The Lion City roars with jazz

Wynton Marsalis said all jazz is fun. That’s what he emphasized the last time he toured Asia with the Lincoln Center Jazz Band.

He’s definitely right except that he forgot one thing: the emphasis. Marsalis forgot to stress the obvious: All jazz is great fun.

At the Singapore Jazz Festival, held from May 18 to 20, not only was jazz great fun, most of it was free, too. That’s right. For an entire weekend, the busy natives of Singapore relaxed, enjoyed the music and had great fun, without spending a dollar – well, maybe except for a dollar or two for a glass or two of draft Heineken beer.

The set-up was really simple. Except for the big acts performing at the Mainstage of the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center, the performances were staged in three separate open-air venues just a stone’s throw from each other.

Since the Festival was timed on a weekend, busy shoppers literally crowded around stages, with their shopping bags in tow, listening to the music for a minute or two, before proceeding to their next errand. If the music was lively enough – and what jazz isn’t – they would either sit on the ground or stand at the sides until the end of a set.

Since most of the free shows started at around 5 p.m. and ended as late as 11 p.m., you could just imagine how many shoppers were milling around the open areas of Suntec City. There was so much jazz that you could really stay on for hours, a drink in hand, a plate of curry, a bowl of laksa or a samosa in hand, to soak up on the music.

If you wanted dining comfort, an area was set up with picnic tables and canopies, surrounded by food outlets. A vidiwall broadcasted the concert ongoing at one of the outdoor stages. How comfortable could jazz get? How fun could jazz get?

The Singapore Jazz Festival was originally a component of the annual Singapore Arts Festival. The decision by the Festival organizers to spin off the event into a full-scale Festival was intended to make Singapore the new hot spot for jazz in Asia.

Festival chairman Clarence Pang said jazz in not something new to Singaporeans. With more than 150 artists participating in this Festival, it was the biggest grouping of jazz performers for a three-day celebration of music. The Festival program, crafted by Festival artistic director Jeremy Monteiro, offered a fabulous mix of traditional and contemporary jazz, catering to the varied tastes of jazz aficionados and those who are not familiar with the genre.

With the success of this year’s first Singapore Jazz Festival, the Festival organizers intend to continue with the endeavor. The triumph of the Festival was due to the generous support of Singapore Airlines, the event’s main sponsor, as well as Heineken and American Express as co-sponsors, with the support of the Singapore Tourism Board.

The biggest act at the Singapore Jazz Festival was, undoubtedly, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars. Fronted by Gillespie protégé Jon Faddis and led by bassist John Lee, it featured two of the biggest names in jazz, James Moody and Slide Hampton. The All-Stars members included pianist Benny Green, guitarist Ed Cherry and drummer Dennis Mackrel.

Coming just after the set of Terumasa Hino and The Asia/America All-Stars featuring chanteuse Jacintha Abisheganaden, you would realize how big an influence Gillespie had on later bands, and how much they benefited from Gillespie’s innovations on bebop. What Gillespie had fun with in the 1950s, later artists and jazz bands, like Hino, would elevate to a freewheeling improvisational celebration of melody.

Opening with one of Gillespie’s hits, Manteca, the band moved from high to high. Highlights included one of Gillespie’s Cu-bop originals Salt Peanuts, punctuated by Faddis’ falsettos of "salt peanuts, salt peanuts," and the unforgettable A Night in Tunisia, Gillespie’s immortal composition that has seen so many transmutations through all these years.

Moody, who recorded the number Groovin’ High with Gillespie in the 1950s, proved to be the band’s biggest asset, leading the All-Stars in two encores, after Faddis’ quick departure for the airport after their 45-minute set for a late Singapore Airlines flight back to New York City. After a vocal solo, that moved from a bluesy dialogue to rap, Moody brought Hampton to task with one of Gillespie’s inventive scat songs Oompapadap, a number that had the two jazzmen abandoning their saxophone and trombone, respectively, and scatting what they would normally be playing on their instruments. Not only did it end the evening in high spirits, it also proved to be an auspicious close to the Festival.

You would hear Gillespie (and more trumpet greats) in Terumasa Hino when he subjects his trumpet to play on a high screeching octave. Repeatedly, Hino would drive his trumpet on, playing it like you’ve never heard it played before. In contrast to Jacintha’s cool vocals – a detached The Lady Is A Tramp and a really involved ’Round Midnight – the Japanese trumpetist sizzled with high octane energy. Never mind that his spiels emphasize his poor English, but with his lip on the trumpet, you’d marvel at his playing. Forming The Asia/America All-Stars were guitarist Eugene Pao, bassist Jay Anderson, pianist Jeremy Monteiro, saxman Lee Jung Chic, drummer Michael Carvin and our very own Tots Tolentino.

If the Singapore Jazz Festival ended with bebop, it opened with a bang – with big band music, to be exact. The Thomson Big Band, featuring bassist Eldee Young and saxophonist Ernie Watts, is Singapore’s premier big band. Followed by the Woody Herman Orchestra with Frank Tiberi featuring Vanessa Rubin, it was a swinging celebration of jazz.

Eldee Young’s vocals on Teach Me Tonight and New York, New York proved to be winners, driving the audience to generous applause, almost drowning Watts’ soulful take on Lover Man. Teach Me Tonight became such a naughty number with his natural comic timing, while in New York, New York, he would imitate his double bass with his scatting. Jamming later with Watts on Bye Bye Blackbird, Young alternated between his double bass and his scatting, a duet that had the house stomping at his versatile display.

