Jazz Break Revival XIX – Workshop and Performances : The Report
As usual KlabJazz, BP Bumi Sangkuriang and Melinda Hospital are those who presented this edition. If the previous events started at night, this time the event kicked off earlier in the afternoon. The workshop started this month’s Jazz Break Revival with the topic “Jazz Basics”. The clinician for this workshop was Julie Spithill from University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a part of special collaboration with Studio Musik Melodia, and supported by our fabulous Imelda Rosalin.
Julie Spithill hosted the workshop in a very friendly way. She opened up with a simple question many have asked, “What is jazz?” This is a very simple question but difficult to answer. Spithill simply said that jazz is what you want it to be. It could be your hobby, passion, career and anything you wish to make it as. Over a hundred years, jazz has grown so much, accumulated into many forms, styles and shapes we all know today. There are over 50 different sub genres of jazz so far, and it will still grow from time to time. Basically jazz is cored on four important elements, Melody, Rhythm, Harmony and Improvisation. Right after the break, Julie got a surprise from Tesla who played his own new composition especially made for Julie.
The first song was “Berbisik Maaf”, and the groove was on. The next song was a ambience groove jazz version of one famous pop song called “Cari Pacar Lagi”. The delicious “Apple Pie Order” came next, followed by “Sukmaku” and “Bercerita Jingga“. It was nice to see them again, and we hope to see them again in the future.
The next band performing was “B.L.A.V”. Unfortunately the keyboardist Bayu was late, so they just played 2 songs without him. Mohammad Athar (guitar), Septian Linanto (drums) and Rahel Pradika Purba (vocal) took the stage and brought some songs including “Softly As the Morning Sunrise”.
That was exactly what they showed on stage. It was fusion on high, blending with a little african rhythm, reggae and rock on “The Rock Star”. It was really fun. Again a wild ride delivered on stage with the next song, “Auditor’s Room”. They were having lots of fun on stage with many cool improvisations in good chemistry between each other.The best of funk fusion appeared next through the playful “Strange Feeling”. Fast paced, energic and dangerous, the song brought absolutely like a fun ride from start to finish. After “Where’s The Mosque”, the closing was even more manic, entitled “BAG’s theme”. It was totally a lightning speed composition. BAG Trio brought us on a journey into the different side of jazz, entering many layers of it. It was seductive, it was wild, it was stunning. What an experience to enjoy their music.It was a pleasure to see Agam Hamzah delivering his skill again. He is one of the amazing guitarist who never wants to be trapped up inside one genre. For him, the melody has to come first, no matter what the genre is. Latins, folk/country, classical, smooth jazz to the darkest side of jazz fusion can be brought perfectly by this versatile and modish guitarist. After his show with Donny Suhendra at Jazz Break Revival XII several months ago, it was great to have him again.
But this time he brought in a different nuance. Agam Hamzah performed together with the beautiful Tiwi Shakuhachi in a very lovely intimate bossa session. An amalgamation of Parahyangan valley‘s exoticism with the charm of jazz improvisations, that is Tiwi Shakuhachi’s musical persona. She’s a great piano and accordion player who can also sing very well. Tonight she appeared with accordeon, accompanied by Agam Hamzah on acoustic guitar. Actually Tiwi was supposed to play with her group, but they couldn’t make it tonight. So they decided to play as an acoustic duet, and actually in my opinion it was just perfect. They both brought some magic on stage, turning it into a romatic bossa night. As the rain poured heavily outside, they warmed the audience with sweettunes. Tiwi hummed sweetly almost through all the songs, running up and down the melody. Her accordeon gave a taste of a tender Parisian romance, while Hamzah did his part tenderly on his guitar. The classic bossa “Tristeza” was the opening, followed by Maria Schneider’s composition called “Choro Dançado”. It was very beautiful, as the audiences were hypnotized with their performance. Love was in the air. Series of songs were still brought intimately and romanticly such as “Magnificent Seven” and Djavan’s composition entitled “Jogral”. Tiwi and Agam then closed their session with the request from the audience, “The Girl From Ipanema”. What a lovely performance by these two outstanding musicians.The next band to perform was G/E/T. From the moment G/E/T was established last year, we could clearly see that this very talented trio would do very well in our music scene. Tesla Manaf Effendi (guitar), Gallang Perdhana Dalimunthe (bass) and Edward Manurung (drums) are the personnels behind this group, and they keep on showing good progress, on skills, performance, harmony and creativity. For tonight, they brought all their own original compositions.
Again, it was a very interesting night at Bumi Sangkuriang. It’s about time to deal with the educational side of jazz, and that’s what exactly happened on Jazz Break Revival February edition. We are blessed to have Ms Julie Spithill from Sydney Conservatorium of Music as the clinicians, sharing her knowledge to improve our quality in jazz. Thank you to Studio Music Melodia for this, also we extend our thanks to KlabJazz, Melinda Hospital and Bumi Sangkuriang for the spirit and courage to carry on. Another great night with success indeed. Can’t wait to see the concept next month!
Submitted by Riandy K on February 3, 2010 @ http://jazzuality.com/
