The Java Jazz Concert

It was a brief article in a local newspaper that I subscribe that gave information about the Java Jazz Solo Concert. It has no relation at all with the Java Jazz Festival which is normally held every early March. Java Jazz group was established in 1991 by noted Jazz musician Indra Lesmana (keyboards), with Donny Suhendra (guitar), AS Mates (bass), Gilang Ramadhan (drums), and the late Embong Rahardjo (saxophone).

In 1993 the group changed its formation with Dewa Budjana (guitar), Jeffrey Tahalele (bass), Cendy Luntungan (drums), Ron Reeves (percussion), the late Embong Rahardjo remains at saxophone, and Indra Lesmana on keyboards. The group released an album titled “Bulan di Atas Asia” before leaving the country to participate at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag, in 1994.

In 1998, after being vacuum about four years, Indra Lesmana regrouped the first formation and released an album in 1999 titled Sabda Prana, and became dormant again right after the death of Embong Rahardjo. The current formation was established after the group was dormant for about 11 years.

The performance was held at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta on the night of December 10, 2009. The room was darkened at about 8.30 pm, and photos of all players appeared one by one at the backdrop of the stage, followed by Java Jazz logo in red with Java Island map behind it.

When the lights were turned on, Indra Lesmana (keyboards), Donny Suhendra (electric guitar), Dewa Budjana (electric and accoustic guitar, and banjo), AS Mates (electric bass) and Gilang Ramadhan (drums), were already at their positions and hit the big auditorium with the first composition, titled Drama, created by Indra Lesmana. It was taken from their previous album that first played in 1991.

The concert marked the launch of their latest album, titled Joy Joy Joy, produced by Inline Music that contains two CDs and priced at Rp.100,000. The title was taken from the music composition created by Indra Lesmana in 1985 and recorded for the first time in this album.

Indra Lesmana, shown at the above photo, is son of a widely respected Jazz musician the late Jack Lesmana, but he created and built his own big and respected name in the jazz community with his mastery and creativity on his keyboards.
Drama got applause from attentive audience, and without a word the group immediately followed with the second song titled Exit Permit, a new composition created by Indra Lesmana and Gilang Ramadhan.

Lembah was the third composition, also taken from previous album, which also got an applause from the audience. The group took a brief break while Indra greeted the audience and gave a short speech about the group and their album. Indra jokingly explained that it was initially difficult to get exit permit from the members’ wives to practice, especially the permit from Shahnaz to Gilang, but then they finally got it after seeing their seriousness. That’s where the title of the second composition came from.

Donny Suhendra, above photo, was born in Bandung on November 9, 1960. He started his music career in 1977 as guitarist of WE band, then in 1979 joined G’Brill Rock band in Bandung. In 1985 he joined KRAKATAU band with Dwiki Dharmawan, Budhy Haryono and Pra Budi Dharma, and awarded as the Best in Indonesia from Yamaha Light Music Contest in 1985.

He formed ADEGAN Band in 1991 with Indra Lesmana, Gilang Ramadhan, Hari Moekti, and Mates, and released 3 albums. He joined as guitarist of Java Jazz in the same year and toured to several cities in US. In 2006 he contributed in the making of Syaharani & the Queenfireworks album and still actively tours with the group. During the Java Jazz performance, Donny showed his class as seasoned jazz guitarist.

AS Mates payed almost flawlessly and in a couple of compositions gave distinct vibrant colors to the music with his fretless bass.

Dewa Budjana, the renowned guitarist, played calmly with his electric and acoustic guitar and also with banjo. In Border Line, a new and brave composition he created together with Indra Lesmana, he revealed thick riffs of jazz rock that made it different from the rest of the JavaJazz compositions.

The audience was satisfied to see the performance of Gilang Ramadhan who hit a solo drum note as signal for the group to kick the concert off. He joined Indra Lesmana to form Nebula, a fusion band, back in 1985. He then joined Karimata band in 1986, Krakatau (1986-1988), Andromeda (1987), Indra Lesmana’s Group (1987), Adegan (1991), Java Jazz (1991-1993), PIG (1996-), Nera (2002), and became drummer of the legendary rock band God Bless in 2004. Gilang Ramadhan is the only drummer who got sponsored from Zildjian, a US based symbal company since 1992.

When Indra introduced members of the group, he at first deliberately omitted Gilang’s name, to the joy of the audience, before grinning, apologizing and jokingly said the he kept on forgetting his name even though he got the exit permit already from his wife.

Among the compositions that I like best is Crystal Sky, created by Indra Lesmana as a remembrance to his beloved father, the late Jack Lesmana. The group also played The Seeker (Indra Lesmana), I wish (Indra Lesmana), Bulan di Atas Asia (Indra Lesmana) that became a favorite composition for many people, Violation (Indra Lesmana) and Joy Joy Joy (Indra Lesmana) that became the tittle of their album.

Even though the audience was very appreciative and gave applause to each of the group’s composition, but Indonesian audience tends not to be that expressive in enjoying the music, that in some way will also affect the mood of the musicians.

It was definitely a good jazz performance, with sold out tickets at Rp.150,000 each for VIP seats and Rp.100,000 for box seats. The event organizer, POS Entertainment, and the group had made a good decision for choosing GBB-TIM for the performance, as it’s one of the best in the city for location, traffic, parking, exposures, with relatively affordable rental fee. While waiting to see for their next performance, let’s enjoy the music compositions in the two “Joy Joy Joy” CDs.

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Kua Etnika at Jazz Gunung

It was Sigit Pramono, President Director of state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia and chairman of The National Banks Association (Perbanas), who crafted the idea of organizing a Jazz event at Tengger’s soil that gave the birth of the first Jazz Gunung last Saturday, July 25, 2009. He’s also known as skilled photographer and had published his impressive works in a book titled Bromo, the Majestic Mystical Mountain.