Young proved to be one of the most popular jazz personalities at the Festival; his later stints at the All-Star Variety Show and with his Friends of Singapore were much attended, proving that he was him one of the most approachable artists at the Festival.

The Woody Herman Orchestra provided the Festival’s most accessible music; almost every number they played was a hit song. With Vanessa Rubin adding her voice to a couple of songs, it proved to be the perfect opener for the Festival. Hits, like It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing, Four Brothers, Body And Soul, Woodchoppers’ Ball and a really stirring After You’ve Gone, were a tribute to the Orchestra’s ability to keep the oldies freshly minted. With Rubin on I’m Beginning To See The Light, A Time For Love, Speak Low and Since I Fell For You, Singaporeans were spoiled for songs. And what is great jazz music but a wonderful song?

Trust a gaggle of Filipino journalists to break the ice. At the welcome luncheon for the artists and participants to the Singapore Jazz Festival, as other fellow Asian journalists waited for an opportune moment to interview their chosen artists, we accosted all the big names in jazz, asking them for souvenir photographs, as well as ambush interviews, too.

Tuck and Patti were the group’s first victims. After much hesitation, we swooped on them like vultures, hopefully not spoiling their lunch.

Tuck Andress and Patti Cathhart have been performing together since the mid-1980s, enlarging the scope of what a singer and a guitarist can do together.

Patti said it well. Their duet was an exploration of what could be done with the resources they had then. It was a totally different combination, and they were quite surprised that they were well received. That their duet could exist amid the different genres of music prevalent during the time gave them the push to go on.

The possibilities remain endless, she added. Even if most of their material was popular music, "Popular music is not bad because a lot of people enjoy it. A lot of musicians who didn’t like pop music actually like the work we do."

A few moments later, a man in blue overalls stepped into the room, carrying a couple of shopping bags. One of us exclaimed, "Si James Moody, si James Moody!" James who? I was later to discover that Moody had a colorful role in Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a movie I have yet to see. No wonder he was easily recognized.

The old man had a mouthful to say, much of it concerned with perpetuating jazz traditions and teaching today’s young musicians these traditions.

A promise from Tuck and Patti that they would be singing Time after Time had us abandoning a plan to see the Filipino band Buhay, fronted by saxophonist Tots Tolentino. If it were a sin to miss Buhay for Tuck and Patti, I would definitely go to hell. But Tuck and Patti proved to be the real thing.

Tuck Andress played a dizzying guitar solo, Early Morning Music Box, which he described to be an exercise on inverted harmonics. Later accompanying Patti on Time after Time, that had Singaporeans singing lines of the song, and a couple more of their hits, Andress made his guitar sound like an orchestra. He slapped the strings, struck the guitar’s body, plucked it this way and that, and it was simply a surprise for someone used to Metro Manila’s sidewalk buskers. Patti herself was a wonder, not just singing her songs, but providing rhythm and an orchestra of sound that paralleled Andress’ playing. It’s no surprise that they’re not just a duet, but also husband-and-wife.

I left the hall after Tuck and Patti; they ruined the evening for me. How could Lee Ritenour possibly measure up? I know, I know, but love songs do it for me. No matter how great a guitarist Ritenour is, Patti’s Time after Time was simply the evening’s highlight.

I found the antidote to Tuck and Patti at the outdoor Gazebo Stage: Brazilian bossa nova. Guitarist Paulinho Garcia had already started with his program by the time I arrived. After a familiar sounding song, he started on a number of bossa nova classics, accompanied in a couple of numbers by saxophonist Greg Fishman, his partner in the duo Two for Brazil.

When he announced Tristezza, which he said was a song heard quite often during Carnival time, I was in Astrud Gilberto heaven. The songs came one after the other, all Gilberto standards. Berimbau and the final One Note Samba by Jobim put me in the mood for more music, for more bossa nova. How can a guitarist put a crowd into a hush?

By the time I moved on to the nearby Sky Stage, I got what I wished for: more bossa nova. The Friends of Singapore were just about to jam to Luiz Bonfa’s Samba de Orfeu. That song from Orfeu Negro is so child-like in its simplicity. If you have the soundtrack album, the most stark rendering of this song would be that chorus of street children singing wordlessly to the swinging melody. Here, that little ditty got tossed around like a multi-colored beach ball.

Eldee Young again drove the group to their best work, but drummer Redd Holt stole the show with his tambourine. Not only did he shake it or strike it with his fingers, he also played with it, providing fancy handwork, striking the tambourine on his elbow and shoulders. After a couple of minutes, he produced another tambourine and brought the house down.

The All-Star Variety Show brought the Festival’s principal artists to jam together. Vanessa Rubin guided the group in My Romance and Simone, before leaving them for what pianist Jeremy Monteiro described as something totally unheard of: jamming with two drummers and two bassists. He was quite optimistic about what the experiment would lead to when he declared just before they started, "See you on the other side." What else could we say after the concert? It was simply a mammoth experience.

The musicians who joined the Variety Show were Eldee Young, Ernie Watts, Lee Jung Chic, Tots Tolentino, Terumasa Hino, Redd Holt, Michael Carvin, Mei Sheum, Eugene Pao, Michael Veerapen, Jay Anderson, John van Deursen and Jeremy Monteiro.

After the break, it was time for Take 6, the a capella gospel quartet whose performing styles move from harmony, jazz and even rap and rock. If six guys can do anything, they very well can. Everything was livened up with upbeat evangelization. A truly super-dooper treat for a mellow Saturday afternoon.