Sunday morning jazz show delights young fans

Sunday morning jazz show delights young fans

JAKARTA (JP): There was something refreshingly new during Jak-
Jazz '94: A program offered up fresh on Sunday morning for the
jazz lovers that just could not stay out late.

Anyone one could guess from its name that "Sunday Student
Jazz" the event was meant for young jazz players. But that was
not the only "student" aspect of it. The entertainment package,
organized by a bunch of college students under the name of "Polim
Enterprise" tacked a "student-price" of Rp 10,000 (US$4.5) to its
tickets and drew a crowd of 1,000 mostly school-aged jazz fans.

"The Jak-Jazz main committee contacted us when they came up
with the idea of making use of Senayan's East Plaza area at
daybreak. They had to pay four days of rent to the Senayan Sports
Complex although they only used it at night," Budi from Polim
Enterprise explained. "But unfortunately we had to find our own
sponsors and contact all the players ourselves."

The fiesta featured high school jazz bands, such as Mahakam
Travelers, from SMA 6 Jakarta, SMA 68 Jakarta, SMA 3 Bandung and
college performers, such as ElJay from Atmajaya University, the
Trisakti University Jazz Band and the Pancasila University Jazz
Band, to name few. Several non-student performers, including the
all-police Polda Big Band, added verve to the student session.

Mezzoforte

The young jazz fans were also entertained by world-class jazz
players that added a touch of glory the student's festival.

The Embong Raharjo Project featuring American jazz maestro,
Michael Colina, and Mezzoforte, the Icelandic jazz group, were
among the groups that gave the morning a special meaning to the
young people gathered to play and listen.

Embong delighted the fans with magical tunes on his saxophone
and flute from his recent recordings. The songs included Gamelan
Girl composed by jazz ace Bob James. Michael Colina and Idang
Rasyidi, both played keyboards, enhancing Embong's sax session
for the audience composed mostly of young people who could not
stay up to catch the midnight performances of Jak Jazz `94.

But nobody can deny that Mezzoforte was the Sunday morning
party's zenith. The Icelandic fusion band hypnotized the jazz
fans for more than an hour with their easy listening tunes. The
favorite piece was the solo drum display by Klaas Klove, that
triggered a chorus of screams from female fans.

Humor slipped in when Eythor Gunnarson, who was on the
keyboard, tried to communicate with the fans in Bahasa Indonesia.
His brief message of Indonesian words was swept away by the wind,
leaving the crowd amused, but wondering what he was trying to
convey. The language lessons continued when Johann Asmundsson,
the bass player, chatted with Eythor in Icelandic so loudly that
the audience thought it was a sound-system foul-up.

"Hey, I've tried to talk in Bahasa Indonesia. So, can't you
try to talk in Icelandic," Eythor told the crowd.

The gala reached another high point with Garden Party, the
band's most famous hit.

The event ended an hour over schedule, only two hours before
the last day's events of Jak Jazz `94 commenced.

"The main Jak Jazz stage coordinator complained frequently to
me about messing up the schedule during Mezzoforte's extended
show, but they just couldn't do anything when the band was on
such a roll," Arif, the main stage program coordinator, said.
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