June 3, 2009. The first Wednesday again! That means, it was time for KlabJazz’s monthly event,  Jazz Break Revival to roll again. Imagine, plenty of quality jazz groups, some guest stars, and it’s all free. That’s how it is for every month. It has reached the twelfth edition for this month of June and it’s getting better and better. It seems that many people has known the schedule. It could be seen from the growing number of crowds, plus some familiar faces that I used to see every month. That fact actually made this event felt like a jazz club, the place where you can hang out with friends, eat and drink, and at the same time enjoying quality performances from high skilled jazz musicians. I’m sure that’s exactly what KlabJazz wants too. There was something else that I got to write down, the room was fully crowded! There were many people even stood everywhere because all the seats were full. There were even little children under 10 years old among the audience, and they seemed to enjoy the show. Wow, that’s really a pleasant surprise.

Held at Balai Pertemuan Bumi Sangkuriang as usual, and fully supported by Melinda Hospital, this twelfth installment had some headlines of itself. There were some newly formed group with members consisting of skillful musicians that has has successfully carried their each groups. It was interesting to see them in their new groups. The environment is just like how it always be, cozy, comfortable and lovely. Eventhough this month’s Jazz Break Revival moved to the other room, it was just well prepared as cozy as the main room where it used to be. Not only that, this time the garden outside was designed with tables and candlelights, plus a big screen installed, so people could enjoy the show from outside too while having candlelight dinner. Nice!

At 8 pm the concert was finally started. The first group performing was a new group called   Slanguard. The name is an abbreviation of the personnels, Tesla Manaf Effendi (guitar), Galang Perdana Dalimunthe (bass) and Edward Manurung (drums). Tesla is a “hyperactive” young guitarist with great skill, a member of Bayu & Tesla and Tritoones. Galang is the bassist of Oleo, while Edward is in several bands such as 4 AM Quartet, Sonny Akbar Trio and quartet to name the least.  They were explorative on stage. The songs they played for tonight including Pat Metheny’s “Go (Get It)” and “Bright Size Life” the jazz standard “All The Things You Are” also the new arrangement of Chick Corea’s “Humpy Dumpty” It was a skill showdown in a fully explorative post bop showed by this new formed group.

Surprisingly, the 2nd performer was the senior guest star. It was Donny Suhendra. He is a complete guitarist that has been active in the music industry for at least 30 years. If some of you may recall, Donny was the guitarist of Krakatau in the 1985 formation. Right now besides being a busy session player, he’s also active in his own project, Donny Suhendra Project and also with Syaharani & The Queenfireworks (ESQIEF). Donny is simply one of the most essential jazz musician, guitarist to be exact in Indonesia today. He rose on stage and delivered a stunning acoustic solo. Then Agam Hamzah came on stage. Agam Hamzah is another senior guitarist with a really brilliant play. You can feel the energy through his touch on the guitar. Agam Hamzah learned guitar from Donny Suhendra, and now he’s emerged as one of the most amazing guitarist in Indonesia with great skill. He’s active both on stage and teaching at Farabi.  Neat and fast, great improvisation, challenging. Great in both acoustic and electric guitar. Just like Donny, Agam is very active playing everywhere. Recently he’s known as the guitarist of Ligro Trio.

So, two guitar maestros were on stage. Their performance tonight turned to be an acoustic guitar duo. It was beautiful. Indeed beautiful. Together they captured the essence of beautiful Latin sensation in a brilliant flamenco embedded in jazz. The song was “La Fiesta”, originally by Chick Corea. Neat, flawless, truly a stunning masterclass play by both of them. They were running their finger everwhere on the guitars, fast and slow, trilling the melody up and down smoothly without missing any notes. The second song was the jazz standard from 1947, “Lady Bird” in a beautiful smooth bossa. Then they talked about their their past, how they got to know each other and emerged as great guitarists. The third song came, it was “Concerto de Aranjuez”, one of the most beautiful composition written by Joaquin Rodrigo in the 30’s. This one was delivered with the latin nuance, with a little classical guitar play and smooth improvisation. This song was performed by Agam and backed by Donny. What a beauty. Then “Moment’s Notice” came, and followed by their last song, done by adding another guitarist, a young guitarist from Jakarta, their student, Adrian Fazmail. Another wonderful composition delivered, this time with trio. It was really nice to see them taking their parts in perfect timing. One by one they led while the others followed, and all controled just by staring. Well controled speed, great technique, perfect timing, they showed it all. They created a magical night on stage with their appearance.It was more like a dialogue between two guitars in the hands of senior guitarists who are also active as teachers.  Through their performance we can learn that it doesn’t always have to be fast or improvise too much. The most important thing is how to let nice melody comes out  when you’re playing music. Great chemistry between two friends both in life and in music making their performance turned out as something unforgettable.

After 10 minutes break, the dynamic duo Bayu & Tesla had their session. As usual these duo showed their skill, using only guitar and keyboard alone. They brought songs like Chick Corea’s “Armando Rhumba” and “No Mistery”. Then they continued with “Short Tale for the Black Forest” in medley with the classic “Spain”. Charming and ellegant as usual.

The other newly formed group came next. It was Be Pop. It was a nice band playing the easy listening jazz song, The member of the group including Kanggep Kusuma (guitar), Teddy AB (electric bass), Yudiarso Wibowo (drums), Imelda Rosalin (vocal and keyboard), Myra Aya Sylvina (vocal) and Erlan Effendi (vocal). It could be a nice relieve after listening to some serious jazz for some people. It was really entertaining and enjoyable.  Series of popular songs such as “Straight, No Chaser”, “Feel Like Making Love” , “Misty” , “We’re In This Love Together”, “Girl From Ipanema”, and “Isn’t She Lovely” .

The last band to perform was Oleo. Again we got to see the explorative side of jazz with their play. Nanet Ken Asri (piano and vocal), Gallang Perdhana Dalimunthe (electric bass) and Sepza Zulkaedah (drums) as usual showed technique and power with their fusion-bop-funk style. They brought series of songs like “Night in Tunisia”, “Morning Sprite” and “Softly as in the Morning Sunshine”. Might be heavy for ordinary or non jazz listeners, but nonetheless it was a skillful playing with high degree of difficulty.

There will never be enough to thank KlabJazz for providing this great quality event with very well done preparation for free month after month. The candlelight dinner concept outside the room at the garden was really nice. Thanks to Balai Pertemuan Bumi Sangkuriang too of course for the lovely place, and also for Melinda Hospital for consistently supporting this event every month. It’s always nice to be there enjoying the show with all skillful players in a very cozy room. Can’t wait to have the next month’s Jazz Break Revival!

See more pictures:

Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Adott Jumbo
Photographer: Aditya Prinera

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