Singapore Night Live: I was there… Incognito @ the Sing-Jazz launch.

Through the generosity of a friend I had a rather unique opportunity yesterday (Friday 29-Nov-2013). My friend had sent me an invitation to the media presentation of the Singapore International Jazz Festival 2014. Since he also knows I tend to take my camera to almost every music event I go to, he arranged for a media card allowing me access to almost anywhere in the theater.

For the afternoon session of this inauguration, I managed to slip away from my real life by taking a late lunch hour. We were introduced to the organizing committee and the thoughts and driving factors behind organizing a Jazz festival in Singapore.

I was impressed with the professionalism of the presentation and its content and the diversely skilled and experienced team led in enthusiasm by Incognito’s band leader Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick.

I have to admit I returned to the office rather excited about the idea of having a Jazz festival in town. I know there is Mosaic that does a great job in presenting and promoting music bands but to me, judging by the festivals that I have visited, there is more to a “Festival”. There is also that party atmosphere that makes a Jazz festival a great experience. I believe the organizers understand this, judging by the presentation yesterday.

The other good sign is that Sing Jazz is set up in collaboration with Java Jazz, playing around the same period. This allows both festivals to bring top class global talent to the region.

In addition to a very interesting line up of global stars, Sing Jazz will be featuring an impressive list of regional and local talent to underline their commitment to development of musicians as well as a broader audience.

Later, in the early evening with the first press experience behind me, and my true identity obscured by the media card, I entered The Grand Theatre at MBS for the Incognito concert. The theatre lobby slowly filled with more and more familiar faces. As we waited for the doors to open we treated ourselves to wine as the organization treated us with some warm up music by Alemay Fernandez and Richard Jackson supported by some more of the usual suspects, Wei, Wen and Casey.

There was a great vibe in the lobby with many people obviously excited to see Incognito perform here in Singapore.

When the band hit the stage I looked around and noticed that the Grand Theatre was practically filled to the highest levels.

This may be a good sign for the organization whose intention it is of course to seed enthusiasm among Singaporeans for Sing Jazz. For that they chose a great ambassador. What often takes a long time for a band to accomplish seemed to be a natural cause of events with Incognito. After only the second tune the audience got to their feet and danced the night away.

In the true spirit of a Jazz Festival of course there was an after party. For this occasion we had full access to Fuse in MBS complete we generously flowing Stella and of course a bandstand for an after concert jam. Among others Anson Fung took the opportunity to drop his resume with Bluey.