After hearing about Notturno for quite some time, finally I met them at Jazz Break Revival XI last night. This new jazz sensation gave a stunning performance, exploring the dark jazz with creative improvisation all through their songs. What Notturno offered was different. They dare to go against the commercial trend, delivering songs in high creativity which can still be enjoyable to listen. The complexity, the skill, and other aspects they showed in their compositions are amazing. It’s a brand new day for Indonesian jazz world with their present. The young generation of jazz is emerging, and that shows jazz in Indonesia is still alive.

Notturno, a trio consists of Masmo (piano, fender rhodes and keyboard), cak Hend (drums and percussions) and Joshua Arifin (contra bass) has just released their debut album, the first of the trilogy. The title is Volume 1: Acoustica Adventure, has spread over the music stores across the nation. Their album is under NotJ422 label, and distributed by Demajors. This label is made by the effort of Notturno to stimulate any other bands with different music like them, providing a chance to make their original composition and be free in their creativity. Unique, original, different and of course with quality, that’s what they look for. So, for those who has different concept than the commercial music, there’s a place now for you to grow. This is the wonderful future mission made by Notturno, showing their care and wish to stimulate other bands to explore their creativity freely.

Jazzuality.com got a chance to interviewed Notturno after their performance. They were accompanied by Iman Budi Santoso, the executive producer of the album and Titis Sapto Raharjo, the manager.

How do you feel about participating in Jazz Break Revival?
Masmo: We’ve heard about Jazz Break Revival, and now we are here, participating in it! It feels great, we’re really happy about it!

Notturno is a very unique name. Where did the name came from?
Masmo: It’s an Italian word means “dark night”. We took the name because we like the dark concept of music. Like the music of E.S.T (Esbjorn Svensson Trio) , Medeski Martin & Wood, Hermeto Pascoal, and so on.. It’s dark jazz, we like to call our music that way.

Where did you all meet?
We met at Komunitas Jazz Kemayoran (KJK). We were there under Beben Quartet. So when we were free, we liked to jam, playing the different style of songs, not the usual jazz, but our own songs. We found the chemistry, then from there, we decided to join together as a trio.

You are a trio with piano/keyboard, drums and bass. Why did you decide to make just a trio, without any other instruments, like guitar for example?
Masmo: We think trio is more free.. it’s like a free form for us, we can explore more with just a trio.

I heard many kinds of jazz style like bop, free style, etc fused with many other elements like rock.. that’s the music of Notturno, which is different and unique. But in your own opinion, What kind of jazz are you playing?
Cak Hend:I don’t think we are pure jazz. We placed many kinds of music as reference, including jazz harmonies. We also have rock influence, for example from Canterbury, or from progressive rock band like Radiohead and so on.

Masmo: According to Joshua(the bassist), he called our music as 21st Century Music. We are influenced from 60′s – 70′s jazz scenes but we modernized it of course.

Now let’s talk about your debut album. How was the making process like?
Cak Hend: It was started sometimes in the middle of 2008. We recorded a demo, we gave “4:25 AM” as the label, because we finished the take exactly at that time. We placed it at myspace. Then we decided to concentrate to deal with the band more seriously. We made 10 songs, but we choose only 7 for this debut album, based on the perfect choices to fit the concept of “Akoustika Adventure”. It didn’t run smoothly though, because we got budget problem along the way. We realized an executive producer was needed, and so we met Iman. (the executive producer of the album). We got the same vision, and then he agreed to be our executive producer.

Mr Iman, what made you agree to be their executive producer?
Iman: Well, at that time they already made the master recordings completely, all they need was the support to produce the CD. I told them that I didn’t want the album to be sold only in Indonesia, but also abroad, because this kind of music they are playing might fit better out there. They agreed, we seems to have the same vision all along, so I agreed to back them up as the executive producer.

This band is interesting. They have the Indonesian jazz color, they also remind me of jazz in the 50′s, but they play it in modern style.

Masmo: Yeah, like Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, we like them so much.

What is your goal or hope to play music and making this album?
Masmo: We are inspired by many talents who always commited to play jazz. We want to give an alternative in the music market, especially jazz. We want to introduce our music,telling everybody there’s something new from what we’re offering, this is jazz too. We don’t think much about the selling. If it doesn’t sold out good, it’s a risk that we have to take.

Cak Hend: From when we started we already decided not to think about the selling target. We have one spirit, we are not thinking only of making good songs, but we really hope we can open the way for many indie bands, the other band like Notturno to start making their own original compositions. This is the time. We are proud to see big events in Indonesia like Java Jazz, JakJazz, or the oldest jazz event in Indonesia, Jazz Goes To Campus (JGTC) are still exist and growing better and better. So this is the time. We hope we can make the way for other band to follow our footsteps. If we can make albums, so can they.

