Kuala Lumpur International Jazz Festival 2012

all images credit Pein Lee/KLIJ

KL International Jazz Sdn Bhd (KLIJ), the producer and promoter of the festival, intends the festival to be an annual event that will contribute meaningfully to the development of KL as a world city.

Here’s our report on the inaugural KL International Jazz Festival held recently at the KL Convention Centre.

It’s been quite a while since the city folks of KL got to enjoy a jazz festival of this scale (pun intended), being entertained by the likes of the Dewan Bandaraya Big Band, Patrick Terbrack Quartet, Michael Veerapen Quartet featuring Junji Delfino, Trevor Jalla, Meg Okura & the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Ernie Watts & the Jeremy Monteiro International Trio, and Incognito on the first day and RTM Big Band, KL Jazz Project, Jeremy Tordjman Group, Everette Harp, Hiromi The Trio and Ahmad Jamal.

The KL Jazz Project led by Patrick Terbrack, showcased a rather purist approach to jazz, and clearly showed that Malaysia can seduce and keep talent. Along with other luminaries like Steve Thornton, this only serves to reinforce the local development of jazz in particular and other music forms in general.

KL Jazz Project‘s music was smooth minimalism interspersed with hints of bebop.

Terbrack is a music lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara and is also director of the Kuala Lumpur Youth Jazz Orchestra.

JAZZ pianist, composer, musical director and teacher Michael Veerapen had, in the late ‘70s, organised a series of Jazz Rock concerts with Lewis Pragasam, the powerhouse drummer behind Asiabeat.

The Jazz Rock I and Jazz Rock II Concerts happened because the performing bands in KL namely Revolvers, Discovery, Carefree, Delta and Vintage had agreed to perform for free, just for the love of ‘jazz rock/fusion’. University Malaya sponsored the Experimental Theatre and they charged just RM1 a ticket and all 800 tickets quickly sold out.

Although the ticket collection just barely covered the cost of poster printing and expenses, they did much to boost interest in the genre especially among the younger audience.

Veerapen’s set offered a mix of Latin, mainstream, originals and standards tweaked to make them his own. Besides Delfino, who won a Boh Cameronian Best Solo Performance (Vocal) award for a musical theatre show, Veerapen also featured two young and talented fellows in the form of Steve Nansa on drums and Daniel Foong on bass, with saxophonist Patrick Terbrack.

33-year old Perth-based Malaysian Trevor Jala and his blues band comprised  Roy Martinez (bass, vocals), Joe Whittle (drums, vocals) and Hans Fiance (keyboards, vocals) from Australia who combined the influences of BB King, Jimmie Smith, Donny Hathaway, T-Bone Walker and Robert Cray. Jala’s incendiary guitar work and grooving rhythm section earned him a tweet from Datuk Seri Idris Jala “At the KL Jazz festival, listening to Trevor Jalla. Great blues music, powerful voice and solid guitar! @idrislaja” No, they’re not related.

Playing everything from Paganini to Coltrane, violin virtuoso and Er Hu exponent Meg Okura injects a sparkle into her jazz. Formerly a classically trained concert violinist, the composer and jazz violinist has revolutionized the world of chamber jazz by artfully entwining her colorful and moving pieces with inspirations from various cultures and countries to create a purely enchanting experience.

Okura and her band are no strangers to the international scene, having been featured in over 50 concerts all over the world. Her Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble has soared to dizzying heights. Meg’s dynamic range on the violin complemented the powerful yet deft and abstract improvisations on piano by Helen Sung and honey-tinted flute work by Anne Drummond. Captivating and testament to the brisk CD sales right after the performance. I unabashedly confess I got an autographed one too and pictures with Meg, Helen and Anne.

What can we say about the legendary Earnie Watts that has not already been said? He is heralded as one of the greatest living tenor saxophonists. Combine him with the Jeremy Monteiro trio, and you once again prove the lack of boundaries that musical collaboration thrives on. Outstanding performances from the much anticipated solos and runs, driven by a carefully put together rhythm section of Swing King Monteiro on piano, Shawn Kelly on drums and Christy Smith on bass. Certainly a standout performance and one of the highlights  at the festival.

Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick and his ever evolving soul-funk-jazz band Incognito managed to pull off not one but two impossible tasks – get the normally passive Malaysians to perform the first standing ovation of the festival, and also to coax most of them to get jiggy with it down by the stage. A fitting and energetic end to the first day’s performances.

Day two started with recognition to the royalty of Malaysian music history - the ubiquitous Soliano family very ably represented by Irene Soliano singing with the RTM Orchestra. It was a nod to Alfonso Soliano, the man who brought jazz to Malaysian shores so long ago.

