We were very excited when we heard that Scott Henderson Trio was confirmed to perform in Jakarta along with their Asia trip. His special visit was brought by INTERLUDE, an event with the mission to facilitate the crossover kind of music that can’t fit in just one genre as a brainchild of Beyond Production and Indonesian Blues Association (INA Blues).  It’s about time to see this explosive group who always known to give many manouvers inside their wide improvisations. This is one of a few existed groups who can satisfy the taste of rock, blues and jazz fans at the same time. While blues never dies in Indonesia, lately this genre which also known as the root of all modern music has been making a big wave on the Indonesian scene. The pattern of Chicago blues that usually goes with electrifying rock touch leads the wave in this country just like in other parts of the world. Some musicians could have such wide diversity of style, making their music appears as a combination between several music disciplines. While they play rebelious rock over blues, they could go on by adding many jazz elements inside. They boldly go stretching their music far beyond borders, tossing it from side to side and have fun with it. It always fascinate us when we get to see this case. And if you want to have the best on the planet for it, Scott Henderson is definitely one of the few man you should see.

Many crowds gathered impatiently inside Hard Rock Cafe Jakarta to see Scott Henderson Trio live just a couple of meters away from them. Hard Rock Cafe was fully crowded by rock, jazz and blues fans. This includes many musicians we spotted at the venue especially the guitarists such as Tohpati, Indro Hardjodikoro, Iwan Hasan, Ahmad Dhani, Oding Nasution, Robert Mulyarahardja, Irsa Destiwi, Kristian Dharma, Fajar Adi Nugroho, Adi Darmawan, Gugun, Andra Junaidi, Stevie Morley Item among others. Tonight we saw a clear evidence of how Scott Henderson manages to capture the fans from jazz, rock and blues, as Hard Rock turned out as the place where the fans from these three big music genres gathered in as one.

At 9:40 pm sharp Scott Henderson, Travis Carlton and Allan Hertz rose on stage, and right away Scott led the trio by showing his delightful taste heavy blues guitar playing, taking on his version of “All Blues“. This smokin’ rockin’ blues blew everyone right away. Travis and Allan guarded the beat and let Scott did his stunning manouvers all around the track. Scott then introduced the group before he continued on playing some new tracks that haven’t even been recorded yet. In the second song “Sphinx“, Scott Henderson Trio went deep digging the underground rock scene and presented it out sensationally. It felt like entering the dangerous lair along with all the risks inside. The trio went calmer with “Calhoun” filled with splattering drum beat as the layer of Scott’s run.

We felt relieved that they are all okay, survived from the 8.9 reichter scale tragedy that struck Japan several days ago. At that time the trio was playing in several cities such as Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. Continuing their trip to land on other parts of ASia such as Hong Kong, Bangkok and just a night earlier at Jazz Up! Re-Born together with Indra Lesmana’s LLW and Boy Katindig Trio, they seemed to be fully recharged tonight, as clearly seen by the action they brought tonight unlike what we’ve seen before right at the heart of Jakarta.

Scott Henderson is a guitar wiz who explores his musicality in total freedom. He loves to stay around rock, blues, jazz to funk and everything in between. His guitar pattern can go so wild, in many times is unpredictable. Many guitarists around the world look up to him, trying to learn from him, that includes the guitarists in Indonesia. What’s good about this, Scott Henderson is also willing to share his skills, knowledge and experience. Not only playing on stage or making many recordings, he’s also contributed a lot in the educational side. Listen to him, and it’s like giving yourself a ticket to go on a wild ride.

Scott Henderson was born in the era when blues-rock was at its peak. Since he was still a child he’s been showing his deep passion in music, especially with guitar, the instrument which he started to touch when he was still around 10 or 11 years old. It didn’t take long for this guitar wiz to be involved in many gigs around the clubs in South Florida with different bands and sizes, playing anything from Led Zeppelin to James Brown. Just as many of the sixties guys, he listened to Jimmy Page, Johnny Winter, Santana, DeepPurple/Rainbow’s Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix and the likes, also Albert King, Muddy waters, B.B King and Buddy Guy which representing the blues side. Based on this, we could guess that he was attached with musicians or bands that had a cool guitar playing in it, more specifically those who loved to do solo runs. That shaped him more and more to be a great guitar player. Later his interest in jazz was developed through the works of some illuminaries jazz artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis and so on.

