blitzandsquash: A reunion bash

Meeting Yohei Kanda and his wife last week reminded me of a set of photos that were still sitting on my hard drive and that are interesting to share. Maybe it is also a good moment, because, as I heard through the grapevine, SingJazz Club is soft opening on Thursday after Sultan Jazz closed its doors a few weeks ago, at the same location.

Why does it make this a good moment to release these shots of a fun bunch of Japanese musicians forming the Blitz and Squash Brass Band from Osaka, Japan? In my eyes a lot of these shots show why live music cannot be ignored. Most of the times it is as exciting to see with your own eyes, how a great bunch of people, doing what they love to do, without any pomp or fanfare, can entertain an audience thoroughly. 

Bringing a fun band and an appreciating audience together on their conditions, appears to be a tough thing to do though. Of course the two crucial elements are a band and audience, but more than all, you need a venue where these two crucial elements can come together and feel equally at ease and at home. For the audience that often times means no more than a space with seating and beverage services. For a band this means the space, not only the physical space and how it delivers the sound but also the space to feel the audience and respond to that.

Several re-openings and management hand-overs of Sultan have shown that doing everything right for everyone, including yourself, is extremely challenging. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the next release. For whatever I have read of the premise on which they decided to reopen with SingJazz I think it is promising.

Now who is Yohei Kanda? This is Yohei Kanda

And this is his wife Eriko Murakami

The couple moved to Singapore a few years back for work. I assume they had to leave Blitz and Squash behind when brought them over just for an evening full of fun and brass. 

Fun and brass only got more when the horn section of our own Fungkimunkees complemented the troop. 

It led to solo combats that almost tore the roof off the venue, and I don’t know what would have remained of that chandelier, if that would have happened.

 

 

Sing Jazz 2014 day2: All Star Power and Dirty Loops to keep me at a distance.

Yes I agree I am rushing it, but how long has it been?? Well, well over a month. So it is about time that I am sharing some of my impressions of the Singapore Jazz festival. If you saw my post about Alan Stone already, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did attending, capturing and blogging. And as much as I want to avoid mentioning negative things about the experiences I have, one thing to note that was very confusing to me, and I am sure, others carrying a media pass. Of course I have no experience taking pictures at such events and have no idea how things are organized at other concerts but I personally found the barrier that was created between the audience and the stage a little bit too crazy. 

I remember, last year at Java jazz the space between audience and main stage was maybe a fifth of the distance between the first row and the Sing Jazz main stage. And when Josh Stone nodded it's OK to the security when the fence was breached they stepped back and let things evolve. This wide barrier and the 10+ rows of high end, often empty seats, meant that it was very hard for many musicians to create a sense of intimacy that is so important for, I think especially, jazz music, but also for a festival atmosphere. 

That and a security organization, or individuals that were taking themselves way too seriously as I have seen often before, made it even for media pass holders often tough to get the closer shots.  And so it was when Singapore’s own Jazz divo and diva Jeremy Monteiro and Melissa Tam took the stage with the Asian Jazz All-Star Power quartet, I was initially left banned to the “commoners” ranks, In spite of tireless effort by David before. This was especially a loss, because by the time I negotiated my way into the spacious "safety zone" Melissa, who looked truly stunning, again,

had left the stage... already!!!

 A few more words and I will finish my rant. This week may mark the end of an era that, due to its time span, cannot even be called an era, but it is in the ways it contributed to my enjoyment of live music in Singapore. It is being rumored that the Sultan Jazz club will shut its’ doors permanently. This would be a shame and I will miss it and if you in anyway or form enjoy my blog, than you will miss it too. Many people are wondering why these venues do not thrive in Singapore including me and I may have come to strangely different conclusion.  In my opinion venues and festivals here have been focusing too much on the cigar an whiskey crowd, which in Singapore is sizable but does not have the attention span that is required to get regular attendance. I hope that the organization that will start a next Jazz themed venue will make it more underground or at least down to earth. 

Lower consumption rates will attract more people, more young people and therefore groom a longer lasting audience. I have seen the beginnings of Smalls in New York. A basement, some grungy seating, no staff, some free juices on the bar for when you get desperately thirsty or BYOB. Within a couple of years there were people waiting in line, in freezing cold for 45 minutes to add another 10 dollar bill to the rapidly growing pile in the owners’ hand. Was it successful, I doubt that Mitch got rich and I doubt many of the people playing there are? But both the club and a lot of the musicians earned their fame.

My apologies for my wordiness. I thought I’d give my perspective for a change and not the impression. Many of you may have preferred the "Without further ado" so... here we go! Day two of Sing jazz had Jeremy’s Asian Jazz All-Star Power quartet, Dirty Loops and Incognito. Here are some shots of the first two to lighten and brighten up the post. Incognito I’ll reserve for a separate page. 

 

 

 

 

Sing Jazz 2014 Day 3 Alan Stone: Of Brick and Mortar

If I should write about a truly pleasant surprise of the Sing Jazz festival, I would have to say something in particular about Alan Stone.

 The band consists of five seemingly regular US west coast guys. Some look like they would be more in place on the Google campus than on a stage at an Asian Jazz festival.

 

Then again who is to say what people should look like when they are doing anything.  After the band had started and I was looking a little further, I noticed the drummer, who was creating quite a bit of a show in the back, making full use of the elaborate drum set and his character full face. 

He kept me and my camera busy for a little bit until my attention was drown in by the lead singer, because that is what he did and did well; drawing in attention. 

No matter what the tune or what the lyrics, Alan Stone was catching my eye, 

presenting a story in such a way that you could not help but listening and watching in awe. 

Rumor has it that the bands fee to play for Sing Jazz was less than the cost of bringing them over. I hope for them that is a little bit of an exaggeration but I did notice there was a modesty about them that the bigger stars are not able to carry off any longer, whether it’s in their character or not. 

In short Alan Stone was refreshing fun and as far as I am concerned the jewel in the crown of the Sing Jazz festival.