Frenchman Jeremy Tjordman, backed by his countrymen Alfio Origlio on piano, drummer Roger Biwandu and Indonesian top bassist Barry Likumahuwa provided a very dynamic and groovy experience with his instrumental guitar performance with elements of fusion, acid jazz and blues in the mix to delight six string fans.

Everette Harp’s talents as writer, arranger, producer and performer showed in his enthusiastic sax delivery of pop-R&B-funk-influenced smooth jazz, always silky and sexy and his interaction with the audience made the second evening session come alive. The crowd loved their version of Marvin Gaye’s Kisses Don’t Lie and What’s Going On, while Harp’s tenor horn soared with Coltrane’s Central Park West.

Bassist Barry Likumahuwa from Indonesia and percussionist Steve Thornton were among the musicians who accompanied Harp, playing together for the first time ever. So it was all the more impressive when Harp and his group got the first standing ovation for day two.

By now the crowd was stirring in anticipation as two huge names in jazz were set to take the stage. First up, Hiromi Uehara, the contemporary power jazz queen. 

At first glance, Hiromi resembles a typical cute, doll-like Japanese teenager but once she sits at a piano, she rocks your socks off. She is pure genius on the piano, so gifted that she has gone head-to-head with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, and performed in some of the world’s greatest jazz venues.

From the get go, Hiromi’s piano filled both the hall and the audience, creating a wall of energy that kept shifting throughout her performance.

Simon Phillips on skins and ex-Steely Dan six-string bassist (which he pioneered, by the way) Anthony Jackson provided the base for Hiromi’s forays through the hall. Her classical training showed in a beautiful version of Pathetique, Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor which sprouted halfway through her set. Her CDs sold out one day before her performance, a solid testimony to her star power.

Finally, Ahmad Jamal ambled on stage and cooly took his seat at the specially arrannged Steinway & Sons grand piano to massive applause. Not surprisingly he opened his set with Blue Moon, the title track of his latest album, and immediately transported the audience to a quintessential land of silky and urgent jazz performance.

Jamal’s trademark stylistic relaxed approach, playing in the blues and long, dreamy lines belies the fact that he’s already 82 years old. His backing trio of percussion, drums and bass worked their own mojo around his soaring and diving scales, the testament of a group that has played together for decades.

That explained why Jamal was able to orchestrate his boys with subtle glances and imperceptible gestures, picked up instinctively by the quartet. Surely the audience must have realised by now that they were witnessing history and magic weaved into a tapestry of feelings and emotions.

Sadly as 1am drew near the inaugural Kuala Lumpur International Jazz Festival was nearing its end, with Jamal playing to a mesmerised crowd as he weaved through his album, some originals and a selection of standards, offering a fresh interpretation in the jazz combo form.

Sure the dust has settled, the numbers crunched and the publicity and awareness studied. The lack of numbers would have been noted and analysed too.  To be fair, Kenny G at Genting probably made a dent in the audience numbers on the first day.

All said and done, kudos to the KL International Jazz Festival 2012 for pulling it off. You have now set the benchmark, and pushed the envelope. The next step is to earn yourself the position of the premier jazz event in the country as you tweak the event to even greater heights.

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Borneo Jazz Festival 2012 - The Performers

 

This article is dedicated to the memory of the late Robin Hugh Gibb, co-founder of the Bee Gees and a huge part of my childhood memories. Rest in peace, Robin. Heaven must surely be rocking to a disco party now.

 

FVE Project

image credit: Sarawak Tourism Board/Pein Lee

First up to storm the virgin stage were FVE Project (Funky Virus Experiment), a Kuala Lumpur based experimental band formed in mid 2011 comprising of five fresh, young musicians, all of whom were independently experienced well before the band was formed.

Guitarist Dean Sim performed with pianist Timothy Toh, bassist Feri Lau, drummer Omar Ibrahim, and smooth crooner Jeffny Kamar who plays saxophone. The crowd cheered the boys enthusiastically but it came as no surprise that home boy Dean got the most applause for his blistering solo, as the boy hails from their own turf, Miri.

FVE Project have performed at various venues and events around Kuala Lumpur as well as the Ambon Jazz Plus Festival in Indonesia.

 More on them here:

SLIXS

image credit: frigglive/Veronica Ng

Next up was SLIXS, one of Germany’s best vocal ensembles. The six member vocal ensemble comprises of the phenomenal voice of Katrina Debus, the only woman in the band; Michael Eimann, the composer and founder of SLIXS, talented singer Gregorio Hernandez, Karsten Muller and Konrad Zeiner, two men with a rare vocal ability and of course; Thomas Piontek who blew everybody’s mind with his beat boxing skills who can create sounds capable of putting a whole orchestra to shame.

