Bob James delivers top-notch performance

Bob James delivers top-notch performance

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The fun part of watching a live jazz performance is
the improvisations and also the occasional interchanges -- nods,
smiles and glances -- between musicians, which keep them on the
same wavelength.

The fun is heightened when all the players are seasoned and
have jammed together dozens of times before.

This was the case with the Bob James concert at the Shangri-La
Hotel in Jakarta on Dec. 11.

Bob James on piano, Jack Lee on guitar, Nathan East on bass
and vocals and Lewis Pragasam on drums -- dressed casually, which
fashionistas might lament -- gave a top-notch performance.

Playing six jazz compositions from his old and new albums as
well as Fourplay's albums, James, 65, demonstrated his comfort
in the genre 40 years into his career.

Fourplay's bassist East, 50, sometimes stole the attention
from James with his superb bass playing.

However, his vocals are apparently not as superb as his bass
playing as he seemed hesitant singing James' new composition from
the Angels of Shanghai album, recently released in South Korea.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, like James himself said
before they played the song, it was East's first live performance
of the song.

"Forgive him if he forgets the words," James said jokingly.

Asianergy band members, South Korean Jack Lee, who has been
playing with James for 10 years, and Malaysian Lewis Pragasam put
in a quality performance, proving that jazz has found its place
in Asian culture.

Gita I. Wirjawan, the president director of JPMorgan Chase
Bank in Jakarta who also acted, through his company Omega
Pacific, as the organizer of the event, took the opportunity to
demonstrate his music skills.

James modestly invited Gita to the stage, explaining that they
met and played piano together in Singapore.

He relinquished the seat in front of the acoustic piano to
Gita, took the seat in front of a keyboard, and played Gita's
composition Morning Walk.

Erasing the audience's doubt about the relatively obscure
pianist, Gita, who studied at the Julliard School of Music before
becoming a banker, was a pleasure to listen to,in spite of his
self-deprecating opener that he would probably put a dampener on
the audience's enjoyment of the night.

After a standing ovation, Bob James was back on stage alone
and invited pianist Idang Rasjidi, who played for the opening
concert with vocalist Tompi, to the stage.

James explained that the previous day he had visited Idang's
studio in Jakarta, where he learned gamelan pentatonic tunes from
Idang.

"We played for an hour and now I want to relive the feeling,"
James said.

Clearly, he managed to relive the feeling and somehow shared
it with the audience. The fervor, the passion, the exuberance of
making music.

The concert is scheduled to tour to Bandung on Dec. 12 and to
Denpasar on Dec. 13.

James will perform at the Bangkok Jazz Festival with Fourplay
as well as with the Angels of Shanghai Ensemble on Dec. 17 and
Dec. 18.

Angels of Shanghai is James' latest project, which blends
Chinese traditional and modern jazz music.

-- profile of Bob James on Page 20