Jazz Break Revival XIX – Workshop and Performances : The Report
We have reached the 19th Jazz Break Revival. It’s the first step after the maturity number that we have just passed last month. We were surprised by the coming of the legendary band Chaseiro on Jazz Break Revival January edition, giving out a very memorable performance for all their fans in Bandung. (Check out our exclusive interview with Chaseiro here) And what a way to kick off the start of this edition. This time it wasn’t only a concert, but Jazz Break Revival has touched the educational side of music. We always believe that jazz development won’t be enough if we only think about on-stage performance. The educational program is needed as well. It can be beneficial to everyone who are serious about building themselves in jazz, and that, of course, will benefit our music world.
As usual KlabJazz, BP Bumi Sangkuriang and Melinda Hospital are those who presented this edition. If the previous events started at night, this time the event kicked off earlier in the afternoon. The workshop started this month’s Jazz Break Revival with the topic “Jazz Basics”. The clinician for this workshop was Julie Spithill from University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a part of special collaboration with Studio Musik Melodia, and supported by our fabulous Imelda Rosalin.
Julie Spithill is absolutely no stranger to music. She has been contributing a lot for many years. She has worked with David Baker, Hal Galper, Dave Leibman, John Scofield, Ed Soph, Sonny Stitt and many others. She holds degrees in Music and Education and a Masters degree in Music Education, and currently completing a PhD. Julie gave up her performance career to concentrate on pedagogy in the early 1990’s. Besides teaching at Sydney University Conservatorium of Music, she has also written many books on intervals, chords and rhythm for her clinics, and teaching books for children as well. Many of her students have became famous, including one of the most amazing pianist we have in Indonesia, Indra Lesmana.
Julie Spithill hosted the workshop in a very friendly way. She opened up with a simple question many have asked, “What is jazz?” This is a very simple question but difficult to answer. Spithill simply said that jazz is what you want it to be. It could be your hobby, passion, career and anything you wish to make it as. Over a hundred years, jazz has grown so much, accumulated into many forms, styles and shapes we all know today. There are over 50 different sub genres of jazz so far, and it will still grow from time to time. Basically jazz is cored on four important elements, Melody, Rhythm, Harmony and Improvisation. Right after the break, Julie got a surprise from Tesla who played his own new composition especially made for Julie.
At 7:45 pm, the stage performance began. Opened by Chalk For Cheese, we say it’s about time to have them again. We haven’t seen them a lot lately. This is a very interesting band with the style that suits the music trend today in Indonesia. Labeled themselves as”The new nu jazz/groove band in the block”, their crunchy groove will place them higher in no time. Their beat shuffle, soul and groove with great players on every instruments, plus the unique vocal of Trianzani Sulshi are the main ingredients to bring them into the spotlight. Besides Trianzani Sulshi, there are Ferry “Gembong” Nurhayat (keyboard), Arif Baradja (drums), Iman Rahman (bass), Ferdy Apriady (sax) and Martin Handy (guitar).
The first song was “Berbisik Maaf”, and the groove was on. The next song was a ambience groove jazz version of one famous pop song called “Cari Pacar Lagi”. The delicious “Apple Pie Order” came next, followed by “Sukmaku” and “Bercerita Jingga“. It was nice to see them again, and we hope to see them again in the future.
The next band performing was “B.L.A.V”. Unfortunately the keyboardist Bayu was late, so they just played 2 songs without him. Mohammad Athar (guitar), Septian Linanto (drums) and Rahel Pradika Purba (vocal) took the stage and brought some songs including “Softly As the Morning Sunrise”.
BAG Trio consists of some personnels from different bands. They are young, talented and still energic, full with ideas and creativity. We have Gerald Situmorang as the guitarist, half of the dynamic duo SKETSA who just launched their debut album, “Childhood’s Dream” last Sunday (January 31,2010). With the skill he has, surely he’s someone to look for in the future. We also have Aldhi Mahardika, the drummer of NEW SEASON, the winner of 2008’s JGTC, who is also active in Jazzyphonic. Establishing in such diversity, BAG Trio appears as a unique trio. They combine jazz, funk, rock and world music in their style. On the bass section we got Dimas Soegiharto replacing Bramantyo Musyanif who couldn’t make it for tonight.
