Jazz luminaries to entertain Jakartans

Jazz luminaries to entertain Jakartans

By Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): The A Mild JakJazz '96 festival opens this
evening at the Gelanggang Mahasiswa Soemantri Brodjonegoro arena
in Kuningan, South Jakarta. For three days, Jakarta's jazz lovers
will be entertained by 43 groups, including 36 locals and seven
foreigners.

Veteran saxophonist Sadao Watanabe from Japan is one of the
best known headliners this year. His standard jazz style has
earned him legions of fans here, both young and old. Throughout
his career, the 63-year-old Japanese legend has toured around the
world in support of such hit albums as California Shower, Hunt
Upwind and Elis, which stayed on the American jazz charts for
weeks in 1989.

His alma mater, Berklee College of Music in Boston, awarded
him an honorary doctorate degree last year and the emperor of
Japan honored him with the Purple Ribbon Medal the same year.

At this sixth JakJazz festival he will team up with
Indonesian saxophonist Embong Rahardjo and young jazz rock
saxophonist Eric Merienthal from the U.S.

Mezzoforte from Iceland is back to greet the many fans they
earned at the past two JakJazz festivals. The quartet from
Reykjavik has just released its last album, which contains
Jakarta Dream, a song written in commemoration of the group's
participation in the 1994 JakJazz festival.

The group will perform with the same lineup of Gunnlauger
Briem on drums, Eythor Gunnarson on keyboards, Johnny Asmundsson
on bass and Fridrik Karlsson on guitar.

American guitarist Mike Stern is also expected to lure many to
the festival. Some Jakartans were lucky enough to witness his
guitar magic at the Blue Note last year. His time spent playing
with such diverse groups as Blood, Sweat & Tears, Miles Davis,
Billy Cobham, Jaco Pastorius and the Brecker Brothers has helped
him to create a style of his own that mixes rock, jazz, blues and
bebop. Guitar Player magazine even named him America's best
guitarist in 1993.

Stern this time will team up with Richie Morales on drums and
Jeff Andrews on bass. Andrews also joined Stern at the Blue Note
club last year.

Ethnojazz

The festival will also feature Itslyf, a "multinational" group
of musicians from Austria, India, Indonesia and the U.S. The
group caught the attention of international jazz observers when
it released its debut album of "ethnojazz" called hepCaolin,
released on PAO records/Polygram a few years back.

The leader of the band is Austrian vocalist/trombonist Paul
Zauner, a well-known jazz innovator in Europe. At the festival he
will be accompanied by Franz Hackl on trumpet, Thomas Kugl on
saxophone, David Gilmore on guitar, Kenny Davis on bass and Gene
Jackson on drum. Two of the musicians on hepCaolin, Pawan Kumar,
a world-acclaimed tabla player from India, and Jalu Pratidina, an
Indonesian kendang (drum) player, will not play this weekend for
reasons unknown.

Young American saxophonist Eric Marienthal is the other big
attraction scheduled for the main stage, along with Sadao
Watanabe, Mezzoforte, Mike Stern and Itslyf. Merienthal will be
accompanied by local musicians Aminoto Kosim on keyboard, Indro
on bass, Tohpati on guitar and Uce on drum.

Women

Although dominated by male players, past JakJazz festivals
have featured a handful of women. This year, the festival has
invited the all-lady group Inside Out. This modern jazz group is
made up of composer/bassist Belinda Moody from Australia,
vocalist/composer Clare Foster from Britain, arranger/pianist Mei
Shun from Singapore, composer/saxophonist Fiona Burnet from
Australia and drummer Carola Grey from the U.S.

This will be the fourth appearance at JakJazz for Moody but a
first for the others.

Los Caballeros, currently playing at Jamz, is the only non-
jazz group playing at the festival. The group is expected to
perform such Latin favorites as Volare, Bamboleo, Macarena and
Marina.

The local participants scheduled to play are Bill Saragih,
Embong Rahardjo, Dewa Bujana Trio, Indra Lesmana, Tamam Husein
and his band, TNT Explosion, Inang-Iwang-Yance, Gilang Ramadhan,
Zithermania and Chlorophyll, PIG, David Ades, Elfa Seciora and
his big band, Kiboud Maulana and his blues band, Budi Haryono,
Eric Yusuf and DKSB Idea band, Krakatau, Ireng Maulana Eet
Sjachranie, Simak Dialog, Plastik, Kamadatu, Edo Voodoo, Oele
Pattiselano, Lydhian Band, Mathari Band, Four Brothers and the
Erz Brothers.

Apart from the country's more established jazz musicians,
JakJazz '96 will feature newcomers like the UI School of
Economics Band, Jazz Campus and the Akpar Trisakti group. Though
relegated to performing in the food court area, their shows
should not be overlooked. They represent the generation that will
replace Bill Saragih and Ireng Maulana, and it is the young
musicians that will determine the shape of JakJazz festivals to
come.