Monday, September 30, 2013

Andayoma - Sheer Elegance




I met Andayoma a couple of times, I remember. Once and Bario Chino and the other times must have been at Blu Jaz. When I saw on face book that she was going to be singing her songs from the French West Indies at the esplanade concourse, I thought that would be a good opportunity to finally hear her sing. I had no distinct plans for the evening that Saturday and decided to try to make it to the early 5:15 set. When I arrived at about 5 Pm there were quite  a few people seated already. The stage setup promised an intimate affair with only a grand piano and a microphone for the singer.














I always like the backdrop of the concourse stage at daytime. The outside light from behind the stage gives an interesting and unusual dimension to the stage. In addition there is always a variety of art suspended from the sealing






This time the theme was extremely tall lounge lamps, with the piano and the daylight the atmosphere was set for a high tea recital. 



And so was Andayoma’s outfit of loose flowing black material, at first impression maybe somewhat conservative, until you discover the interesting bright red detail.

As soon as Andayoma starts talking the attractiveness of her voice becomes apparent; deep, and like her smile, warm and pleasant.

A perfect voice for story telling and so she begins. She explains the origin of her songs and of the language Creole. Andayoma, together with Mario Serio on piano

 presented us with some lovely songs from a far side of the world - perfect entertainment for a late Saturday afternoon.



Saturday, September 28, 2013

Tessera and Jeramzee: a mosaic of musicians


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.