It was really great to have Halaman Monthly Jazz back again after one month break due to the fasting month and Ied celebration. And for a comeback, it was a strong comeback. You’d know it right away by simply looking at the lineup. I received many enthusiast comments ever since I posted the info, and tonight the fully crowded cafe proved how this event has became an event that loved by many jazz lovers across ages and generations in Bandung.

It was started as an annual event for celebrating Indonesian Independence Day in August. But since last July,  Cafe Halaman together with KlabJazz were commited to turn it as a regular monthly jazz event. This time it was the third edition of Halaman Monthly Jazz and as usual, there were big names listed to entertain all the guests and fans of this program. If the first one came with Idang Rasjidi, the future diva Dira J Sugandi, Salamander Big Band and David Manuhutu Trio, then the second one was made with the presence of Barry Likumahuwa, Bandanaira, Chalk For Cheese and Sonny Akbar Trio, this month they presented more artists to fill the lineup. Andien, the very popular jazz diva was there, Karen Idol (one of the finalist of Indonesian Idol Season 1) was also there with a  brand new groove/rap band Sa’I and the Funky Bunch, Chandra Satria (ex KSP Band’s vocalist) and Lia Amalia joining Imam Pras Quartet, The Statement was on stage again and last but not least a group consists of youngsters, Applepine. Amazingly there was no entrance fee at all to have all these great performers in one night. Imagine this, you can hang out with your family, lover and friends, having delicious foods for dinner, and got entertained with talented artists in a cozy, romantic cafe at the same time. Sweet isn’t it? For us it’s always lovely to see an event like this were nicely done in a really friendly concept. The guests could always meet and greet the artists after their performance, taking pictures together or even chat with them freely.

After the heavy rain at the whole afternoon, the show started right when the rain stopped. “The Statement” was the first band to perfrom. Two months ago we saw the comeback of The Statement at Jazz Break Revival. The band was formed in 2004, but due to their activities, the band went inactive for some years. During these times the band suffered changing formation problems. But that was the past because now they are back. The pianist Andi Danial is the only staying member from the first formation. Just like two month ago at Jazz Break Revival XIV they carried on with seriously great fusion that for me was like a trip to go back in time when the delicous fusion style in 80’s was really on. Besides Andi Danial on keyboard, The Statement are  Jo Harmann on bass and Gaby Christian on drums. A series of songs were delivered nicely. “Angkot Bandung”, a composition picturing the public transportation in Bandung, “The Night Where I Missed You”, “Penetration” and “Side Walk Cafe”, the song that came with a nice samba texture on the classic fusion style. Andi Danial and friends gave the last song, “Howdy Buddy” as the last one.

The second performer for tonight was Karen Idol ft Sa’I and the Funky Bunch. Karen Theresia Pooroe reached her stardom through the talent search competition Indonesian Idol. She was one of the finalist from the first season together with Joy, Delon, Helena and Nania. Since then she’s better known as Karen Idol. She was born and raised in Bandung, I’m sure she loved performing at her own hometown. Tonight she appeared together with Sa’I and the Funky Bunch, a brand new hip hop/RnB group that started to get noticed in some radio stations. What they brought tonight was apparently a tasty R&B with touches of hip hop but based their compositions in jazz, special for tonight. Sa’I, the leader of the band is a senior rapper from Bandung with cool rappin’ talent. They started sweetly with Bill Withers‘ classic “Just The Two of Us”. It was lovely to hear Karen’s smooth voice on this song. Sa’I gave some rap into the song, it was really nice to hear a little rap and RnB on smooth jazz song. The next one was “Masih Adakah Cinta”, their delicious groovy single. Then came the funky version of the song every Indonesian know, Dian Pramana Putra’s “Masih Ada”. They gave a cool cover for this song, as it went a lot funkier than the original version and felt very current.

After that they brought two of their other song from their debut album, called “Semesta” (Universe) and “Malu” (Shy). Malu is the song that recently becomes a hit in many radio stations. The last song was a very well known name originally by Iwa K, a famous rapper in Indonesia. “Bebas” (Free) was delivered with the jazz pattern, plus a little jazz standard touch in the middle of the song. Karen ft Sa’I and the Funky Bunch is promising to grab the heart of music lovers especially the youngsters for their contemporary style that suits the music trend today. After the performance Sa’I told us that Karen might join them permanently. It’d be great since the sweet chemistry was there between them tonight. If you are into rap as well, don’t miss Sa’I and the Funky Bunch performance at Java Soulnation Festival 2009 soon. We sincerely wish them all the best. God bless you guys!

Applepine came on stage. The lineups was different from the last time I saw them at the “Road to Java Jazz” last March. Tonight the composition was Sule on drums, Ray the former keyboardist moved to bass and Stanley on keyboard replacing him, and Welly was on guitar. They brought series of songs such as Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa” that was also popularized by Ana Caram, Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk”, “The Chicken” that was famous by Jaco Pastorius, and Wes Montgomery’s “Four on Six”. We’re always happy to see young musicians in a band like Applepine that really know how to play jazz with good quality of skills. If they keep doing this seriously and consistantly, we’re sure they will have a great future.