Every song that they performed drove the crowd crazy for more. They covered a number of hit songs such as TLC’s “Waterfalls”, Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows In April” and an improvised cover of “Jungle Boogey” that got everybody up and dancing.

Towards the end, each one of them showcased their fascinating ability to imitate the sounds of nature. It sounded so real that you would have to witness it to believe it. When their show ended, Emcee Gerard led everyone in shouting for an encore until the group members came running back into the spotlight to perform their closing number.

Got Slixs fever? Click here:

Nita Aartsen

 image credit: frigglive/Veronica Ng

Fast rising Indonesian star Nita Aartsen is all about the connection between classical, jazz, a delightful touch of bossa and Latin music. Nita is a gifted pianist who also sings and she stands out as a music composer. Be it pop, rock, blues, classical, or any other genre, she breathes soul into it to make it alive. 

On her website, Nita says “Music is like home to me.. It’s like a dining room where I have my harmony food, it’s like a bed to lie down and relax my mind from my restlessness, it’s like a living room where I join my fellow musicians, and even a spiritual room for my peace and inspiration. Music is also like a big garden for joy, fun and excitement.”

It was plain to see that music is everything for Nita, and that was what she gave at the Borneo Jazz Festival. Her show was thoroughly enjoyed by her audience.

My favorite had to be “Lullaby of Motherland”, where her forceful Piano playing weaved skillfully through the pounding bass and hypnotic vocals.

Somemore neat Nita:  

New Cool Collective

 image credit: Sarawak Tourism Board/Pein Lee

Question: What’s hipper than hip?

Answer : Why the New Cool Collective, of course!

Holland's sharply dressed 8 piece New Cool Collective are led by renowned Dutch saxophonist and composer Benjamin Herman. Formed in 1994 from a loose collective of some of Holland’s finest jazz players, their music is a fresh and visceral mix of highly danceable soul and jazz, spiced with Latin flavors. Their trademark power stems from their fiercely grooving rhythm section, complemented by Herman’s innovative arrangements which fuse big-band horn charts with live DJ-inspired beats.

As pioneers of Dutch jazz, the band was long regarded as the ugly duckling of the scene. Jazz purists found their ‘soul jazz latin flavours nineties vibe’ too hard and fast. But when a group of younger club goers found their way to Café Meander where they played regularly, the dam burst. Now everyone loves their concerts.

As a drummer myself, I was absolutely blown away by their drummer Joost kroon’s powerhouse style of drumming. The man is amazing, drumming non stop from start to finish with a unique minimalist style that is surgically precise and does not waste a single movement.

  

To collect more cool, click here:

Tropic Green

image credit: Sarawak Tourism Board/Pein Lee

An 8 piece band led by pianist and composer Susan Harmer, Tropic Green’s musicians are from USA, Japan, Singapore and Cuba — a truly cosmopolitan mix in true Singapore style, which is where they are based.

Chua Siong Loo, Regan Wickman (trombone), Brad Swope, Fabian Lim (saxaphone), Stephen “Mr Sexy Eyes” Rufus, Mario Lopez (percussion), Pablo Calzado from Cuba (drums), Hiroaki Maekawa (bass).

Their material is original with captivating and unexpected twists — all written by Harmer. The fact that the band members have known each other for many years both as friends and as fellow professional musicians shows in their tight playing and camaraderie on stage.

In 2011, they were awarded a Singapore International Foundation grant to perform at Samui International Jazz Festival in Thailand. My favorite number had to be “Breakfast For Sparrows”

Go Green here

Tangora

image credit: frigglive/Veronica Ng

Bringing sexy back to Jazz, that’s what French-Italian Annick Tangora is all about. As a singer, songwriter and composer, Tangora is heavily immersed in the sounds of the Caribbean and afro-Latin jazz, and mixes a heady cocktail of influences.

Her songs, sung in Creole, English, Latin and French, are delivered in her sensually sultry voice. She is backed by a rhythm section of Eric Vincenot, Tony Rabeson and Jonathan Jurion.

Always warm, smiling and radiant, Tangora’s songs are odes to love and celebrations of life, delicate and sensual ballads, poignant messages in a mosaic of colors that carry the soul of intermingling. She juggles with notes as well as with words, evoking emotion, mellowness, and intensity that she shares with her brilliant fellow  musicians.

