Tjoe Man Cheung

2005-2007 Tjoe is a Hong Kong born and bred top musician. This Musicians Institute alumnus is a favoured sideman in the Pop scene, a talented Jazz & Blues guitarist, a proficient arranger and composer. Currently the official artist of Melancon, Tjoe is recognised by his creative approach, powerful soloing, unique improvisation and a splash of humour on stage. From 2015 to 2016, Tjoe moved to London to expand his musical territory. He could often be found plying his trade at top venues like Ronnie Scott’s, Southbank Centre and Rich Mix. Apart from active involvement in various bands and music projects, the young musician has also initiated his own project, NTBM (not-to-be-missed). It is an original jazz collective led by him and formed by irregular emerging musicians from around the world. The group aspires to compose original jazz tunes and perform globally. The band impressed the audiences in gigs organised by Sofar Sounds London, Jazz In The Present Tense and various venues. In 2017, Tjoe announced to release his first LP, and orange, with his band NTBM. A tour in Hong Kong and China will commence after the global release. Prior to and orange, Tjoe has also released an EP FLOW in mid 2014 and another EP FLOW LONDON in early 2016. Tjoe is currently based in Hong Kong. After resuming to the local music scene, the top musician has already done over 50 gigs during half year with his own band and other bands, such as bringing a new line-up of NTBM for Jockey Club Street Music series. Tjoe was the band leader of the house band for two months at Orange Peel, Hong Kong's most famous jazz venue. In mid-August, Tjoe will also bring NTBM to Wow And Flutter, Hong Kong's biggest music festival to celebrate local bands. Highlights of Tjoe's career in London Tjoe was one of the few Asians in London's music scene. During his short stay in London, Tjoe was signed by Alive Network, the UK’s largest live entrainment booking agency, as their official artist in a duo group called Special Guest. 'Alive Network works with over 5,000 individual artists, receiving applications from thousands more each year, and Tjoe is one of the few Chinese musicians in the UK with exceptional guitar skills that we have encountered.' says David Bevan, the Managing Director of Alive Network. In early 2016, Tjoe self-released his second EP FLOW LONDON as a trace of his year-long music journey in London. The EP consists of five instrumental songs composed and produced by him. All songs are played by outstanding international musicians whom Tjoe has met in this melting pot of music talents. The pre-order campaign (http://bit.ly/flowldn) launched on PledgeMusic was successful with over 110% of the goal achieved. Mr Ian Mann from the acclaimed thejazzmann.com reviewed the EP, 'there is much to enjoy about this EP with each carefully crafted composition expressing its own sound-world. There is considerable promise here.' Later on, Ms Erminia Yardley also recommended the EP on Jazzineurope.com, 'Tjoe has managed to explore ideas and images deriving from his living and playing in London, but, as such, he demonstrates his power of composition together with a hunger to feel and discover more of this great capital city.' Tjoe's career in Hong Kong from 2006 to 2014 2006-2009 In 2006, Tjoe formed a Funk band called PickPakZhai and soon they were crowned the champion of 'YAMAHA Asian Beat Band Competition' in the same year. By then the band did a number of tours, shared their music with the talents in Taiwan and Malaysia. The band further showed their potentiality from their debut EP Drunk in 2007. The success of the band triggered Tjoe to move forward with his technique and knowledge. He moved to Los Angeles to study in the Musicians Institute from 2008 to 2009. He was inspired and nurtured under the tutorship of Scott Henderson, Allen Hinds, Brad Rabuchin and Daniel Gilbert. 2010-2013 Tjoe turned a new page in his career after resuming to the music scene in Hong Kong. Since 2010, this passionate guitarist has been performing in diverse venues such as Hong Kong Coliseum, KITEC and AsiaWorld-Expo, etc. In November 2012, Tjoe participated in the topic-of-the-town ‘Pixar in concert’ with Hong Kong Philharmonic. Starting from 2013, Tjoe involved in more crossovers with international musicians. He formed a duo with Semir Sammy Hasic, a famous Croatian accordionist, and performed in MGM Macau. In October 2013, he played with an Australian vocalist/actress Catherine Alcorn for a renowned play called ‘Go your own way’ in Adelaide Cabaret Festival. This all-rounded musician is also proficient in composition and arrangement. He has done numbers of jingles for TVC as well as themed songs for wedding ceremony. He was in charge of the music arrangement for The 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival in late 2013. 2014 Tjoe had a breakthrough in 2014. He put effort on his solo project and released an instrumental album FLOW in June. It was his debut collection delivering original music from Soul to Jazz Funk styles and backed by local top musicians. A series of tour was set out afterwards in town and later in Taipei and Taichung, such as PMQ, Jockey Club Street Music, HMV Ideal, just to name a few. The positive feedbacks from the industry and the audience led to another series of tour in Autumn. Tjoe and his fabulous team mates succeeded to wow the crowd in the Wine & Dine Festival and Free Space Festival in November. In this fruitful year, Tjoe also co-operated with singer Sybil Thomas for a number of jazz gigs. The latter used to be the backup singer for Stevie Wonder and a number of international legends. One of Tjoe's significant shows in 2014 was 'Political Mother' in the New Vision Arts Festival. It was a contemporary music and dance spectacle directed by Hofesh Shechter and had been performed around the world. He was audited to be the guitarist of this award-winning show alongside a big international band and multinational dancers. In the end of 2014, he was asked by a local acclaimed drama team Windmill Grass Theatre as the Music Director of ‘SuBeDoWa Christmas Concert’. Tjoe is a Hong Kong born and bred top musician graduated from Musicians Institute. He has released two EPs and one album in Hong Kong and London. His latest project is NTBM (not-to-be-missed), a jazz collective to unite international musicians.