No Smoking at the Michael Franks show

By Lenah Susianty

JAKARTA (JP): It might have been the first smoke-free concert ever held in the country. The star of the grand opening of the Blue Note jazz club and restaurant, American jazz vocalist Michael Franks, asked spectators not to smoke.

"Please, please, we kindly ask you not to smoke, Michael Franks is allergic to smoke," Indonesian jazz musician Bill Saragih, the night's host, pleaded.

"Smoke is really hard to take, especially if you have to sing among smokers. Once I sang in a show in France and there was only smoke and more smoke, I got the impression that I smoked too," Michael Franks told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Therefore, it was not only a sophisticated but also a healthy concert. Opening with Learning what love means, taken from his latest album Dragonfly summer (1993), Franks greeted the audience with his unmistakable soft, tender and sensual voice. A voice which brought back the late 70s when one of Franks' songs, Antonio's song, inspired by a Latin-American guitarist Carlos Jobin, was popular here.

"Antonio was my hero in 1975. The song is a description of my friendship with him," said Franks, who celebrated 20 years in the music world last year.

However, Antonio's song was not included in the Blue Note's grand opening concert and the waiting audience had to be satisfied with other popular tunes like Lady wants to know, The cookie jar is empty, Your secret is safe with me and a duet, When I give my love for you, with his wonderful backing vocalist Veronica Nunn.

Franks, whose first album was The art of tea in 1975, has released 11 albums since then including: Dragonfly summer (1993), Blue Pacific (1990), The camera never lies (1987), Skin dive (1985), Passion Fruit (1983), Object of desire (1982), One bad habit (1980), Tiger in the rain (1979), Burchfield nines (1978) and Sleeping Gypsy (1977).

Japanese audience

Clad in blue jeans, a white shirt, a gray blazer and white tennis shoes, Franks entertained the guests at the opening until midnight. He was accompanied by Charles Blenzig on keyboard, Chris Hunter on flute and saxophone, Clint de Ganon on drums, Jay Azzolina on guitar and Chulo Gatewood on bass.

Realizing that some of the guests were Japanese, the target market of New York-based Blue Note club which has opened three clubs in Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka, Franks inserted Rainy night in Tokyo into his repertoire.

"Seven of September, remember when we met at the shrine, your kimono was so fine," sang Franks, who wrote the song in Tokyo on his wedding anniversary.

His voice, "natural, without vibration, full of air and without point," laughed Franks, blended well with the pollution- free air as he whispered and articulated each of the 13 contemporary jazz songs in his repertoire.

"I think my music is a mixing of a variety of jazz. It is not mainstream jazz, but sort of a hybrid version, a molecule of jazz which is influenced by a great range of variety from Brazilian music to blues," Franks said, admitting that he is always confused when people ask about the genre of his music.

He said his specific way of singing is also influenced by other famous names such as Astrud Gilberto and Peggy Lee.

Some jazz musicians say it is a pop-jazz, others refuse to include him in the jazz musicians' list. However, Franks collaborated with jazz musicians like the Yellow Jackets, Dave Koz and Paulinho Da Costa in his Dragonfly summer album which contains the hit How I remember you.

The lover of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings acknowledged that his songs are often inspired by the paintings he adores. Tiger on the rain, Woman in the waves and Vincent's ear strongly demonstrate Franks' admiration for French painter Paul Gauguin.

The warm one-and-half-hour concert ended with the 1985 Top 40 hit Popsicle toes. The concert was like listening to a Michael Franks' album since almost all of the musical arrangements were very faithful to the original recordings.

"I always encourage my band's members to express their musical style, I even give them a chance to perform instrumental solos. However, sometimes we are very faithful," Franks explained.

Franks will perform every night at 8:30, until Sept.3, at the club located at Atrium Square in Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta.(als)