Whatever his intention was (rebranding Bromo or anything else), organizing an open air music event at Tengger during that best period of time to visit Bromo with only two months preparation is certainly a brilliant idea.

The event had given Apey, a friend from blogosphere, a good reason to go to Bromo again. Her encouragement convinced me to join her, even though I felt that I had no stamina to climb Bromo. It was me actually who asked her long time ago to accompany me going to Bromo, after seeing her impressive Bromo’s photos. Jazz Gunung made the trip materialized.

Ohm Ulun Basuki Langgeng, heartfelt greetings by Tengger’s people, were spoken a couple of times that day to show respect to local culture of the Javanese Hindu community that dominate the Tengger tribe. The Tenggerese are believed to be the descendants of Majapahit princes, Roro Anteng and Joko Seger, according to local legend.

It was the second time that I watched a live performance of Kua Etnika, led by Djaduk Ferianto, younger brother of artist and comedian Butet Kertaredjasa. The first one was when Jaduk shared the stage at Konser Kebangsaan in August 24, 2007, with Leo Kristi, Syaharani, Sherina and other artists at Balai Sarbini, Jakarta, sponsored by Perbanas. So it was not a coincidence that Sigit chose Butet, Jaduk and Kua Etnika to perform at the Jazz Gunung, only this time there was Trie Utami as the guest female vocalist.

The first composition played by the group, titled Dunau, was created by Purwanto during the group’s trip to Budapest, Hungary, in April 2004. Purwanto was one of Kua Etnika founders, besides Djaduk, Butet and some others. The group was established at the city of Yogyakarta in 1995. Trie Utami’s vocal that brought the nuance of thick Sundanese pitches filled in the air while she’s dancing with Jaipongan style. The second composition was Gandekan with a thick Chinese flavor, created by Indra Gunawan.

Djaduk, a talented musician, played a couple of different musical instruments, both with his hands and lips, both traditional as well as modern instruments.
The group played several compositions created by Djaduk, three of them were inspired by his trip to Tengger, titled Bromo, Nirwana and Matahari.

Trie Utami, younger sister of renowned musician and composer Purwa Tjaraka, showed her class as a senior and experienced Jazz vocalist.

Djaduk was quite instrumental in orchestrating the group. He also proofed that Jazz can be played by anybody by collaborating his music with traditional music of Ketimplung from Wonotoro village. The composition seemingly was just created a day before.

Purwanto, who has already been familiar with Javanese music since a kid, played traditional Javanese instruments named bonang, klunthung and sometimes rebab.

Trie Utami was seen singing in a “duel” with a saxophonist playing Kupu Tarung (Butterfly Fight) composition.

I Nyoman Cau Arsana contributed a composition, titled Mademenan, the only composition played that day with unique Balinese flavor. The group left the stage, only to come back a few seconds later at the request of the audience.

It was almost dark, the lamps were lighted, and in the chilly weather Kua Etnika played a lively composition of Ronggeng.

Trie Utami grabbed some of the spectators who followed her to an open area in front of the stage to dance with her to warm up their freezing bodies following the music.

Very soon the space was filled with people, including Yenny Wahid, who cheered and danced, following the last vibrant composition derived from the popular Kopi Dangdut song.

Let’s hope that there’ll be another Jazz Gunung Festival next year, with more Jazz groups and with the real Bromo-Batok-Semeru gorgeous view as background.

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C.TwoSix at Jazz Gunung

Last weekend, July 26, a live musical event of Jazz Gunung was held at Java Banana Bromo, claims to be a tropical lodge with the best panoramic view of Mount Tengger. The place is located at Wonotoro village, Sukapura subdistrict, Probolinggo, East Java. At 2000 meters above sea-level, it gives real cool fresh air with temperature between 14–18°C at daylight and 6–10°C at night. Blended with scenic view of the surrounding mountains, coupled with the mystical Bromo-Batok-Semeru trip afterwards, Jazz Gunung certainly gives a unique experience for Jazz lovers and lovers of natural beauty.

I got a free pass as a “photographer” of Apey, a friend who’s a freelancer of an on-line Jazz journal and a DJ of a cyber radio, and got a red pin, labeled with “press” on it. Cool. I then bought a black T-shirt, my favorite color, and a nice looking hat at Warta Jazz counter and I put it on my head with the red pin attached shyly on it.

A local traditional performing arts, named Jathilan, seemingly opened the event. Jathilan is a group uncoordinated dance where the performers, usually men, ride on bamboo horse and at certain point of time they enter into a state of trance.
The above picture, however, is a Reog mask dance that took stage right after the Jathilan. I believe they belong to the same group.

C.TwoSix, a group of Jazz community from city of Surabaya, took the stage after being introduced by Butet Kertaredjasa, MC of the event.

It was not that clear whether Butet was enjoying his cigarette, the cool fresh air, or the lovely scenery. It might be all of them.

The group played several familiar songs, such as Earth Wind & Fire’s In the Stone, Sade’s Smooth Operator, Bill Withers’ Just The Two of Us, and Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff.

The organizer provided simple but comfortable seats for Jazz Gunung spectators.

The two months old grass stage could provide ample space for the musicians to play their music compositions.

Personnel of C.TwoSix who played that day might not yet be among the high level of Jazz performers, but they certainly deserved to get credits, particularly for the male saxophonist, drummer, and the bassist. Unfortunately, i didn’t write down the crew’s name.

More practices and more live events are certainly needed for the group to improve their promising musical performance. I would expect, however, that they will play their original compositions next time I watch them on stage.

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