Simply put, Eugene Pao is Hong Kong's most publicly recognized jazz musician and his name is synonymous with jazz in our city. Such a reputation could not be more deserving, as Eugene has been at the vanguard of promoting jazz in the territory through his performances and recordings over the last thirty-plus years.

Hong Kong first discovered its own guitar hero in the mid-1980s when Eugene returned from his studies in the U.S. and began playing around town. Recognition came early from leading international jazz musicians. Some of his early recordings featured such legends as bassist Eddie Gomez, blues great Jimmy Witherspoon, and saxophonist Michael Brecker.

He went to New York to make his first solo album in 1996 called "By The Company You Keep" with a stellar cast of jazz greats: drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist John Patitucci, and Michael Brecker again on saxophone. In 1999, Eugene released "This Window", another outstanding album recorded in New York on which he penned half of the tunes, with the support of Jack DeJohnette, bassist Marc Johnson, and pianist Joey Calderazzo. In 2001, Eugene traveled to Europe and recorded a set of beautiful, lyrical standards with the Mads Vinding Trio from Denmark called "Pao".In 2004, he released "Naked Time", a fiery 1994 recording with Michael Brecker, James Genus, Dan Gottlieb, Jeff Andrews, Manolo Badrena, and compatriot Ted Lo. In 2005, the "Eugene Pao Project" was released, a multi-media DVD concept filmed without an audience at Hong Kong's Academy for Performing Arts, featuring top Asian musicians and mixed in DTS 5.1 surround sound.In 2006, Eugene was invited to form the "Asian Super Guitar Project" with two other guitarists, Kazumi Watanabe from Japan and Jack Lee from Korea. This guitar trio was unique in its genre, gathering and mixing differences of cultures, influences, politics, and religion from three Asian countries. They got together in the summer of 2006, made a record entitled "Guitar Sam Guk Ji", and toured around Asia throughout 2007.Early in 2008, Eugene was invited by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office to perform on a nine-city European tour to promote Hong Kong as its jazz ambassador. In 2009, they invited him back again to perform in London. In 2010, he joined the Asian All Stars Power Jazz Quartet with three other top jazz musicians from Asia. They released a live CD in 2011 and have toured all over Asia. In 2012, the Asian All Stars Power Jazz Quartet was invited to perform at the prestigious London Jazz Festival and received a great review from allaboutjazz.com.Early in 2013, they performed at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta. In May of 2013, he performed with multi-instrumentalist James Morrison and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In December of 2013, he toured Asia with Dutch jazz singer Laura Fygi. In March of 2014, at the Singapore Jazz Festival, Eugene performed with both the Asian Jazz All Stars Power Quartet and with James Morrison's band.In November of 2014, Eugene toured Europe with the Asian Jazz All Stars Power Quartet, performing at Ronnie Scott's as part of the 2014 London Jazz Festival, as well as the legendary jazz club Jazzkeller in Frankfurt. In April 2015, he was the featured soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and James Morrison for three concerts.In November 2016, he performed with Italian organist Alberto Marsico, Jeremy Monteiro, and the Jazz Blues Brothers for the London Jazz Festival at the Elgar Room of the Royal Albert Hall. In December 2017, he performed as part of the Guitar Legacy Trio with Martin Taylor and Ulf Wakenius. In November 2018, he was invited to play on top international female jazz vocalist Laura Fygi's latest album. That same month, he performed in a crossover concert with classical cellist Trey Lee and the Trondheim Strings ensemble as the principal soloist.Top venues and international jazz festivals he has performed at include the London Jazz Festival, Royal Albert Hall in London, Ronnie Scott's London, Glasgow Jazz Festival Scotland, Tokyo Cotton Club, Blue Note, Jazzkeller in Frankfurt, Blue Note Beijing, JZ Club Shanghai, City Hall Concert Hall & Cultural Centre Hong Kong, Esplanade Concert Hall Singapore, Montreal Jazz Festival, Jak-Jazz and Java Jazz Indonesia, Singapore Jazz Festival, Mount Fuji Jazz Festival Japan, Live Under The Sky Japan and Hong Kong, Jazz Marathon International Jazz Festival Hong Kong, and many more.

Jazz greats with whom he has recorded and performed on stage over the years include Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker, John Patitucci, Joey Calderazzo, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Terumasa Hino, Bob Berg, Ulf Wakenius, Mads Vinding, Ernie Watts, Martin Taylor, James Moody, Bill Bruford, Jeff Berlin, Bobby McFerrin, Eric Marienthal, Richard Galliano, Toninho Horta, Georgie Fame, Laura Fygi, and many more.

Over the last three decades, Eugene Pao has truly established himself as Hong Kong's premier jazz guitarist. He continues to travel the world for performances at international jazz festivals, concert halls, and jazz clubs, and to take part in selected recording projects. As a composer, he has contributed music to countless TV commercials, and his film soundtracks have been nominated for Best Original Score at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Esquire Magazine featured him on the cover as one of the 20 most influential men on their 20th Anniversary Issue, and recently the PRS Guitar Company asked him to join their artist endorsement program and custom-built a signature guitar for him. He was also featured on the cover of a recent issue of re:pect magazine.