Jak Jazz: A series of pleasant surprises

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.