Jazz Break Revival XX : The Report
We have now reached the 20th Edition of Jazz Break Revival. This time Jazz Break Revival was set to have some interesting different concept. From the first announcement we were told that there would be set of strings appeared led by Ammy Kurniawan, one of the rare jazz violist in our nation. We would also reckon that some of the new bands would make their first appearance at the stage of Concordia Resto & Cafe big hall at Bumi Sangkuriang. It would be an interesting night, we thought, and what happened was exactly like that.
It’s not easy to keep bringing this event month after month. But with the spirit, consistency and endless efforts made by KlabJazz together with Melinda Hospital and Bumi Sangkuriang, also everyone else behind the event, Jazz Break Revival has emerged to be a continuous jazz event that quench the thirst of every jazz lovers in Bandung. It feels great to have it in a city that has a solid jazz community, and we are always more than happy to support it.
Fastcom was the first band to start the show. Fastcom is a set of three with Christ Stanley (piano), Ilham Setia (bass) and Albert Shadrach (drum) that had never appeared in the Jazz Break Revival soil before. Interesting jazz standard were given from the stage with nice rhythm control. For the next song a nice ethnical texture, taking on a traditional Javanese folksong, “Manuk Dadali”. Smooth, tender and lovely the song was carried from start to finish. Again, another nice jazz outfit was placed on another folksong from the most northern part of Indonesia, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. It was “Bungong Jeumpa”, that was brought with full improvisation. The last song was a Betawi famous song, written by the late Betawi artiste, Benyamin S entitled “Ondel Ondel”. Again, the playful arrangement was fitted perfectly on this famous Betawi folksong. Fastcom gave a really unique and different side of jazz in a harmonious marriage with folk song. We wish them all the best and hope to see them among the top stars in the future.
Ammy Kurniawan gave a new texture to Jazz Break Revival XX. With a solid rhythm section filled by Rudy Zulkarnaen (acoustic bass) and Ari “Aru” Rinaldi (drum), Ammy led no less than 9 violin players to perform for the first time in the lovely hall of Bumi Sangkuriang. All the violists for tonight were little children to teenagers, and it was really nice to see that they were ready to perform at such young ages. They were taught in Ammy Alternative String which has established since last year. The mission is clear, to build fresh new violists as early as possible. “So far the response has been good”, Ammy told us. And we are happy to know it, because we rarely find jazz violists to fill up the jazz scene. We had Luluk Purwanto before, and now we have Ammy Kurniawan, but we do need more violists to enrich our jazz world. And tonight we got the chance to see the fruit of Ammy’s calling. 9 young violists appeared led by Ammy himself and it was great.
Surprise surprise, the first song was Glenn Miller‘s gold “In The Mood”. It was really amazing to see young kids did couple of nice improvisations on the songs. 5 kids on strings held the main melody of the song. The crowds loved it, they all applaused and screamed to see their cute performance with high quality. Ammy was taking the guitar part alongside with senior fellows, Ari Aru and Rudy Zulkarnaen, on drums and bass.
The whole new set of strings now came forward. A women string quartet now were in front, they gave a very cool version of “Tico Tico”. Again, the crowds enjoyed it really well. Huge applause with big pops were given when they closed the song. Then the rhythm section moved down from the stage. They sat on the floor, drank the juice, it was funny and the crowds laughed to see it. Ammy gave a weird sound effect with his violin. The echo came out in a cool experimental style, It was actually the intro for a kiddie song entitled “Kapal Api”. They brought it really playfully, an attempt that successfully grabbed the atention of everyone in the hall. The whole string ensemble now appeared. They brought a song entitled “I Want To Be Happy”. A very lively song filled with improvisations brought by each violists. What a fun performance! We can’t wait to see more of them!
Vassagie replaced Ammy Alternative String for the next session. This is the band consists of 3 players: Aldi Nada Permana (piano), Jalu Rohanda (electric bass) and Herwin Parta (drums). This is also a new group that appeared for the first time in Jazz Break Revival. The delicious bluesy jazz was their opening, taking on Hiromi Uehara‘s “Love and Laughter”. followed by a nice funk rhythm on their own original song “Kutahu Kau Ada”. The next song was Eric Clapton‘s “Change The World” brought in a delicious funky rhythm. A speeding jazz in samba texture was next entitled “On Fire”. Another cool new group was born, again we wish them all the best.
Speaking about the beauty of post bop in the hand of younger generation in Indonesia, especially in Bandung, we would come to a quartet named Sonny Akbar Quartet. Sonny Akbar is an outstanding pianist/keyboardist that know how to transform a set of complex chords into something that could still be enjoyed even by the non jazz music listeners. Tonight he brought 3 other players including Tuwuh Sarwoprasojo (electric bass), Dani Irjayana (drum) and Arief Rinoko (alto saxophone).
A set of songs delivered in high skilled way of play. “Exit Music”, “The Source”, “Barganzi” and the ever lovely “Stolen Moment” delivered in cool blue note style. Sonny Akbar Quartet brought us to a memory lane just like when the extravagant post bop ruled the jazz world back then. As usual, an authentic pattern of jazz was delivered by Sonny Akbar and his quartet.
Iman Brata Trio as the last performing band came on stage, ready to give their performance for the first time in this monthly event with this new group. Some of them were the personnel of Blue Jeans, but now they re-appeared with new formation. The group featured Abank Sulaiman Kramadibrata (guitar and vocal), Ade Sulaiman Kramadibrata (drums), Gabriel (bass) and Artie (vocal).
The first song they brought was Dian Pramana Poetra‘s “Aku Ini Punya Siapa”. The next song was a fully groove song we all know so well, “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”. The next one was Andien‘s “Masa Lalu” and then a song belong to Blue Jeans, a cutie song called “Mutiara Cinta”. They closed their session with “You Are The Universe”.
Again, a wonderful jazz night was served. We are happy to see many promising new talents with good quality keep coming to give their best. Providing a chance to perform for some of the bands which failed to do so at the Java Jazz Festival 2010 was also good too, because no matter what we do need such events where they could hatch and establish themselves. Another well done event, we salute KlabJazz, Melinda Hospital Bumi Sangkuriang and everyone else behind it. As the event has entered the maturity numbers, we hope to see more surprises and concepts coming up in months to come! See you again next month!
See more pictures:
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Adott Jumbo
Photographer: Eghi Gabred
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