Hit this up if you're sexy

Schalk Joubert and the three Continents Sextet

mage credit: Sarawak Tourism Board/Pein Lee 

Schalk Joubert is a Cape Town born award winning producer, arranger and performer who plays bass and sings. His Three Continents Sextet totally changed the dynamics and energy of Borneo Jazz as they entertained with a sophisticated mix of western and South African jazz.

The uniqueness of this group is that they are from South Africa, Scandinavia and the USA - the 3 mega jazz zones in the world. SJ&T3C is made up of new generation jazz musicians, all schooled in the younger modern jazz scene where technical ability and inspiration are necessities.

Long cool Stockholm based lass Karin Hammar plays the trombone but loves Salsa and Brazilian music as well.

Melissa van der Spy, long time Schalk associate plays the grand piano and is a composer in her own right.

I have seen Oslo based cili padi Shannon Mowday’s amazing alto sax and clarinet solos before, but she still blew me away again in Borneo, and stole everyone’s heart with her passion.

Hildegunn Oiseth is the Norwegian based avant-garde modern jazz trumpetist.

The super talented Rich Armstrong multi-tasked effortlessly on lead vocals, percussion, guitar and trumpet, even managing to change his shirt in between playing!

US based Kevin Gibson on skins completed the band, providing the much needed rhythm to keep the flow going.

Koh Mr Saxman and Takeshi Band

image credit: Sarawak Tourism Board/Pein Lee 

Mr Saxman @ Sekpol Unsamran, has been winning awards for the last two decades. He started his career when he was 16, and has since performed in over 10 different countries and recorded 5 solo albums.

Koh began his professional career in 1989, and later became a member of different  bands before he finally formed his own band called “The Funk Machine Band” playing fusion jazz, funky and pop jazz music and played in many clubs in Thailand.

He also performed in hundreds of records, films, television shows and commercial jingles. On-stage, he is an energetic and captivating musician.

Koh, his band and guest singer Betty added a mellow and surreal ambiance to Borneo Jazz, preparing it beautifully for the finale.

Blow your horn here for more Koh

The Finale

image credit: Sarawak Tourism Board/Pein Lee  

The festival’s finale was as enchanting as it was exhilarating. In a brilliant move, Mr Saxman pulled Shannon Mowday back on stage!

The two then proceeded to duet much to the excitement of the crowd. A warm synchronization between Koh and Mowday produced a tranquil and heart-warming ambiance that left the audience wanting more.

What a fitting end to The Borneo Jazz festival 2012 amid thunderous applause, gorgeous music and great company.

So How Did Borneo Jazz Festival 2012 Do?

The dust has settled and the 7th edition of Borneo/Miri Jazz has recently ended. The festival organisers, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), were not kidding when they created the tagline “Where adventure lives!”.

What an adventure it was indeed, given its open-air setting amidst the lush green landscaped gardens of the Parkcity Everly Hotel, with its beach fronting the South China Sea.

 image credit: Veronica Ng

STB CEO and festival steering committee chairman Datuk Rashid Khan was spot on when he said that the Borneo Jazz Festival is a signature tourism event in Miri and has brought the northern region of Sarawak into the international limelight.

He is confident that it will be one of the leading Jazz events in the region.

Figures released by STB indicate that attendance has increased over last year, with 8,201 festival goers recorded compared to 7,811 in 2011. The number of visitors from outside Sarawak have also increased. The Board is confident that this trend will escalate in the coming years.

For the first time, Borneo Jazz featured a craft bazaar including craft making  demonstrations and sales of arts and craft items from the various ethnic groups. See accompanying story on Alijohn handcrafted silver.

STB also continued its greening tradition of the festival with a tree planting ceremony at Curtin University. The board encourages the use of green products and practices at the festival.

I must say that STB have hit on the right formula to promote Miri internationally as a resort city and Borneo Jazz as well as big brother the Rainforest World Music Festival are the sparkly jewels drawing in the crowds yearly. See accompanying stories “Meritz Hotel”, “The Piasau Beach Club”, “Clean, Green & Grin” and Rainforest World Music Festival”.

STB will adopt new approaches to promote and market Borneo Jazz Festival next year in conjunction with Visit Sarawak Year 2013 and the 50th anniversary of the state’s independence through Malaysia.

Minister of Tourism Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg said that the event had received very positive response from jazz fans.

“This is going to be a package that we are going to produce – music plus adventure, and this package will include air fare, festival tickets and entry to national parks.” he said.

Present at the festival were German Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Guenter Georg Gruber, Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Mayor Lawrence Lai, and STB chief executive officer Datuk Rashid Khan.

