Black sea blue

Li Xiaochuan Quartet presents the first performance by a Chinese band in the music festival. [Photo by Chen Jie/China Daily]

"From their performances, I could sense how solid Russia's music education is. The brass section in every band was almost perfect," Huang says.

The band's young drummer Xue Xiaolun says he loved the festival's daily jam sessions from midnight to daybreak. Musicians from different countries shared the same stage, improvising music. A Russian guitarist played with an American trumpeter. They spoke different languages but during such sessions they played in harmony.

Located by the Black Sea and at the base of the Kara Dag mountain, Koktebel started to hold the jazz festival in 2003.

This year, 14 bands performed from 15 countries, including Germany, the United States, France, Britain, Finland, Japan and China. Other than the concerts from 7:30 pm to midnight for three days, Kiev-born poet Maximilian Voloshin's house museum was opened to the public for jazz workshops.

This year also saw the first performance by a Chinese band at the festival.

Dmitry Kiselev, founder of the Koktebel Jazz Party, says the festival wanted to showcase Chinese musicians as there's interest in jazz in China.

Jazz came to China in the 1920s, when a few bands started to perform at restaurants and nightclubs in Shanghai, such as the Paramount Hall. It was later lost during a period of uncertainty in the country but was revived in the late 1980s.