Your debut album called Volume 1: Akoustika Adventure. There must be Volume 2 and so on right?
Masmo: Yes it’s going to be a trilogy. For this volume 1 we are still exploring. That’s why we use the word “adventure”, because this is a part of an adventure for us. For the second one, we planned to play more electric. We are thinking of having a vintage concept, using vintage instruments like fender rhodes for example to explore the sound. Lately I found “Theranim”, it’s like an ancient synthesizer, an old instrument. We are thinking to use it.

I see you got a very innovative mind..We really like free jazz. We are thinking more like Ornette Coleman, it’s like that vintage, but of course we modernized it in the production.

And what do you want to achieve in the 3rd album, the last part of the trilogy?
As the 1st and 2nd are the exploring part, we hope when we reach the volume 3 we’ll already get something.

Now let’s talk about your participation in Pintu Terlarang movie soundtrack. How did you get involved in it?
Well, at first it was when we decided to widen our link to more people outside jazz. We used to visit a studio at Panglima Polim street, South Jakarta. There were many creative talents in there, but not in jazz. We met Zeke Khaseli (the winner of 2008 Citra Award for Original Movie Scoring category). He was looking for talents to fill Pintu Terlarang OST. He listened to us, and he thought we would be fit for it. There are many colors of music in the soundtrack, not all songs are jazz, but there’s one thing in common in the soundtrack. It’s all dark, noir, depresive songs, and since we play dark jazz, our style of song also fit into the category. Our music got along with the red line of music theme well.

That’s a good start. Will there be any other movie you’ll be in?
As a matter of fact yeah. We are going to fill the soundtrack of a new movie, “Macabre”. (Macabre is a term to describe cult movies, usually movies with exploitation in sadistic scenes like slashing, mutilation and so on in ghastly atmosphere). We’re going to record it in the studio sometimes in August.

That’s cool! I wonder though.. you were performing at Ngayogjazz festival last year (see the report here), where the stage was just beside a graveyard. Then you participated in the Pintu Terlarang OST, now Macabre, which is also dark.. while your band’s name, Notturno describes something dark as well.. was it a coincidence?
Masmo: Well, I think it was a coincidence, or they take our music as a dark jazz too, I don’t know.. but whatever it is, we really enjoy it. It’s a pleasant coincidence I guess.

What does Idealism mean to you? How far can you stretch it for the band?
Masmo: Well, we are an idealistic band. Not in negative terms though, because eventhough we are idealist, we also care about the growth and success of other bands like us as well. So, it’s a positive idealism. One thing for sure, while we are together presenting Notturno, we play the Notturno’s music style. We don’t want to change it to fit the market and so on. We are what we are, we play what we play, we enjoy it. Let me tell you a story. We were in different contract at first, but then we decided to cut our contract and established this trio. That was an extreme change, and of course that decision cost something. But life is a choice. Someone has to start making an important decision for a breakthrough. and we did it.

Cak Hend: We play music not to get applause. We play our music to show the music lovers who we are, letting them know that there’s a new thing going on, and this is also jazz too. Despite they like it or not, all we want to say is we are offering an alternative to enrich the music world. We all got side jobs, those side jobs would keep us alive, but when we’re together, we’re Notturno. We don’t want to sacrifice our music concept. We are still flexible though.. we are still willing to cover popular songs, but of course we’ll play it in Notturno style of music.

Okay I got it. I notice your debut album, Volume 1 : Akoustika Adventure is available at many music stores in Indonesia. But for those who live overseas, how can they buy your album?
They can just contact us at notturnotrio@yahoo.co.id, or visit our facebook and ask us there. We can discuss about the shipping and so on.

What’s your plan for the near future?
Besides involving in Macabre soundtrack, we are ready to continue working for our second album. We have the materials, and happy to say we already got financial backups for it. The second volume of the trilogy is planned to be released in September 2009.  The last one hopefully will be available around March 2010.  We also plan to perform in more concerts. Not only jazz, but also other concerts outside jazz.  By doing this, we want to introduce the music of Notturno to all different segments.

Is there anything you want to say for the fans or any other indie bands?
Masmo: Don’t be afraid to explore your creativity. Don’t be scared to the industry. If Notturno can go this far, so can you. We offer something new and by doing this, we wish we can stimulate you guys to dare to take a step. Let your creativity be free.

Interviewed by: Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Eghi 25

Popularity: 29% [?]

Related Posts:

• Exclusive Interview with Donny Suhendra and Agam Hamzah
• Notturno – Volume 1: Akoustika Adventure
• Notturno Live in Concert
• KlabJazz’ Jazz Break Revival XI : The Report
• KlabJazz’ Jazz Break Revival XI