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Jazz
Jazz on the beach
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| JUDGING FROM the crowd and the overflow of cars parked on both sides of the Telok Bahang road, jazz - born in New Orleans and nurtured in Spartan conditions on river boats - has certainly come to Penang. And to the question that the jazz writer Nicholson asks: "Is jazz dead?" the answer must surely be, certainly not in Penang where the welcoming crowd is sentimental and nostalgic and not searching for fiercely innovative pioneers of new music to revive their jaded ears. Farid Ali with his gambus boldly announced that jazz has begun put down its native roots. 
We can say with confidence that the Second Penang Jazz Festival was
a great success. The programme was rich and varied. On Saturday, we heard
Wilson Quah's Penang Areca Jazz Ensemble with Colleen Read and Ruby Rozells;
Shanon Shah & Sufiah Noor; the Zailan Razak Project; Steve White from
the USA; the Greg Lyons Nonet; and from Indonesia, Saharadja. On Sunday the
Penang Areca Jazz Ensemble appeared again with Ruby Rozells & Kathleen
Rodrigues. They were followed by Jaia from Japan; the David Gomes Jazz
Trio; South Korea's Lazy Monday; Mr. Gambus band with Chie Hanawa,
and the Randy Bernsen Group of the USA.It was the Indonesian jazz fusion group Saharadja that caught the fancy of the crowd on the first night. And of course that veteran at the drums Lewis Pragasam was there, beating it up in the Randy Bernsen Goup. |
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three Berkleee graduates at this meet: Wilson Quah, who revealed himself
as a swinging jazz player when all these years his talents had been hidden
by palm court music at various hotels; we also got to know and the keyboard
player arranger and producer Mac Chew. We are told that Mac Chew
is a player who makes one green with envy. But we didn't hear him much
this time; there was also Greg Lyons who captured us with his sax.
The evening's golden gift was Farid Ali on gambus playing with Chie Hanawa of Japan with her shamisen, a marriage of instruments which turned out to be a happy affair. If jazz stays alive in this country it must cling on with the aid of indigenous instruments like the gambus. Farid Ali is a pioneer to be reckoned with. We wondered what Lazy Monday was doing at this festival. While jazz has created smooth jazz, fusion jazz to keep popular surely this festival has no place for the type of frenzied, angry noise that the group bellowed forth. Half the crowd drifted away at this stage A group of young untried musicians ( saxes and trumpet) showed remarkable talent at the jam sessions that followed the nightly performances. Wilson Quah has done a good job here. Jazz is alive and kicking among the young. David Gomez and wife Junji Delfino were, in these heady nights of music, a welcome mountain breeze sweeping down to the sea in the middle of the night through a medley of exhilarating sounds. The musicians at the Festival were not selfish as they showed in the workshops and the discussions organized for the Festival. # END NOTES: ZAILAN RAZAK is a graduate of Cornell College and Arizona State University. He is a contract music lecturer in music performance at the Department of Music, Performing Arts Faculty of UiTM. He is also an arranger, producer and musical director. His six year old percussionist son, Danial Razak plays with him.. FARID ALI is known as Mr Gambus. He has released a CD ATurning Point.@ He has performed at the Art Alive Jazz Festival in Johannesburg and performed with the Paris Orchestra at UNESCO's 60th Anniversary in Paris. He runs his own website SHARADJA are from Indonesia have performed in Johannesburg and Cape Town. They have released an album One World with a piece of Afro-Celtic funk and Brahms' Hungarian Dance with a didgeridoo solo. SHANON SHAH is the winner of the 2003 Mandarin Oriental Fan of The Arts Most Promising Artist Award. He qualified as a chemical engineer and is a supporter of human rights. He started with classical piano at the age of six, a training that imbued him with a love of sonatas.. His debut album is Dilanda Cinta. |
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SUFIAH NOOR was finalist
in the Inaugural Malaysian Idol competition. |
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| _____ INDEX Point to the article
that you want to read, and CLICK Index page The Black Market Administration Book review Chinese
words in Malay Food guide
Jazz Letter from Pulau Tikus The nightmare A people's constitution (3)
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| ______________________ The Penang File Issue 44 |