Touch of 17 by David Manuhutu :The Report
A wonderkid is ready to hatch. His name is David Melchias Manuhutu, or better known as David Manuhutu. I saw him first of all last year at Padjadjaran University playing in a group called Bop Vivant. Imagine this. He was still 16 at that time, yet he could play bop style without any problem, with complex variations and the ability to interract musically with the rest of the band. From that moment, I knew that this kid would be big. All he needed was just a little more time to grow, more stage experience to play in front of the audience. For the whole year he appeared anywhere. He performed in several editions of KlabJazz’ Jazz Break Revival, Halaman Monthly Jazz at Cafe Halaman, playing with the living legend, the virtuoso Bubi Chen, many other senior jazz giants in Indonesia like Oele Pattiselano, Arief Setiadi, Riza Arshad, Nial Djuliarso, Jeffrey Tahalele and many more. He has played with some international stars like Lewis Pragasam and Australian jazz band LOGIC, also got a prestigious shot to perform at the Axis International Java Jazz Festival. In such a young age he has achieved that all. We know that this kid has something not every musician has. He was born to play music. He was born to jazz.
We’ve got a few wonderkids in their own time who has made something so phenomenal, something that couldn’t be explained with logic. We got Indra Lesmana that surprised the audience with his piano skill when he was still 10 years old, we got Eldar Djangirov in USA, and some more, but we see the fact that this is not an ordinary case. We don’t find this phenomenal kid every day. That’s why when I saw him last year, I knew soon enough he would be ready to enter the big and wonderful world of jazz.
David got his DNA from his father, Venche Manuhutu. Venche is a senior jazz musician that owns a music school named Venche Music School (VMS). Living in a musical family, his talent was spotted very early. He started learning classical piano when he was just 5 year old. Later he continued to focus his learning in more specific field, in jazz to be exact. He learned it at his father’s school. From 2005 he’s been trained by one of the finest jazz pianist, Imam Pras, and in fact it still goes on until now. He was shaped very fast, thanks to his natural talent, and continuously stunned everyone with his tremendous play.
Tonight was the night for him to celebrate. Located at the Auditorium of CCF (Centre Culture Francaise) Bandung, David got his first event where he became the highlight. We call this an inagauration night. The event called “Touch of 17 by David Manuhutu”. He just reached his 17 years of age last June. Unlike most of the kids in his age, David is ready to face the challange, to build his career seriously and professionally in jazz. He’s ready to face the world, he’s ready to roll.
For this very special event David was supported by many jazz greats from Bandung and Jakarta. There were Rudy Zulkarnaen (bass), Arifandi “Aru” (drums), Boyke Priyo Utomo (Sax), Imam Pras (keyboard), another young talent Yonathan Godjali (piano), Edward Prasetya (guitar), Kanggep Kusuma (guitar) and Brury Effendi (trumpet). Also featuring Lia Amalia and the senior Indonesian jazz vocalist Lita Zen. Acting as the music director is David’s own teacher, Imam Pras. The treat tonight was this: David was the central player, and he would play in many formats, from solo, duet, trio to small ensemble.
As the rain poured hard all through the day, we arrived late. David had just finished two songs when we appeared at the entrance. The room was fully crowd, it was completely full. It was even difficult to open the door because all the space was taken by the standing audience. We still saw David Manuhutu duet with Kanggep Kusuma on guitar playing “Blues for Papa”. Arifandi appeared for the third song, while Kanggep left the stage. Together the trio played David’s own composition, “Rhytmico”. The next one was the all time famous “Spain” in seriously cool version with many twists and turns from the players. Edward Prasetya was also there joining the group.
Boyke Priyo Utomo, one of the finest saxophonist in local Bandung jazz scene started the tune in solo and then followed by the rest of the band, bringing the song called “Lotus Blossom” originally brought by Joe Henderson. Cool surprise came, they brought a famous evergreen song written by Ismail Marzuki, “Rangkaian Melati”, twisted it in cool jazz. This time the trio David, Rudy and Arifandi got Boyke on sax, special performance by the music director Imam Pras on electric piano and Lia Amalia on vocal.
The night turned deeper into jazz as the trio together with, saxophonist Boyke, trumpeter Brury Effendi and Sankis, the percussionist brought Miles Davis‘ song “So What”. They continued to roll on this time with samba flavor on the post bop. It was Wayne Shorter’s “Black Nile”. That was the end of first session.
After 15 minutes break, “Freedom Jazz Dance” was brought on stage. Indonesian Youth Generation, that was the name of this newly formed group that also included David as the pianist. David moved to electric piano, with Enos on bass and Demas on drums. All of them are still very young, and it was really cool to see these young musicians has emerged as complete musicians. It was a totally spontaneous performance. They just discussed what to play seconds before they started, but still they played perfectly. This amazing teenage group continued their session with the famous Herbie Hancock song, “Cantaloop”. What a lively play, they went on exploring the wildest side of jazz in stunning improvisations,leaving the original and made it their own.
A stunning duet between two amazing young jazz pianist came next. It was David together with Yonathan Godjali with “Straight no Chaser”. It was great to see them having fun, playing the playful ragtime style. David and Nathan now joined with Brury, Sankis and Rudy on stage. They played Dave Grusin’s “Five Brothers.”
Lita Zen, the very famous jazz singer appeared on stage with the huge applause from the crowds. Almost all the playing musicians tonight also joined them. Together they brought the jazz standard, Morgan Lewis‘ “How High The Moon”. What a voice, felt like Natalie Cole was the one on stage tonight. Lita took time to thank Venche, David’s dad for teaching her jazz, long before she joined Elfa’s Singers. She still remember the time when she came to Venche’s house with guitar to learn. The next song came, it was another all time jazz standard “The Old Devil Moon”. The next song was taken from Maluku (Molucca), a very famous folk song called “Panggayo”. In medley, the song turned to samba with “Rame-Rame”. As how the jazz event used to end, the cool jam session appeared. The first song was Herbie Hancock’s “The Eye of the Hurricane” and closed with Cal Tjader’s “Bye Bye Blues”.
It was stunning night, a very successful and well done show. The audience loved it, wide smile of happiness appeared from Venche’s face. It’s surely a blessing to have such talented boy like David. The set of various formats were perfect tonight to capture different colors and atmospheres of jazz. Just simply lovely. Congratulation David, we wish you all the best, may you achieve what you’ve been dreaming on, and go make your parents proud. Let’s show the world what you’re capable of. Jazz needs someone like you to paint up the jazz sky. If this is the new generation that holds the key to our jazz future, we really don’t have to worry. Congratulation once again to David Manuhutu, and all the great musicians and vocalists of the night who gave their best. We’re waiting to see more contribution from you in the future. David, keep up the good work man!
See more picture:
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Adott Jumbo
Photographer: Eghi Gabred
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