Touch of 17 : By David Manuhutu
A young, natural born talent is ready to roll. Meet David Manuhutu who just celebrated his 17th birthday last June. While boys at his age are usually still enjoying their teenage lives, David has emerged as a jazz pianist with complete skill. When I met him for the first time last year, I knew he would hatch in no time. It’s amazing to see how a young boy could play difficult jazz compositions, as he plays mostly be bop style with quality, full with complex improvisations that usually only come from senior and experienced jazz musicians.
David Melchias Manuhutu, the full name of David was born in Bandung. His father, Venche Manuhutu is a senior jazz musician who also owns Bandung-based music school, Venche Music School (VMS). His talent was spotted early as he started learning classical piano when he was still 5 year old. In 2003 he continued to study in more specific field, choosing jazz as his base at Venche Music School. Since 2005 he has been trained by one of the best Indonesian pianist, Imam Pras and it still goes on until now. He got the chance to learn under the guidance of the maestro Bubi Chen for 3 months due to the preparation of “Bubi Chen in Concert”.
Having trained by these best pianist, his talent was shaped really fast. He started to perform since he was 15. David has performed with many Asian jazz giants, including the living legend Bubi Chen, the great Asian drummer Lewis Pragasam, Australian jazz band LOGIC and many other senior jazz musicians such as Oele Pattiselano, Jeffrey Tahalele, Arief Setiadi, Imelda Rosalin, Riza Arshad, Nial Djuliarso and many more.
David has also performed at the prestigious Axis International Java Jazz Festival last March together with two senior Bandung jazz musicians, Rudy Zulkarnaen and Arifandi under the name of David Manuhutu Trio. This is a strong trio, giving out delightful taste of modern jazz with a strong bebop touch. After their performance at Java Jazz Festival they have appeared several times in Bandung, such as in Jazz Break Revival and Halaman Monthly Jazz, July edition. Just two months ago David surprised the audience in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan (Borneo) with his stunning ability in Jazz Merah Putih (Red White Jazz), now he finally gets his shot to be in brighter spotlight in a very special event called Touch of 17: By David Manuhutu.
Before I give the complete info about the event, allow me to quote some of the comments about David from some of Indonesian jazz icons.
“David has an advantage with his music feels.” – Imam Pras
“David has a very strong sense of melody, especially when he improvise” – Bubi Chen
“His progress is really fast. He has exceeded the normal process for kids at his age. In my opinion he is a jazz musician.” - Riza Arshad
“From the melody he played, I think David has high musicality and he has already played jazz in the correct language” – Indra Lesmana

Don’t miss this event!
Touch of 17: By David Manuhutu
featuring:
David Manuhutu (piano)
Rudy Zulkarnaen (bass)
Arifandi “Ari Aru” (drums)
Boyke Priyo Utomo (saxophone)
Imam Pras (keyboard)
Yonathan Godjali (piano)
Edward Prasetya (guitar)
KAnggep Kusuma (guitar)
Brury Effendi (trumpet)
Special performance by Indonesian jazz vocalists: Lita Zen
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time: 07:30 PM – Onwards
Location: Auditorium CCF Bandung
Jl. Purnawarman 32 Bandung
Get the invitation at Venche Music School, Jl. Nanas 16 Bandung. +62 22 7273326
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