There was again enough going on last Friday for
me to split my evening between Blu Jaz and Sultan Jazz Club. I decided to keep dinner simple and have a bite at Blu Jaz. The nice thing about this place is that
they have an eclectic menu with dishes from almost every continent, so going
back there a couple of times in a week still allows for variety. Main draw of
Blu Jaz to me though is the people. In those occasions where I am by myself, it
is always easy to go there and to find some one to hang out with. As it was the
case last Friday when I bumped into Lance. I hadn’t seen him in a long time and
really met him only once or twice before, so it was good to get (re)acquainted.
For one it was interesting to find out about his liking for music and work in
the music industry. So I told him about my plan to first go see Jeremy Monteiro
and his band Jeramzee
Eddie Jansen on Bass
Jeremy Monteiro on Organ
Tony Zee on Drums
Stephen Rufus on Saxophone
Guest Vocalist Stephen Francis
and
Guest Flautist Fabian Lim
According to the on-line flyer the
band was active in the early 90-ies and is performing a small reunion series.
For me Jeremy Monteiro
is always a good enough reason to go and check out at
least one set hence my suggestion to Lance. Who was game.
I explained to him that my second
part of the plan was to return to Blu Jaz after the first set at Sultan and
check out Tessera, the, normally, all female band with:
Audrey Tang on drums
Rit Xu on Flute
Sharon Nunis on Piano
Sidoine Odoul on Trombone
Wendy Phua on Bass
Yap Shu Mei on violin
Ywenna Carolline vocals.
It seemed a perfect plan, until we
arrived at sultan and found out that there was a small delay due to the late
arrival of one of the musicians. But no
harm done, since we were warmly welcomed by Benny Yeoh, and, in no time,
comfortably seated behind a nice alcoholic beverage. Lance made the observation
that the audience appeared to be predominantly people that were still in
primary school when Jeramzee was performing originally. This may lead us to
think there is a future for Jazz music.
Luckily for our schedule the band
decide to start without one of the guest musicians that was still to arrive and
soon enough we were listing to the lovely tunes of Jeremy’s organ,
Tony’s
drums,
Eddy’s bass
Stephen Sax.
When the band had warmed up it was time
for the guest to play their part. Stephen Francis treated us with a nice Al
Jarreau tune
Since I particularly like the
instrument, the flute always brings a little bit of extra charm to music, for
me so I was happy once Fabian stepped behind the microphone.
The est had ended and we meandered our way to Blu Jaz
as per our tight schedule. As we entered the downstairs area, it turned out
that our planning was perfect, because Tessera was just tuning up for the second
set.
The theme of the night was film music;
with the added value of trying to guess what movie the tune was used or written
for. Audrey did a nice job in helping us out in between the tunes providing us
with a bit of background or history. I think a little talk between the tunes is
a skill at itself, and can really help to draw and keep the audience attention
to the stage. A nice little story about a song can make it much more
recognizable.
Between Sultan and Blu Jaz Jeramzee and
Tessera, it was again a nice evening out to listen to live music. Between
Jeremy’s joyous smile
and the women in white it was a again good evening of
taking pictures. If you enjoy anything you see in this blog, and you haven’t
done so yet…it is a good reason to come and check out the real thing.
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