Grooving Out in town: A Map of Jazz Spots

Ve Handojo, Contributor, Jakarta

As trumpeter Nat Adderley pointed out, jazz must remain creative to enable pop music to have somewhere to go in later years.

Let's look back to the Diana Krall concert here last August. We see people sprawled around the venue, dressed in their best clothes, trying to act sophisticated and yet they still do not have the sophistication to switch off their cellular phones. These folks later complained about how boring the concert was.

There are two ways to get rid off this irony. First, avoid jazz concerts and attend bing-badda-boom Japanese DJs gigs. Second, try enjoying jazz performances on relatively smaller scale in local clubs.

Some clubs and hotel lounges have "jazz" nights, presenting groups singing classics like The Girl from Ipanema, Besame Muchos and Route 66.

But when I was sitting alone recently in the bar of Klub 45 at Jl. Mahakam I No. 17, South Jakarta, on Sunday night, I stumbled upon a striking performance by pianist/vocalist Tjut Njak Deviana Daudsjah. She covered numbers like Summertime, Mercy Mercy Mercy and If with such depth and power that most of the audience was left in awe.

A long time music lecturer in Germany and Switzerland, this Acehnese lady and her jazz troupe jams there every Sunday night starting at 8 p.m.

At the recent performance, ex-Dewa drummer Wong Aksan Syuman joined this flock to lift up the night with his stylish sort of beats. In some performances, guest musicians from Germany and other countries also appeared.

The music blended with the chatter of dining guests and with the sound of a pool game in the back. The groovy tunes matched the old Colonial style of decor with terracotta tiling and photographs of old Batavia.

Klub 45 has a group of regular customers every Sunday night, and it is slowly becoming a warm unpretentious community. Nevertheless, the friendly bartender will not let you feel like an alien if you are new or a loner. Tell him your name and he'll remember it. Tell him your mood and he'll bring you the fix. If you are too shy to socialize, just order their Caipiroschka, which is so far the best in town. And if you want something to bite, their Haagen-Dasz-topped poffertjes are very mouthwatering.

"So, you like jazz? Chic!" bluffs a snobbish noise. While some local people still seemingly consider jazz an upper class taste of music, Taman Ria Jaya Ancol has this effort to bring jazz closer to the public by holding Friday Jazz Night at Pasar Seni every Friday night.

Located on an open-air stage, Friday Jazz Night invites all sorts of crowds: Suburban newly-weds, young couples, grandparents and herds of youngsters. The atmosphere is friendly and rather relaxing, with the entire smile and the warmth in the faces of the people who come for music and music only.

Sitting on the floor, everybody seems to pay real attention to the performers. Friday Jazz Night presents different performers every week from all range of style and quality.

The night I came, however, Baby Joel was performing on the stage that seems to be larger than life with tacky embellishment, but the sound engineer thought it was Billy Joel. So, he made all the instruments screaming for fame and glory and the female vocalist screamed louder and louder.

She seemed to forget that in jazz songs are not sung but interpreted. That's why her version of L-O-V-E had no life but a demonstration of go-up, go-down, go-right and go-left sort of vocal. My ears were innocently punished when she tried to imitate Sade's Smooth Operator. When the tragedy reached its climax in Baby Blue, I decided to save my life and leave.

A no-nonsense jazzy evening was what I found at, of all the locations, the food court of Pasar Festival, on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta. In between, row of junk foods, a bunch of shoppers and screaming toddlers, top notched musicians Ireng Maulana and friends add something to it every Friday evening starting at 6 p.m.

Pasar Festival is surely unstylish but that can mean easygoing as well. Pick up your meal and sit down neatly in one of the tables and enjoy the music. Make no mistake; it wasn't second class music at all.

While I was enjoying A&W's curly fries, Ireng and his friends opened the show with a good rendering of Carlos Santana's Elvaro. The boisterous sound system, however, was not a hindrance for them to present a jamming and jumping music attraction. Bob James's Angela followed the number and it was even better. A nice dreamy ambience immensely filled this place making people stopped chewing their greasy fried chicken.

The vocalists also did a good job in performing a smooth version of In This Love Together. Nevertheless, I packed up and left when he sang A Whole New World and a starving family immediately took my table. Sorry to keep you waiting, but it was such a lovely evening.

I've heard rumors that Jamz has already lost its touch since they moved from the old humble-but-real location in Jl. Panglima Polim, South Jakarta, to the Aston Hotel, Jl. Garnisun Dalam, Central Jakarta. But the girl at the ticket booth warned me both the pub and lounge were full and I would have to stand up. I took it as an encouraging sign, so I paid the Rp 20,000 entrance fee.

A local band called Wong Pitoe was performing in the pub, and yes, it was so packed that I could only see people's backs. From the television monitor outside, I could see them performing some pop numbers so I thought my feet shouldn't suffer as much as my ears.

The lounge called New Orleans lounge was also full. Chlorophyl (with one l) band was on the stage, playing Incognito's. It was lively and totally awesome that I forgot all the bad rumors about Jamz.

The performance could distract me from the pretentious sort of neo-yuppies filling the venue, with their blank staring eyes, their mismatched fashion and their snobbish postures. The White Jamz, recommended by the not-so-friendly bartender, flowed through my throat to redeem their sins.

Other instrumental numbers gave Chlorophyl a wide space to show their talents. The pianist and lead guitarist grabbed the most attention by being very warm and responsive.

That was until the vocalist came up on stage and tried to draw all the attention to himself. He did well in Come With Me, but something in his wannabe attitude started to disturb the show.

Meanwhile, the youngsters in the corner kept requesting Jamiroquai songs, and I started to wonder whether this vocalist with shades could deliver. Finally he did two numbers, including Cosmic Girl, which thankfully was OK, despite his mispronunciations.

Until the guy sang That's What Friends Are For and started to act like Stevie Wonder (oh, so that's what the shades are for!). That was my signal to leave.

A walking distance from a row of dangdut (local music with strong Arab/Indian influence) bars in Blora is a new swanky club called burgundy (the b is lowercase) at the Grand Hyatt hotel, Central Jakarta. An ingenious replacement of the tacky O'Rileys, burgundy, just as the name foretells, is dressed in dark red.

From the lobby of the hotel, we could see a silhouette of the crowd under the green and red shades. The glassy interior combined with low lights makes burgundy look transparent and private at the same time. Unlike O'Rileys, burgundy has strict rules of no thongs, no shorts and no sandals, that will hopefully result in no Hard Rock chicks.

New York pianist Greg McKenzie was on stage, accompanied by the Mood Indigo band. Starting 8 p.m. every night, this vodka and martini bar has the coolest live jazz music in town. For those who are starved for authentic jazz music, this is the place to go.

Everything works here: The rotating bar settees, the comfy couches, the friendly bartenders, the ever-smiling usherettes and waiters, the small cigar corner that sort of had the same relaxing effect as aromatherapy does, the sound system that still allows you to chit chat without screaming even when the music is playing and also the menu.

The menu covers all sorts of martini and vodka cocktails which are worth sipping one by one. The Burgundy Crush is fresh, sharp and striking, while the Chocolate Martini looks pale, but tastes dark and smoothly arousing.

But burgundy's signature is the Oyster Shooters, a pair of shot glasses filled with fresh oysters, tomato salsa and vodka. This is a daring challenge that blends Mexican heat with tender oysters, thus making it a fatal aphrodisiac. You have to swallow it in one quick gulp; no chewing, no thinking.

The presence of these jazz spots in many ways indicates a growing appreciation of jazz in Jakarta. Hopefully, this will make us learn how to switch off our cellular phones during the next jazz concert.