KlabJazz’ Jazz Break Revival X : The Report
“Life is a lot like jazz, it’s best when you improvise” – George GershwinThat’s the first line you’d notice when you’re staring at the KlabJazz‘ banner. I guess that’s been the philosophy that runs through the vein of KlabJazz, the jazz community in Bandung, West Java Indonesia, and flows into all the musicians inside this community. The quote from George Gershwin is full of meaning. Whether you improvise on stage, or in any life activities, you’ll find many interesting things when you know how to improvise. Look at the spirit of KlabJazz and the members. With or without profit, small or big audience, even when they face many obstacles, the spirit is always there. Their spirit and passion is always remarkable.
The room was full with the audience
Jazz Break Revival at Balai Pertemuan Bumi Sangkuriang has reached the tenth concert this month. The event itself has been growing impressively. The audience is getting bigger. And what makes me happy is to see that the majority of the audience, I’d say about 90%, were youngsters, mostly college students. It’s a great achievement of KlabJazz, proving that jazz can also be accepted well by the younger generation.
The show started with an interesting band called Krishnan Mohamad Project. Their called their music as experiment-electric fusion. Krishnan Mohamad (guitarist) was a part of the early KlabJazz KlabJazz, back in 2004. Then he was gone, I hadn’t heard anything about him maybe for 3 years or so, and what a pleasant surprise to see him back performing live on stage, with his new project. Where had he gone? “I was busy teaching..” he said. And now he’s back along with two fellow lecturer: Aris Ardiansyah (bass) and Angga Prasetya (drums). They also added two additional players: Murad (guitar) and Irvan (violin). They opened it well. The first song came from them was Jason Mraz‘ recent hits, “I’m Yours” and followed by the nice experimental version of Dave Koz‘ “You Make Me Smile”. After series of songs, they closed their performance with a surprise, bringing one of Muse hits: “Knights of Cydonia”. It was absolutely a great decision to bring a delicious rock flavor on jazz stage. “We want to explore wide, we want to show that even rock can goes along in harmony with jazz.” Krishnan said. Yes, surely there’s nothing wrong with that at all. The crowds enjoyed it.
Then another band took over. It was Bop Vivant‘s turn. Bop Vivant is a band that carries bop as their flavor. This band’s unique name came from two verses, “bebop” and “bon vivant”, a french word means “a pleasant/lively life.” They used to be trio, but tonight they appeared with four personnels: David Manuhutu (keyboard), Achmad Taufik (drums), Ipung Rihadi (electronic bass) and the new personnel: Tesla Manaf Effendy (electric guitar). Complex and fast tempo songs as a tribute to Charlie Parker were delivered. Eventhough they brought songs with rather complex compositions, their songs didn’t sound too difficult to enjoy. C’est bon vivant.
Bop Vivant
Sonny Akbar Trio replaced Bop vivant for the next performance. Sonny Akbar is one of the brilliant young generation pianist. He was the student of the piano virtuoso/maestro Bubi Chen and consistantly bringing his tasty post bop style. The name stated trio, but actually there were 4 personnels on stage. The trio formation were Sonny Akbar (piano/keyboard), Edward Manurung (drums) and Dhika Primadi (bass). This performance was a presentation of skills. Sonny Akbar and friends has brilliantly captured all the essence of post bop on stage tonight. Difficult compositions successfully delivered by high skilled musicians.
Sonny Akbar Trio
The dynamic duo, Bayu & Tesla came up next bringing a tribute to Chick Corea. This interesting duo brought their classical jazz/jazz impromptu style on stage. Tonight they were accompanied with two guests, a female saxophonist Christy Amanda Veronica and the soulful vocalist of Palm From Moodytunes, Grace Caroline Sahertian. Grace sang “500 Miles high”, a famous collaboration between Flora Purim and Chick Corea. They closed their performance as usual with Chick Corea’s masterpiece, “Spain”.
Bayu & Tesla ft Christy
Groovylosophy, A band from the Law Faculty of Padjadjaran University came next. This is the first jazz band from Padjadjaran University, with groove/acid jazz as their style. The band was a crowd, with 7 personnels. Towy Arya (guitar), Fitria Utami (vocal), Budhi Darma (bass), Reza Prasetya (piano), Gilang Aulia (percussions), Ariaaz Mosha (guitar) and Rizki Agustandi (drums). Many of their friends from Padjadjaran University came to see and support them. And groovy music was there on stage.
Groovylosophy
The final band for tonight was Oleo, a fusion-bop-funk band. Oleo was the winner of Espose Jazz Competition back in June, 2008. The personnels are Sepza Zulkaidah (drums), Nanet Ken Asri (keyboard/vocal) and Galang Perdhana (bass).
Oleo
In a cold rainy night, it was great to get warmed up by these 6 bands. The rain actually couldn’t stop the audience to attend the event. The room was full, cozy and friendly. It was just like having an event right at home. Jazz Break Revival is a show with the breakthrough. They have proven that jazz can be enjoyed freely. You can enjoy the great skills and nice performance with no cover charge in every Jazz Break Revival concert. Another important note from tonight’s event, there were students from 3 universities gathered together enjoying the show. They were representing their jazz community as well. IT Jazz from Bandung Technology Institute (ITB), Kampoeng Jazz from Padjadjaran University and ParaJazz from Parahyangan University. I hope the next Jazz Break Revival can be the meeting point between these college students again. Who knows, maybe they can join forces, working together to make many jazz events together in the near future. As for me, I’m very happy to see many jazz communities has emerged from the campuses around Bandung. Congratulation for KlabJazz for reaching their 10th Jazz Break Revival. It’s an important free monthly jazz event in Bandung that will always be beneficial for the growth and continuousity of jazz. We wish you all the best. There have been many obstacles, it’s never easy, but with their passion and spirit, they always find the way to survive and grow bigger and better. Afterall it’s jazz that they have been living in. We can always learn from jazz to make ourselves better, just as what George Gershwin said, “Life is a lot like jazz, it’s best when you improvise.”
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Eghi 25
Popularity: 38% [?]
