Jazz greats Ron Carter and Pablo Ziegler and their trios set for Hong Kong concerts

A jazz band can be almost as diverse in terms of the number of members, variety of musical instruments and style of play as the music itself.

Yet there are some standard components: most jazz bands have a horn section, which is paced by a rhythm section.

In full jazz bands, the instruments usually include saxophones, trumpets, trombones, a piano, bass, guitar and drums. They often also feature one or more vocalists – along with other instruments chosen to lend a particular style to the music.

Hong Kong audiences will have a chance to become more familiar with the instruments found in a jazz ensemble – and the exceptional talents that play them – in three forthcoming programmes which form part of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s “Jazz Up” Series of musical events: the Pablo Ziegler Latin Jazz Trio on October 16; the Ron Carter Trio, also for one night only, on December 1, and a series of six lectures in November and December.

Ron Carter Trio

Ron Carter has been described as the greatest double bassist in the history of jazz and, with a discography of more than 2,200 albums, holds the Guinness World Record as the most recorded jazz bassist.

However, as he talks on the phone from New York, the American is modest about his role in his trio.