I often say that, when observing live music it is nice when you see there is a strong effort made to entertain,
not to just play the music. A little over a week ago, on a Friday evening,
someone made me eat at least part of that statement. Vanessa Fernandez
and her
band of high-class musicians put up a great show:
Kerong Chok
Munir Alsagoff
Wen Ming Soh
The part where Vanessa took
here revenge was the fact that entertainment seems to come so effortless to
her. She is born with a lovely natural smile that does not even go away when the rest
of her face frowns.
With an overall gentile, maybe somewhat shy demeanor she
seems to wrap the music around herself like a cozy blanket.
To observe that,
and to listen to the carefully chosen tunes that she finds between the sections
of vinyl that have literally turned grey by popularity, is just comforting and
exciting at the same time.
It is no surprise here that
I became a big fan of Van Detta, as she is known as an artist, like I am of
the band of three that were playing with her that Friday evening.
Each
individually great musicians, but Kerong and Wen as a combo, while often leading
their individual bands, may also be the most sought after organ/drum duo in Singapore and
beyond.
As usual and especially with
well known and appreciated musicians like Wen, Vanessa, Munir and Kerong, by the
time the third set started several musicians had flocked over Blu Jaz. By then the line up of jammers was impressive and a true reflection of the
quality level that had filled the stage that evening.
There was, not in order of
appearance, importance or any other type of hierarchy:
Alemay Fernandez
Michaela Therese de Cruz
Alicia Pan
Charlie Lim
And the master of
entertainment Johnny James