As always, any event is only as good as the people behind it, and kudos are due to Ms Angelina Bateman and her crew Mr Gustino Basuan, Mr Mark Justin Silvester, Ms Sarren Michael Abu, Ms Catharina Tipong and Ms Pauline Lim from STB.

A special shout out to Artistic Director Ms Yeoh Jun Lin, her very able Girl Friday Ms Yeo Yu Puay and sound maestro Mr Niall Macaulay for ensuring that the music remained awesome for 48 hours straight. You guys rock!

Also deserving special mention are Emcee Gerard Ratnam, the nameless support services guys, volunteers, sound and light crew and Photomeister Pein Lee who was everywhere and nowhere all at once, with the uncanny ability to creep up and snap the right shot at exactly the right time and quietly slink away, grinning like the proverbial cheshire cat who got the cream.   

Fellow members of the mainstream media and bloggers who travelled from afar, trading tweets and facebook posts, whatsapping, texting and youtubing on the fly with me to help promote this great musical celebration.

Of course Borneo Jazz would be nowhere without the real stars of the festival – the awesomelly talented and gifted performers who gave their best, and the eight thousand plus audience members for whom this was all about.

To quote ABBA - Thank You For The Music, and see you at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2012.            

Penang World Music Festival 2012

Penang World Music Festival 2012
Pictures and Review by
Koggelavani Muniandy 

After an interval of three years, the Penang World Music Festival came back in full assault and was held at the Penang Botanical Gardens again this year from March 30th to April 1st 2012. The festival featured many world renowned musicians and bands including local Malaysian talents who brought a harmonic fusion into an elevated intensity. Not only a tribute to music, this event also paid its tribute to earth by observing the ‘Earth Hour’ on the 31st March 2012 when all the music lovers merely used candles to navigate around the Quarry Recreational Park where the concert was held. It was indeed an amazing sight and feast for the ears at the same time.

Tori Ensemble, the band originating from South Korea completely took the audience into a musical trance. Combining the traditional Korean string instrument, the geomumgo with a very high pitched voice singing almost a chant like got the crowd to just go silent as if they were cast on a spell. Not to forget double headed drum, janggu and the flute, daegum complete the whole reverie. Many were seen just moving the head rhythmically with eyes shut, meditating to the amazing compositions of this group.

The local Kelantanese band, Geng Wak Long consist of a family of musicians was formed in 2008. They play the traditional musical instruments and perform the traditional dances of Kelantan. But this did not limit their gamut of performance during the festival featuring the Tok Selampit, Wayang Kulit Kelantan, Mak Yong, Dikir Barat, and Tari Inai. They successfully enthralled the crowd with their tunes and got everyone to sing along to the featured famous numbers. The lead of the band, Mohd Kamrulbahri bin Hussin had indeed a comical way of introducing and describing each performance that broke the audience into laughter.

The Mongolian ethnic folk rock band, Altan Urag which was formed in 2002 completed rocked the crowd with using their traditional Mongolian sounds with contemporary influences. Aligned with their vision of introducing Mongolian culture to the world, Altan Urag did a brilliant mesh of harmonics using their traditional instruments like the morin khuur and ikh khuur (both fiddles), bishguur (a horn) and yochin (hammered dulcimer). Starting off with a composition that was melodic and sweet to the ears, they took everyone by surprise with a swift transformation of mood into heavy rock. They took the crowd from an enchanted stated of the previous performances to a vigorous state of a rock concert. 

The band Guinea Percussion was founded in 2005 consists of the finest musicians and dancers of Guinea. Their highly energetic performance got the spectators loud cheers and claps all along. The beats of the drum was accompanied by the story telling dance that managed to engage the crowd. Besides the line of traditional drums such as djembe, and balafon by the men, the single female member swept everyone off with the sweet melody of the flute. A splendid show that ended on a high note with the Deejays spinning rasta-mode fused with electronic music that got audience to dance in the open air. Hats-off to the organizers for bringing high quality music to the local scenes.

For more information and pictures, you can visit http://www.penangworldmusic.com/

Nadhira's Rindu Music Video

Nadhira is one of Malaysia's hottest new artists and a rising star on the International stage. With the commercial success of her Hit Single “Tear Us Apart”, Nadhira is poised to make deeper inroads locally with the release of her latest Single “Rindu”.

“Rindu” is a Malay Language Pop Song driven by a catchy guitar riff and Nadhira's unique vocals. The songs tells a story about reuniting with a friend after a long time apart. “Rindu” translated to English means “I miss you” and essentially the lyrics are about reconnecting with someone who you've not seen for a long time and having missed them very much.

