Alice Day performs from the heart

Alice Day performs from the heart

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): The Regent is having a party. And it is not just
any party but a jazz party. In fact the party started nearly four
months ago with the arrival in town of the melodious Monica
Crosby, Florida's first lady of jazz.

Monica returned home recently after having converted a
considerable number of people here into hardened jazz fans with
the promise that Alice Day will continue to provide to the city
its daily dose of jazz.

At a unique hand-over concert at the hotel's bar Alice and
Monica sang in electrifying union to the accompaniment of the
local jazz giant Kiboud Maulana and his Blues Band.

Most of those who witnessed the singing went home that evening
saying that they had not had a musical experience like this one
in a long time in Jakarta. All of this was followed by the
Regent's first impromptu jazz party when Alice jammed with the
best musicians in town -- Ireng Maulana, Bubi Chen, Idang
Rasjidi, Syaharani, Embong Rahardjo, Jefry Tahalelel, Benny
Mustapha and Deviana -- making music till the early hours of the
next morning, the effect of which was to say the least,
mesmerizing.

This might give the impression that a lot of jazz is already
over. This is true but the good news is that the best is perhaps
still to come, for example when Bill Saragih pays tribute to
Louis Armstrong from 10 pm onwards on July 4.

Meanwhile Jazz Mama Alice who is the new resident singer at
the hotel continues to shatter the silence at the Regent Bar and
will do so till the end of August with her sonorous singing. She
has traveled all the way from her native Florida, USA, for her
first visit to Jakarta where audiences have been swept off their
feet watching her oozing endless vitality and a sense of humor
that is infectious.

A natural entertainer, Alice has been singing the Blues for
over 40 years starting as a back-up singer to the great Julian
"Cannonball" Adderly.

While growing up in Miami Alice took to singing at church at
the age of three years and immediately attracted attention for
her sonorous voice.

Over the years jazz has become an inseparable part of her
personality.

Today she goes around the globe on lecture and performing
tours with the belief that if jazz, as a distinct form of
American music, is to thrive, then it must be shared worldwide.

Apart from the superb quality of her voice, seeped in decades
of experience in Gospel and Blues music, the other wonderful
aspect of Alice is her instant rapport with her listeners who are
not only entertained but also teased endlessly by her.

Ireng Maulana, 55, who has participated in numerous
international festivals and has dedicated his entire life to
promoting not just jazz, but all kinds of music, told The Jakarta
Post that he experiences a special kind of joy performing with
Alice.

"She is not calculating. She does not think. Alice performs
from the heart. She is spontaneous and straightforward and it is
a pleasure to share the stage with her".

Thrilled at the countless crowds that thronged to the jazz
party, Ireng is watching with bated breath the increasing
interest of the city in jazz music. After having been introduced
to jazz by the Dutch, most of the young Indonesian musicians
moved on to more lucrative professions from playing in bands at
clubs and bars patronized by the colonial powers before
independence. While jazz has thrived in other parts of the world
in the last half century, in Indonesia it is still struggling to
keep even the small niche it occupies.

Jack Leksmana, the father of local jazz refused to let go and
died playing music. But not before the grand old musician's love
for music had given birth to a small group of jazz addicts,
including son Indra, and other admirers like Ireng and older
brother Kiboud.

With the end of the New Order regime of former president
Soeharto two years ago there seems to be a rekindling of
interest for jazz here. Three years ago Ireng was invited by
Shangri-La to play once a week at Bats, the hotel's funky bar
with an ambience of a New York eatery after dark.

"I love spending my Sunday evenings playing at BATs but
jamming with Alice is something else...," says Ireng looking
forward to many more performances together.

The other jazz performances to look out for at the Regent is
the New Orleans Dixieland Barbecue Night every Saturday, the mid-
summer concert of contemporary jazz with Deviana Daudsjah and
friends on July 21, saxophones in concert with Embong Raharjo,
Didi SSS and Sutrisno, the thunderous three tenors on August 18
and Japanese fusion jazz with on Sept. 9.