We started this regular jazz event in November by the invitation from The Papandayan Hotel. This hotel has a cozy, luxurious jazz club named TP Stage which already has its own weekly jazz event called TP Jazz, but they felt it’s necessary to extend their contribution to jazz and the musicians by making up community events, collaborating with us, Jazzuality.com and Klab Jazz.
We gratefully accepted the offer, thinking that we could let the young musicians to experience how it is like performing in a jazz club, something that they might only saw in a movie like La La Land before, for example. So, if in our other on-going regular event in a mall the musicians can taste the feeling of performing live in front of mall-goers and passersby, in this one they will enjoy the moment when the audience’s eyes are totally on them. We call this event Jazzuality @ TP.
Just like how jazz club is, people come to enjoy the live performance while enjoying their drinks or meals. They will pay attention closely to the music presentation, with much lesser people come and go like in the open space of a mall. The number of people might be lesser, but we feel happy to notice that we got nice amount of audience in the previous episodes. We got not only jazz lovers from Bandung but also from Jakarta and Depok. Many of them are musicians who we will surely bring into the spotlight whenever they are ready. As how a community goes, we always make our event accessible to everyone. No gap, no sides, anyone can join the party either they only want to watch or play.
The first two episodes were specific, one was to honor the late jazz/music figure Widyasena Sumadio and the next one was for Christmas. Entering 2018, we are ready to continue our service. If you wonder why we named this event Jazzuality @ TP , it’s our way to tell everybody that our community has now landed on the TP Stage of The Papandayan Hotel. We think it’s important to make the schedule fixed, so we are making this event as a monthly event, comes every fourth Sunday of each month.
As we are already pass half of January, this month’s edition is right around the corner. And yes, we have selections of bands that we believe will be entertaining and educative, and on the other hand, as usual we bring newcomers as well. In Jazzuality @ TP .03 you will have the chance to enjoy the progressive ethno-jazz ensemble which combines the modern, Western instruments with our own traditional, (South) Eastern instruments, mainly Sundanese, presented by a mad music explorers who always think that sky is the limit in cooking up their crafts. Then you will have a trio consisting of senior musicians who will show their true jazz side. And last but not least, an acoustic vocal-guitar duo will show the smooth, relaxing jazz vibe which would certainly fit the cozy jazz club like TP Stage.
Let’s dig more about the progressive ethno-jazz ensemble first. The band is WEST JAVA SYNDICATE. The band is consisting of high-flyer musicians who love to explore the realm of jazz free as a bird. The band is the brain-child of Zahar Mustilaq, an open-minded drummer with exceptional skill whose feet are standing tall on different musical corners. From the start he brought in his two best friends: rockin’ bassist Dede SP and jazz pianist Yopie D Nafis. Positioned in Kendang now is the youngest of them all, IpinZbet, and a woodwind player they met by chance in an event but then became an essential part of the family, Randy Gevenk.
Speaking of Randy, this man is currently studying in the Republic of China. Since he is the kind of musician who loves to explore, he brings back many traditional Chinese woodwinds back home and uses them along with the traditional Sundanese like tarompet, karinding, bamboo flute and so on.
So if you haven’t heard about this mad band, try to imagine the sound of the traditional Javanese woodwinds, humming and kendang mixed with jazz pianist, rock bassist and unique crossover drumming. Rich musical landscape, colorful textures and hey, they love to make their appearance funny by throwing jokes on stage, shouting and laughing as much as they like, and if you are lucky, they can bring dancers as well, all will surely entertain you to the max.
West Java Syndicate has just launched their full album a couple of months ago titled “Bubuka” following the EP some years earlier. They are still promoting the album, so it’s a good chance for you to catch their promo gig and grab their CD directly from them. One thing for sure, this one is a catch that none should miss.
The next band we are featuring is a band consisting of senior and well respected musicians named JIM CONNECTION. Two men and a lady are found inside this trio: Amoeng Gaia (guitar), Henky Suparjan (drum) and Arnie Christanti (bass). Amoeng is a fine guitarist who has been marking his existance for more than 30 years. While he spent many years playing rock alternative like with his successful band established in 1997 named Gaia among others, he actually has played some jazz in 1984 with Jilly Likumahuwa. You can find him gracing many jazz stages today, from supporting the communities in several cities to festivals, reaching as far as Lombok.
More about Jim Connection, usually he plays alongside Henky and Balqi, but the players are usually replaced when any of them can’t make it. For this event, other than the iconic drummer who needs no introduction the bass lines will be secured by Arnie who is famous as the original member of SHE band and Jazzy Juice. She is a lady, but you will forget it when she starts playing. Not only she lets the monster groove out naturally, she never fails to attract the audience with her swaying moves.
Accoring to Amoeng, this is the group that he always goes to whenever he wants to release his pure jazz soul. “I play alternative rock often, but whenever I go to jazz, this is my group,” he said. He furthermore added that Jim Connection is referring to the jazz standards (the real book).
If you like pure swinging jazz or fancy jazz standards, make sure you won’t miss Jim Connection.
Last but not least, we are bringing an acoustic guitar-vocal duo to this event right after they participated in our Christmas edition at Braga CityWalk. The name of the duo is LUIS & JHONNY. Like the name says, it consists of singer Luis Anastasia Sinaga and guitarist Jhonny Sitompul. Luis is no stranger to us because she has appeared in our event since she was still in high school with several bands, from her own vocal harmony group Puella to representing her church as MY Kids. Her delicate voice is now used in her church too by being a worship leader. The guitarist Jhonny is no stranger to us as well. Step aside from his daily activity as a guitar teacher at Purwa Caraka Music Studio which he has been doing for 17 years straight, he is also an active musician. For our event, he has played alongside Erick Gabe, Irul, Caroline and presented his own project. Dedicating his life to music, this man is fabulous guitar player.
As we wish to push the regeneration of jazz musician, we always think it’s important to encourage talented kids especially those who we think has something to offer. Playing in a jazz club like this with different atmosphere than anywhere Luis has been in would certainly give her valuable experience. Before she gets busy again with her study, we are taking her in gladly.
The Jazzuality @ TP .03 is coming soon on the fourth Sunday, 28 January 2018 located at the TP Stage of The Papandayan Hotel. In case you wonder, this event is totally FREE of any charge. All you have to do is come and have a good jazzy time. If you wish to participate, we will provide the jam session after all showcases are done. Do come to support the musicians, our community and mission. Hope to see you there!
JAZZUALITY @ TP .03
Date: Sunday, 28 January 2018
Time: 07:00 – onwards
Location: TP Stage, The Papandayan Hotel
Jl. Jendral Gatot Subroto no 83, Bandung
FREE EVENT!
Featuring:
:: WEST JAVA SYNDICATE ::
Zahar Mustilaq – drum
Yopi D Nafis – keyboard
Dede SP – bass
Randy Gevenk – woodwinds
IpinZbet – kendang
:: JIM CONNECTION ::
Amoeng Gaia – guitar
Henky Suparjan – drum
Arnie Christanti – bass
:: LUIS & JHONNY ::
Luis Anastasia Sinaga – vocal
Jhonny Sitompul – guitar