Song – RINDU
Artist – NADHIRA
Director – Czacutfilms
Label – The MoveMint
Rindu MV Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QEPH6klK8w

Borneo Jazz Fest 2012

 click to enlarge

Hey there. The exciting Borneo Jazz Fest (previously Miri Jazz) is less than 2 months away. Who best to tell you about it other than the Artistic Directer Ms Yeoh Jun Lin? Here it is in her own words:
  

“Taking a moment to sit back and just view the programme from a wide angle lens, so to speak, now that it is all up and running.

Borneo Jazz is actually just round the corner. It’s a definite East-West flavor there this year. And a fairly balanced mix (I think!) of men and women musicians.

Most emotional setting at the festival is going to be F.V.E. Project who is based in Kuala Lumpur, but guitarist Dean Sim is a Miri-boy so it is a home-coming of sorts. They are young and cool and adoringly enthusiastic like only the young can be. This is said with a considerable amount of envy, of course!

I heard Nita Aartsen live at a festival in Bali last year and, while fairly quiet and low-key off-stage, she erupted into a dynamite performer at the piano on stage. Coming from a classical training background, her technique is impeccable. Watch her fingers fly!

Indonesian and Thai jazz performers are in a league of their own anyway.

And talking of Thailand, we’re getting in someone that I’ve admired for years now – Koh Mr Saxman and his Takeshi Band.  I was in Bangkok last week and was so excited to see huge billboards up in the city with his face on it. He’s a real star - running his own festival, running his own club, and on an Asian tour as we speak. How does he do it??!! Check out his videos. He has energy coming out of the screen. Can’t wait to get him live on stage.

One of the hardest bands to get together logistically was Schalk Joubert and the Three Continents Sextet. And from 3 continents they are coming from, indeed. Four beautiful ladies at the front - 3 on brass and I on piano, with very distracting good looks but their playing surpasses even that! And their leader, Schalk, is just as distracting - young, lean and blond and a real sweetie but completely tough and mean on the bass. He’s managed to persuade 2 other brilliant musicians to join them even if they have to fly from San Francisco and Cape Town, and I hear they have to fly right back again immediately after the gig as their schedules for the year are booked to the hilt.

The band with the most musicians this year is New Cool Collective from Amsterdam. I’ve been dying to get them to come and play for a long time. They have a huge reputation, but I hadn’t seen them live till 3 years ago and  I had a big smile on my face the entire time they were on stage. We can’t get the whole big band in unfortunately, but I don’t think they are going to be any less effective as the smaller band. They are reputed to be hipper than hip. Totally true. Musically, as well as visually. Take note of their snazzy outfits!

Tropic Green from Singapore is a recent discovery for me. Great arrangements. CD sounded terrific. Then I went to read the fine print on the CD - the composer (all original pieces) and arranger was Susan Harmer who’s also the pianist. I’m obviously top heavy on gutsy female pianists this festival. Don’t think anyone is going to complain much though! Anyway its a very rich palette of players she had in her band. They came from Singapore as well as from Cuba, Japan and the USA.

There was a moment of psychic link last October when the lovely Annick Tangora was emailing me at the same time I was emailing her to ask her if she was free for the Borneo Jazz dates. We both said YES! at the same time. Actually, she said yes before she even went to see if her powerhouse of a band was available. Unfortunately her pianist, the legendary Mario Canonge, couldn’t make it. He’s never going to forgive me for asking so late. His bookings usually run 2 years ahead. But Tangora said the equally formidable Jonathan Jurion could make it, so they are coming as a quartet together with Eric Vincenot and Tony Rabeson (she calls them her accomplices!). She’s a bubbly kitten off-stage, but transforms into a sensual siren with the most seductive voice on-stage. And the mix of Parisian chic with Caribbean down-and-dirty exuberance is intoxicating.

Then, something completely different to add that crunchy texture to the whole 2 nights show.  SLIXS from Germany - an a capella act that will have you falling off your chair. I’m a bit of a sucker for wonderful vocals, if you haven’t already noticed. Their manager and I had been in constant annual contact for years and years though we’ve never met and so it was very nice (understatement) to suddenly find that we had dates that could coincide at last.

So there are the 8 bands that are performing at Borneo Jazz.

Park Everly by the beach will be rather pleasant as a place to celebrate life.

Hope you are all well.

Best

Jun Lin

Watch this space for more insider snippets on Borneo Jazz. However if you just can"t wait, then surf to:

http://jazzborneo.com

Penang Island Jazz Festival

The Seventh Edition of The Penang Island Jazz Festival will this year be held from the 2^nd to 5^th of December 2010 and feature more than 190 musicians on one (1) Main Stage, four (4) Fringe Stages and the Big Band programme.

