Jak Jazz: A series of pleasant surprises

By Paul W. Blair

JAKARTA (JP): There were numerous surprises on the opening evening of the fourth Jakarta International Jazz Festival at Plaza Timur in Senayan on Tuesday evening. That's very much in the tradition of an elaborate now-annual event being pulled together again this week by an energetic team of local volunteers who were nailing down last-minute details even as the first band were beginning to perform.

For example, the scenic backdrop on at least one stage was being hand-painted while the opening band was preparing to count off the tempo for its first tune.

The essential Jakarta character of Jak Jazz is being reinforced by an abundance of tasty Betawi snack foods available on the festival grounds, by the sight of ondel-ondel and umbul- umbul decorations everywhere and by the inclusion of some extremely colorful traditional music. For instance, guests at the opening night party were greeted by a gambang kromong troupe made up of singers and dancers all under the age of ten.

Best of all, there were plenty of musical surprises. Because certain critical electronic components on Eddie Monteiro's computerized MIDI-linked accordion were acting up, local listeners had the chance to hear him play acoustically with a group made up of Bubi Chen and the Patisselano Brothers.

"But we're not honoring requests for Lady of Spain," he cautioned the audience.

Instead, they were treated to A Night in Tunisia.

The duo comprised of saxophonist Fumio Itabashi and pianist Kazutoki Umezi (the latter resplendent in a bright orange suit) delighted listeners with their rippling interplay. Fumio began by playing two saxophones (an alto and a soprano) simultaneously. From time to time, Kazutoki generated rhythmic patterns on the keyboard with his left hand while tapping with his right on small drums secreted inside the piano.

The Krzysztof Scieranski Trio from Poland, familiar from two previous Jak Jazz appearances, had somehow become a quintet by the time they arrived in town, thanks to the addition of two more members: keyboard player Janusa Skowron from Warsaw and singer Marek Batata from Krakow.

One of the nicest surprises comes with hearing any adventuresome new musical group for the first time. Georgie Fame's aggregation from Britain is a good example.

"People know me as Georgie Fame," says the singer-pianist, "because a promoter I worked for back in the early Sixties gave the name to me. He was the same fellow who'd named Billy Fury and Marty Wild. And he told me straight out, 'Look, if you don't use that name, I won't use you in my shows'."

"I used to play piano and organ behind some of the American rockers who were touring Britain around that time: people such as Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. Eddie was doing Ray Charles tunes in his shows, songs like What'd I Say? and Hallelujah I Love Her So. Well, my friends and I have never heard material like that before. We went absolutely bananas. When we began listening to records by Ray and other people like him, a whole new world opened up. I even remember the month: March, 1960."

"Soon after that, I was part of a quartet playing at a little jazz club called The Flamingo in Wardour Street in Soho. Around that time during a brief out-of-work period, I happened to be staying in the flat of a friend who had a small but very good jazz album collection: Cannonball Adderly, Chet Baker, King Pleasure, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk with Art Blakey. I spent my days listening to them. More stimulation."

Georgie Fame is performing at Jak Jazz '94 with a group that includes sons Tristan on guitar and James on drums, along with trumpeter Guy Barker, flute player Ellen Helmus and a new musical associate on bass.

"His name is Bambang. We met for the first time on Tuesday evening, had just a few minutes of rehearsal together, then went off to Bandung to play on Wednesday evening. I think he's absolutely great. As I told the Bandung audience in a little speech at the end of the night, I've made so many wonderful friends through this music -- my best friends, really -- and now I get to work with them all over the world. I don't even have an agent or manager anymore. No 18-page contracts with lots of clauses. Just a telephone call to find out what kind of gig it is and what time I should arrive."

Georgie's Thursday evening set in Senayan was, therefore, only his second with this same personnel. He notes that his sons are playing with him on the basis of merit, not nepotism. Tristan, he says, is also a full-time recording engineer who works a lot at Abbey Road Studio in London.

"And Guy Barker? I first ran into him at a big band recording session five or six years ago. I believe he's one of the best trumpet players out there but only now gaining the international reputation he deserves. He's played behind Sinatra and recorded with Sting. He's the most expressive trumpeter I've ever worked with.

"I live out in the English countryside on a farm in Somerset but I don't get to stay there for extended periods these days. In fact, most of my work is in countries other than England. Sometimes I do shows with just the family trio. Other times, I'm out with the larger group I still call The Blue Flames or I'm working with a big band somewhere. We flew into Jakarta after playing for several nights at a club in Hong Kong owned by four jazz-loving lawyers."

"On Monday morning, I'm flying to Sweden for eight concerts with a local orchestra. A friend there keeps about two-dozen of my arrangements in his office for contingencies like this. When I walk in, the band's already been rehearsed and is sounding very good. In the months ahead, I'm probably heading for Capetown, then to a few dates in Australia, then into Ronnie Scott's other jazz club in Birmingham."

The Fame group opened their set on Thursday with a Ray Charles tune, then followed it with Moondance, composed years ago by Van Morrison, a frequent collaborator of Georgie's. He says that while the electronic music generally called fusion never really interested him, his current repertoire ranges all the way from Fats Domino classics to songs composed by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane to which he's written lyrics.

An interviewer notes that the name Georgie Fame is probably familiar these days to just about every citizen of the U.K. Long ago, he crossed over from the limited jazz audience into far wider public consciousness. "Well," he responds, "thanks to Ray Charles, I can go back and forth over that bridge as often as I like, doing just about anything; from the furthest-out jazz to standards that Hoagy Carmichael wrote before I was even thought of."

Georgie Fame's band plays this evening on the Natura Stage from 11:15 p.m. to midnight. Tonight's Jak Jazz '94 line-up includes several Indonesian artists and ensembles (Simak Dialog, the Pattiselano Brothers, Bill Saragih's trio, Trigonia, singer Nenden and the Jak Jazz All-Stars with guest Coco York), along with The Percussion Orchestra (whose members come from Switzerland, Iran, India, Ghana and Senegal), French pianist Antoine Herve's trio, the Fumio/Itabashi duo from Japan, the Schieranski quintet from Poland, American guitarist Randy Bernsen, Claudio Ragazzi's two-guitar quintet from Boston, ITSLYF from Austria, the Jeremy Monteiro-Terumasa Hino joint venture quintet and an acoustic quartet from Holland called Basily that plays gypsy jazz in the spirit of Django Reinhardt. Singer Phil Perry performs with the Jakarta All-Stars at 10:30 p.m. on the Arena Stage. Candy Dulfer's group begins on the main stage at 11:15 p.m., followed by Japanese fusion band Casiopea at midnight. A jam session with Bubi Chen & Friends brings the music to a close around 2:30 a.m. All-inclusive tickets for this evening cost Rp. 25,000 and are readily available at the gate.