Just last week  Imam Pras Quartet performed with Henning Sieverts Quartett at Jazz Break Revival XV, and tonight they performed again. Imam Pras is no stranger to the local jazz fans in Bandung for his outstanding skill and long time commitment in teaching. As usual, it was always nice to see him with the quartet that has already established a good understanding with each other. Imam Pras was of course on charge with the keyboard, along with Rudy Zulkarnaen on acoustic up right bass, Ariefandi (Ari Aru) on drums and “the always cool” Boyke Priyo Utomo on sax. Tonight they performed with a special performance of Chandra Satria. Chandra Satria is the former KSP Band’s vocalist, a band that was really popular in Bandung around the mid 90’s. After the KSP Band era, he continued his career by being the backing vocals of many big guns in Indonesian music scene for many years. Sheila Madjid, Krisdayanti, Titi DJ, the legendary Titiek Puspa, Erwin Gutawa, Ruth Sahanaya were some of the names that he has already worked with. After waiting for 13 years, finally in 2007 he launched his debut album, and until today he has made two albums. The last one featured Sheila Madjid in a sweet romantic duet entitled “Ingatlah Diriku” (Remember Me).

With Imam Pras Quartet and Chandra Satria, the night turned to be a romantic jazz night. Chandra’s smooth and comforting voice sounded so nice when he brought Eric Benet’s romantic song, “The Last Time”. The audience wowed by his voice. Chandra told a little story about how Cafe Halaman was very important for him. “I had many memories of this cafe..” he said. He started his career right here in 1994 as the vocalist of KSP Band. Then Chandra sang the next song, this time he sang his hit, “Ingatlah Dirimu”, that included as a duet with Sheila Madjid in his second album. The next came featuring Chandra was the swingy samba on a very old and classic song “Layang-Layang” (Kite). In this song Chandra even gave a little scat. After Chandra went out the stage, Imam Pras Quartet brought his own composition that would make you feel like being dragged into the “Black Hole”. Yes, that’s the title of his composition. The cool side of the night contiued on with “Inner Earth”. Enough with two “space-y” compositions, Lia Amalia came on stage.

Lia Amalia has been a long time vocalist to support Imam Pras Quartet, and tonight she still continued to do so, eventhough she’s not at the good condition right now due to the muscle cramp problem she suffered on one of her legs. But apparently that couldn’t stop her to give her best on stage, eventhough she could still barely walk. That was really inspiring to see. She took the vocal on a very sad and touching song especially after the earthquake that destroyed West Sumatra. Imam Pras Quartet played “Kambanglah Bungo” (Blossom,Flower) in a specific West Sumatra beat and melody. Then came the authentic standard jazz version of “That’s What Friends Are For”. It was  a cool version that you’ve never heard before. For the last song they brought their favorite song that they always brought everytime they performed, “Kulihat Terang” (I See the Light), a very inspiring song that tell us that there’s always hopes even in the darkest hours of our lives.

And the performer most of the staying audience waiting for has finally came. Andien was called to get on the stage. Andien is a phenomenal young lady of jazz who surprised everyone with her stunning jazz vocal eversince she was still a teenager. She became popular right from the debut album, “Bisikan Hati” (The Heart Whispering) in 2000. She continued with another two albums that also popular, Kinanti (2002) and Gemintang (2005). Besides focusing on her solo career she also joined Rieka Roeslan, Nina Tamam, Iga Mawarni and Yuni Shara in “5 Wanita” (Five Females). As for her solo career, four years without new album seems to be too long. So listen, there’s big news from her. Yes, we’re going to have her new album soon. Right now she’s finishing her fourth album that hopefully will be released in no time.

Andien looked very beautiful tonight with the sexy black dress and pearl necklace. Imam Pras Quartet was the band for Andien’s performance. No more waiting, Andien kicked off the night right away with “The Song Is You”. It’s a very popular jazz standard by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein that became often associated with Frank Sinatra. Andien gave her version, and my..what a vocal. It’s easy to see why she gets very popular with jazz breathes strongly through her voice. It was a lovely opening that proved that she’s still one of the best female jazz vocalist in Indonesia today. For the second song she brought the ever lovely bossa standard, Sergio Mendes‘ “So Many Stars” in a very lovely way. It was so sweet and smooth that it would take your breath away instantly. The next song was the always classic and romantic “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” that got huge applause from the audience. Too bad her appearance was only for a very short while. She closed her performance with Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby”. Even if you already heard many versions of this song from Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Anita O’Day or the later versions by Diana Krall or Renee Olstead, you should give a room for Andien’s version, because she sang it very beautifully. Well, that was the end of Andien’s appearance, and at the same time became the last show for tonight.  Nonetheless, it was really great to see Andien appeared in Bandung again. Many of her fans that came tonight were happy to see her as well. We met her right after her performance and asked her some questions. She was really happy to perform in a very cozy and intimate session like this. Who knows, maybe there will be Andien again sometimes in other editions in the future? We hope so.  An exclusive interview with Andien is coming soon. Big applause for Cafe Halaman for presenting Andien tonight.

It was a very wonderful night at Cafe Halaman. Many wide smiles full with satisfactions appeared on the audience’s faces. Not even the rain could  stop the jazz lovers from enjoying this great monthly jazz celebration. Regular jazz event like this is essentially needed to show how jazz could also become the answer for the needs of musics and quality stage performances. What we saw at Halaman Monthly Jazz tonight was perfect, just like the other previous series. Nicely well done. Our special thanks to Cafe Halaman, Klab Jazz and all the sponsors for making this event possible. Can’t wait to see the November edition. We wish Halaman Monthly Jazz all the best, may you have the courage and spirit to carry this nice and important program for a long time to come. Long live Cafe Halaman, long live KlabJazz, long live all the sponsors and partners, long live Jazz!

See more pictures:

Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Adott Jumbo
Photographer: Eghi Gabred, Dentube

Popularity: 2% [?]

Related Posts:

• Halaman Monthly Jazz October Edition
• Halaman Monthly Jazz at Cafe Halaman : The Report
• Halaman Monthly Jazz at Cafe Halaman Bandung
• Jazz Break Revival XVIII ft CHASEIRO : The Report
• Jazz Break Revival XVIII ft CHASEIRO