As in past years, the “Jazz By The Beach” Stage (Main Stage) programmes a variety of groups with different styles and this year is no different with varied musical styles being performed from a thirty five (35) piece Philharmonic to World Renowned Solo Guitar Players to Standard Jazz Trio / Quartet to an Aca Pella group to Funk / Fusion Bands to Experimental / Nu jazz / Ethnic jazz groups in an idyllic open air setting beneath the stars by the side of a beach.

Keeping in line with past editions, the performers for the main stage programme this year are a mixture of local Malaysian and International acts. They are Penang Philharmonic featuring Ray Rozells and James Boyle, Celso Machado (Brazil), SC Yun Trio (South Korea), Electric Barbarian (Netherlands / USA / Brazil), Stouxingers (Germany), Carefree (Malaysia), Roger Wang Trio (Malaysia), Boi Akih (Netherlands), Rain Sultanov Quartet (Azerbaijan), PELbO (Norway), Tommy Emmanuel (Australia) and ZHAN (Malaysia / Japan / Australia).

The afternoon Fringe stage sessions have increased from three (3) last year to four (4) stages this year – the “ORIS Stage” at Bayview Beach Resort,  the “Rock Stage” at Hard Rock Hotel Penang, “G Stage” at G Hotel and “Javana Stage” at ParkRoyal Hotel. Performances are held from 3.00pm to 5.00pm simultaneously at all four (4) stages on Friday, 3^rd Dec. and Saturday, 4^th Dec. On Sunday, 5^th Dec. there will only be performances at the “ORIS Stage” at Bayview Beach Resort.

The performers for this year’s “Fringe Stage Programmes” are Rozz & Frequency, Raggy Project, Sound of Light, Florence Koh Quartet, PRIORity, Sax Organ Project, Ocean of Fire & Dasha, JazzHats, Aseana Percussion Unit, sTrAiT sAx aHeAd featuring Russell Curtis, Reza Salleh, Clair V Rozells & Allan G. Murrilon, Jonathan Tse Trio and Winner of “Get Inspired” Competition. 

Other supporting activities for this year include the ongoing “An Evening with series” at G Spot at G Hotel and this year the featured acts for the series are Aca Pella group - Stouxingers from Germany on Thursday, 2^nd Dec. and Malaysia’s own Carefree on Friday, 3^rd Dec. The “Jazz With A Heart” Charity Dinner will this year be jointly hosted by Bayview Beach Resort and City Bayview and the “After Hours Jazz Jam” sessions will as usual be held at Celsius Pub at the lower lobby of Bayview Beach Resort.

There will be five (5) “Workshops” this year – “Brazilian Guitar and Rhythms” by Celso Machado, “Musical Unity in Diversity” by Boi Akih, “Voices in Harmony” by Stouxingers, “Boogie Woogie Piano” by Razif “Jeep” Mohd and “Finger Picking Guitar” by Tommy Emmanuel. The annual “Community Drum Circle” will once again be held at the Bayview Beach Resort Gardens.

Exhibitions being held in conjunction with the Festival this year are the Penang Musical Heritage Exhibition at the Penang State Museum from end November to end December.  The Jazz Gallery at the Bayview Beach Resort will house the exhibition of the past editions of the Montreux Jazz Festival posters courtesy of Montreux Jazz Festival and supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Malaysia, the Photography exhibition of renowned jazz photographer William Ellis, Festival’s collection of photographs, posters, paintings and percussion instruments, the ORIS Tribute Poster Collection, Musical Instruments and other exhibitors.

For the first time, the Festival will be introducing a “Big Band Programme” featuring two (2) Big Bands performing for 30 minutes each per day in the afternoon on Saturday, 4^th Dec. and Sunday, 5^th Dec. at the Grand Ballroom of the Bayview Beach Resort. The featured bands for this year are PFS Jazz Jam Crew, Northern Jazz Ensemble, Jeep Jazz Band and UPSI Big Band from Sultan Idris University of Education Malaysia.

Tickets for the “Jazz By The Beach” – Main Stage programme on Saturday, 4^th Dec. and Sunday, 5^th Dec. are RM60 per day. Ticketing information is available at www.ticketpro.com.my.

The Penang Island Jazz Festival 2010 is organized and managed by The Capricorn Connection, with Partners, Bayview Beach Resort, Mercedes-Benz Sdn. Bhd., ORIS, Red FM and supported by Embassy of Brazil, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Ministry of Culture & Tourism and Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Embassy of Switzerland, Goethe-Institut Malaysia, Penang Global Tourism, Penang State Museum, IJM Land Berhad, AmBank Group, KK Jazz Festival, G Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel Penang, ParkRoyal Hotel, Starbucks Coffee, Heineken, JS Music, Roland Asia Pacific, The Guitar Store, Homegrown Productions, LBS Music World, Penang Philharmonic, Danai Spa, Tree Monkey @ Tropical Spice Garden, Little Penang Street Market, Penang Jazz Community and GR8 Music.  