That was exactly what they showed on stage. It was fusion on high, blending with a little african rhythm, reggae and rock on “The Rock Star”. It was really fun. Again a wild ride delivered on stage with the next song, “Auditor’s Room”. They were having lots of fun on stage with many cool improvisations in good chemistry between each other.The best of funk fusion appeared next through the playful “Strange Feeling”. Fast paced, energic and dangerous, the song brought absolutely like a fun ride from start to finish. After “Where’s The Mosque”, the closing was even more manic, entitled “BAG’s theme”. It was totally a lightning speed composition. BAG Trio brought us on a journey into the different side of jazz, entering many layers of it. It was seductive, it was wild, it was stunning. What an experience to enjoy their music.
It was a pleasure to see Agam Hamzah delivering his skill again. He is one of the amazing guitarist who never wants to be trapped up inside one genre. For him, the melody has to come first, no matter what the genre is. Latins, folk/country, classical, smooth jazz to the darkest side of jazz fusion can be brought perfectly by this versatile and modish guitarist. After his show with Donny Suhendra at Jazz Break Revival XII several months ago, it was great to have him again.
But this time he brought in a different nuance. Agam Hamzah performed together with the beautiful Tiwi Shakuhachi in a very lovely intimate bossa session. An amalgamation of Parahyangan valley‘s exoticism with the charm of jazz improvisations, that is Tiwi Shakuhachi’s musical persona. She’s a great piano and accordion player who can also sing very well. Tonight she appeared with accordeon, accompanied by Agam Hamzah on acoustic guitar. 
Actually Tiwi was supposed to play with her group, but they couldn’t make it tonight. So they decided to play as an acoustic duet, and actually in my opinion it was just perfect. They both brought some magic on stage, turning it into a romatic bossa night. As the rain poured heavily outside, they warmed the audience with sweettunes. Tiwi hummed sweetly almost through all the songs, running up and down the melody. Her accordeon gave a taste of a tender Parisian romance, while Hamzah did his part tenderly on his guitar. The classic bossa “Tristeza” was the opening, followed by Maria Schneider’s composition called “Choro Dançado”. It was very beautiful, as the audiences were hypnotized with their performance. Love was in the air. Series of songs were still brought intimately and romanticly such as “Magnificent Seven” and Djavan’s composition entitled “Jogral”. Tiwi and Agam then closed their session with the request from the audience, “The Girl From Ipanema”. What a lovely performance by these two outstanding musicians.
The next band to perform was G/E/T. From the moment G/E/T was established last year, we could clearly see that this very talented trio would do very well in our music scene. Tesla Manaf Effendi (guitar), Gallang Perdhana Dalimunthe (bass) and Edward Manurung (drums) are the personnels behind this group, and they keep on showing good progress, on skills, performance, harmony and creativity. For tonight, they brought all their own original compositions.
They kicked off their session right away with “Sekapur Sirih”. They continued with another heavy fusion entitled “Play Death”. Both were like the hardcore side of jazz, it was dark. It was like a showcase of skills with amazing compositions made by Tesla. “Migrain” was the next song, followed by the cooling “Postpone” and closed with “Outside of the Bird Cage” which was delivered playfully, full with joy, just like looking at a bird that just found its freedom.
Bayu who finally came all the way from Jakarta joined his band, “B.L.A.V” and delivered two songs, “Sunny” and “Recordane”. It’s nice to have the unique keyboardist Bayu back on jazz stage. We kinda missed him since he decided to leave the jazz scene due to his work as once he stated a couple of months ago. With these two last songs, this month’s Jazz Break Revival reached the end.
Again, it was a very interesting night at Bumi Sangkuriang. It’s about time to deal with the educational side of jazz, and that’s what exactly happened on Jazz Break Revival February edition. We are blessed to have Ms Julie Spithill from Sydney Conservatorium of Music as the clinicians, sharing her knowledge to improve our quality in jazz. Thank you to Studio Music Melodia for this, also we extend our thanks to KlabJazz, Melinda Hospital and Bumi Sangkuriang for the spirit and courage to carry on. Another great night with success indeed. Can’t wait to see the concept next month!
See more pictures:
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Adott Jumbo
Photographer: Omar Arif Maulana
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Tiwi Tiwi Shakuhachi and Agam Hamzah.. Like it..!!