Liu Yuan (musician)

Also in the 1980s, he was a founding member of ADO, the backing band for China's first rock star, Cui Jian (a fellow performer in the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe), for which he also acquired fame.

Liu favored the tenor and baritone saxophone as his primary instruments, though he also used a modernized version of the suona for some songs in Cui Jian's band, in which he still performed.

He made use of a modernized large-keyed suona in the 1985 song "Nothing to My Name" (一无所有; pinyin: Yì Wú Suǒ Yǒu), as well as on Cui's 1994 album Balls under the Red Flag (Hongxi xia de Dang).

His quartet included a talented jazz drummer from Japan, who was an alumnus of the Berklee School of Music.

The venue plays host to jazz artists from around China and abroad, and he still performed there himself on weekend nights.