For more information on the Festival, please visit the Festival website at www.penangjazz.com

a-JAYS Heavy Bass Impact Earphones Review

We had the pleasure of testing out Swedish headphone manufacturer latest offering, the a-JAYS earphones for a few weeks now. First impressions, once you get past the stealthy elaborate packaging, is the coolness of it all. We’ve seen earphones between the RM100-RM300 price range hanging on the shop racks, claiming to provide sound clarity, enhanced bass, sonic boom and more but the packaging was just not convincing or matched the luxury pricing.

For a consumer, first impression counts if one is going to splurge on premium earphones. There is no way for one to test or compare the product and it’s not enough for product packaging and description to convince the wallet unless it is through product experience.

That aside, plug it into any sound source, and we did, laptops, iPod’s, phones, stereo systems to test for consistency and fidelity and the product just handled it with ease. As a DJ, producer and sound engineer, i am highly particular about sound detailing and clarity of instruments and heavy reliance on monitoring headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 25-1, which by far, over the years have been pretty tough to beat in terms of the abuse and benchmarking. Yes, this would be an unfair advantage to the a-JAYS but strangely, it held its own and came in a close second in overall sound quality, even compared to the Sennheiser CX series earphones too.

I shall not delve into how great the earphones are. Take our word for it. It is amazing and worth every cent. From the coolness of the flat tangle free cables, to the sound staging and depth in your ears, to its ability to stay calm and collected in the most complex of sounds, and not crack under pressure of high volume and various equalization settings. Not to mention the simple, elegant minimalistic design of the ear piece.

The a-JAYS, beautiful aesthetics aside, does what it claims on the box. Heavy bass impact! What a generous booty helping at that. Other earphone models tend to falter at high volumes, cracking and unable to handle the low frequencies with tight resolution capturing that big room sound. To test this, we went through a very diverse playlist from House, Jazz, Hip Hop, Bossa, Lounge and Latin plus a whole set of equalization settings on an iPod. This test also took place mostly on the road in a loud car to test sound isolation and noise reduction abilities. No issue there either, especially with the five rubber ear sleeve sizes provided in the box.

On a general note, and i hope a-JAYS takes the lead on this, I do have an issue which a lot of other off the rack portable earphones has not been able to address, specifically the ability of the earphones to stay in the ear, despite the various ear sleeves sizes. The problem is over time, it starts to slip out and when that happens, you lose the intensity of the bass and the same song sounds empty and hollow like cheaper alternatives. Maybe it is just my ears. I know that this affects how the physics of acoustics is designed to allow the sonic vibration but on a product level, one would think there would be an industrial design solution for this like how foam ear plugs snugly expand and hug the ear canal.

The other issue of cable flexing at the phono jacks. Durability of earphones on portable devices is subject to the habit of wrapping the cables around the devices and the strained area is where the cable flexes and over time, there is bound to be fractures. With the a-JAYS flat tangle free cables, we do foresee that this could be the only design flaw, especially at the jacks. Yes, the a-JAYS comes with a handy travel hard case to store the earphones but seriously, some people are not going to be as anal about storage in their pocket.

We also heard that the latest a-JAYS Four iPhone (available in black and white) also handles calls, music with purposed built buttons for functional features. Overall, for those who are in the market for aftermarket earphones that does what it does well and has that solid built quality, great sound dynamics and stylish looks in an all round package, this is a highly recommended product. We loved our test unit so much, we bought one.

Contents:

a-JAYS One earphones, Silicone Rubber Sleeves (XXS-L sizes).

a-JAYS Two earphones, Silicone Rubber Sleeves (XXS-L sizes), Airplane Adapter, Stereo Splitter.

a-JAYS Three earphones, Silicone Rubber Sleeves (XXS-L sizes), Airplane Adapter, Stereo Splitter, Travel Case.

Specifications:

Driver: 8.6mm dynamic driver

Isolation: JAYS Sound Isolating System

Sensitivity: 97dB SPL @ 1 kHz

Impedance: 16 Ohm @ 1 kHz

Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 22 kHz range

Cord Length: 115 cm (45 inches)

Weight: 14 grams

Plug: Gold plated 3.5 mm stereo mini plug

2 Years Global Warranty.

www.jays.se