Scott has played all kinds of music throughout his journey and has also collaborated with many artists as well. He played with Jeff Berlin and Jean Luc Ponty in the early 80′s and also toured and did recording with Chick Corea. He was there in the first incarnation of Chick Corea Elektric band. He also worked on and off with Joe Zawinul’s Syndicate for several years and later focused on the progressive fusion Tribal Tech with Gary Willis as his main work, the groundbreaking group where he proved his ability as a world class player and composer. Then he moved on establishing a group of three with two other amazing instrumentalists, Steve Smith and Victor Wooten in another famous group, Vital Tech Tones. More and more we experienced his amazing technique and taste with delivering blistering guitar play. He loves to let his guitar screams and screaches with blazing groove in rockin’ blues chops, something that can turn anyone who listen to him into deep trance.

Like a wizard he put everyone into the deep trance at his show. He went intense again on the fourth track, “Sultan’s Boogie”, still screaching out his way all over the snares this time with adding more funk.  The heavy funk over rockin’ guitar made us unable to keep our feet still. Scott demonstrated his amazing skill alone right after on “Peace”. This solo performance gave us more chance to see his masterclass play. Even alone he could hypnotize the crowds without problem at all. Later Travis and Allan joined in. Some eye contacts and smiles were traded between one another, showing how connected they are as a group and how much they enjoyed their performance tonight. After slowing down, they speed up their pace again with “DB Waltz” in a playful mood.

Scott then manipulated the delay before the other boys joined him back on the next song, “Hillbilly“. Scott ran back and forth like scaling down the melodies while still playing with effects on this one with some smokin’ country hillbilly style. After did some jokes, Scott and Allan left the stage, leaving Travis to demonstrate his bass skill. He’s still young, but the experience and his father Larry Carlton‘s blood seems already shaped him as one of the most standout bassist in the world. Travis Carlton has been building an extensive resume up until now. He has maintained a rigorous schedule of recordings and performance. He’s active playing as a sideman in many groups. That includes his own father’s Larry Carlton touring band, New Soul Underground and performed with Robben Ford, Sara Barellies, Kirk Fletcher, Michael Landau and Chris Cain. Placing him foot on blues, rock, jazz and gospel scene at the same time turns him into an all rounder. With all these backgrounds, it’s a no brainer to notice him as one of the best young bassist now in those scenes. Alone Travis gave a tasty funk with bass, playing both the melody and rhythm at the same time.

For a wizard like Scott, it’s important to have capable companions to match his move. Such a companions are found in Travis Carlton and Allan Hertz. Allan Hertz joins with lots of hearts. He gives energetic punch over his drums, not only giving Scott a good layer to go play with, but he also comes out standing in front many times. Such a noticable powerhouse that really match the two.

Scott and Allan got back to the stage and continued the funk base Travis had started earlier. This time the vintage funk beat were brought accomodating Scott’s wildness over his guitar, taking Herbie Hancock‘s “Actual Proof”. That should be all, as Scott Henderson said thank you and led the boys left the stage. But as usual the crowds still asking for more. So they came back again for encore. They carried the funkin’ blues madness back again for one last time with “Dolemite“, taken from his album in 1997, Tore Down House. With this, Scott Henderson Trio ended his show.

A ticket to a wild ride over jazz and rockin’ blues served chilled by this unbelievable trio. What a blazing performance it was. Tonight we experienced something new to remember for a long time. They redescribed fusion a lot wider than we used to know, they showed a lot of fun while playing. They delivered high energy and electrifying music that can only be described as genious. In two months from now they will continue their trip to visit Europe. There, the fans in Austria, Turkey, Belgium, Germany, England, Norway, Switzerland and Italy will get the chance to taste the amazing blends just like what we got tonight. Thank you for such an awesome performance, Scott, Travis and Allan! We salute you! And thank you to Beyond Production and Ina Blues for bringing them here. We need more event like this that can gather all the rock, blues and jazz fans under the same roof, united together for the love of music, without boundary, without limit. With a very successful first attemp like this, we believe this event will give big contribution in the music scene in Indonesia. We hope the INTERLUDE will keep providing wonderful surprises like this for years to come. Keep rockin’ the blues and jazz!

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Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Muhammad Fadhly

Photographer: Dwi Ratri Utomo, Bayu P Warjiyo

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