie Chen, jazz singer, Full Sot: "When I came here, I'm already kind
of famous in China, so I can perform at all the clubs and all the jazz
festival. But when I just came here, nobody knew me or who I am. You
need to start from zero to build your project, to build your band."

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But the work has paid off, and she says playing to an audience with a
deep appreciation of the genre strikes a major chord.

Annie Chen, jazz singer, Full Sot: "In China, a lot of clubs some
people will be talking and not really concentrate. But here, I feel
like I got a lot of respect, respect from all the audiences because
they're going to your concern, they just want to listen to you. Is not
that they just want to have a drink. So this is… I feel is like I want
to perform here because even if just ten audiences, but that's fine.
Because this ten audiences really focus on what I'm singing, what I'm
doing, what I'm talking in concert."

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And that's why there's nowhere else in the world she'd rather be.
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