Singapore nurtures emerging jazz scene

By Harry Bhaskara

SINGAPORE (JP): Whatever is said about the growing interest of jazz on this island state, it is certain that numerous Singaporeans have contributed to it in their own unique ways.

They are too many to name but certainly people like Jim Gelpi, Jeremy Monteiro, Eddie Pong and David Humphreys fit the bill.

They are the sort of people who came from a humble beginning, struggling from one single jazz jam session to another.

"If there is one person whose contribution to jazz music here has been tremendous, it is Jeremy Monteiro," Gelpi said.

Monteiro has reason to be proud this week. The first international jazz festival in this city state seems like the icing on the cake to top off his illustrious career.

Switzerland's Swing magazine called him "one of the best exponents of jazz piano" in 1988. Four years later, he produced the Ernie Watts album Stand Up.

Gelpi who looks more like an artist than a former Vietnam war veteran is a music entrepreneur.

He has this to say of Monteiro, "He is a prodigy and he is very easy to talk to as a person."

Gelpi recalled the day he first time met Monteiro several years ago.

"He was playing the piano in a jam session. I talked to him afterwards," Gelpi said.

Gelpi's contribution to jazz and nightlife in Singapore is no less significant. Anyone enjoying a good time at Boat Quay and its vibrant nightlife should be indebted to him.

"They called it a crazy idea," Gelpi recalled his friends' reaction to his plan to turn a dilapidated building into a music cafe.

Now, the cafe, called Harry's Bar is one of the most well- known hangouts for jazz lovers.

"At that time, nobody believed that a music bar in this location could flourish," he recalled.

In 1992, what was then to be known as Boat Quay, was an array of dilapidated warehouses and buildings.

"This building was formerly a bank. Its wall is 14 inches thick," he added.

The bar was not a swanky place at all to begin with, which contributed a lot to the warmth and casual atmosphere of the place. Secondly, it was not at all spacious. The main room where a band from San Francisco, Chroma Zone, was playing is a mere six by four meters with an opening onto adjoining rooms.

The almost-always jam-packed hall helps make quick rapport between customers and musicians alike.

Beebe Price, Harry's Bar jazz singer from San Francisco, said she was very surprised at the response to jazz music in Singapore.

"They are a very appreciative audience," she said.

Price said she felt uneasy when she left the United States to live in an Asian country for the first time.

"Many tears were shed," she said, "but now I feel really at home here. The people are very warm."

Like most music cafes and river-side eateries in this area, owners or tenants gave their buildings a face-lift while retaining their original shape. They are a row of colorful and lively entertainment places at night with a strong historical flavor.

In the early days of the cafe, Gelpi said, it was not unusual to find customer-cum-musicians in his cafe communicating only in music.

"One may have been Spanish, another American and another German. They did not communicate well in English but they could communicate well in the universal language of jazz," Gelpi said.

Nowadays, one can find a number of equally vibrant nightlife spots in the city including Clarke Quay, Muhammed Sultan Road, Holland Village.

The healthy growth of the jazz-loving community comes from a combination of entrepreneurs, devoted musicians, music lovers and, of course, the government.

The cosmopolitan culture of the island state is certainly a help.

Popping into Aubreys bar near Orchard Road over the weekend, for instance, is a testament to this. About 20 musicians lined up waiting their turn to play in the cozy bar. It is a weekly rendezvous for both customers and jazz musicians alike.

The musicians are students, executives, as well as professionals. They are American, Japanese, Filipino and Singaporean, both male and female. They come into the bar bringing their own musical instruments.

Eddie Pong, an architect by profession, is one of them. Claiming to be a jazz lover since a tender age, he now heads the famous local band, the Thomson big band.

"When we started about two years ago there were only 16 members," he said at Aubreys, "now there are more than a hundred."

Eddie who did not play a musical instrument until recently played the vibraphone that night.

Keith Pereira, proprietor of Aubreys, said he started jazz week-end jam sessions only three months ago but it quickly won a regular clientele of jazz aficionados.

"Jazz musicians pour in to the bar and quite often there is not enough time for them all to show off their prowess," he said

David Humphreys, an American who played the saxophone that night, said interest in jazz passed through peaks and troughs.

"The upcoming jazz festival is a boost, of course, but there are other elements apart from the artists such as the media, jazz lovers and the sponsors," he said.

Humphreys, a jazz DJ at Passion 99FM, said a synergy of these elements would decide the sustainable interest in jazz music.

Singapore is gearing up to become a cultural hub in the Asia Pacific region.

Next year it will inaugurate the esplanade, a theater claiming to be of international standards, in Singapore bay.

Benson Puah, a hotelier by profession and now CEO of the esplanade, said the esplanade which will be able to house thousands of spectators is scheduled to be inaugurated in October next year.

The plan, he said, had been on ice for a long time.

"After decades of economic development, Singaporeans need to develop their appreciation of culture," he told The Jakarta Post.