And All That Jazz

And All That Jazz -

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When I arrived in Indonesia at the end of 1987, I wore a collection of tapes, recordings of my favorite albums mainly jazz, progressive rock and the so-called "world music". On my first trips around various parts of the archipelago, I added the "traditional" music tapes that might evoke memories of the places I had visited. But I wondered why there could not have them with mixtures of Western music.

Rock music I heard was derived, but with Indonesian words. I looked for jazz. After all, if the end Neil Ardley UK could arrange his Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows After using the Balinese base five notes pelog scale played by the cream of the crop of Brit- Jazz, why not Balinese musicians could improvise and reverse the process?

There was some years before I discovered that in 1967 Bubi Chen, piano maestro Surabaya, guitarist Jack Lesmana, and the rest of the jazz pioneers, Indonesian All Stars, had gone to Germany to record an album with the American clarinetist Tony Scott. djanger Bali , was the first traditional album in Indonesian flavor without "traditional" instruments, outside the track Gambang Suling with Sundanese instruments; zither-like Kecapi and suling , a bamboo flute ring.

(In 1989, Bubi recorded Chen Kedamaian , a really wonderful conversation, piano suling.)

In the late 80s, keyboardist Dwiki Dharmawan formed the band Krakatau to play original tunes of jazz fusion, with bass, drums and a range of Sundanese instruments, including wind and percussion instruments and bowed rebab . The beaches on their fifth album Mystical Mist (1994) were either jazz fusion or Sundanese, when, after granting their Western instruments to Sunda scales, their second, Magical match (2000), is more of a Sunda-jazz fusion. By the time they released 2 Worlds in 2006, the band also played what I can only describe as Sunda avant-jazz-rock-funk. The track Madenda Fantasy is a piano suling "conversation", a strong echo of Keith Jarrett-ish Kedamaian Bubi Chen .

Java Jazz was formed by Indra Lesmana with Donny Suhendra (Krakatau) on guitar and Embong Rahardjo saxophone and flute. Much of the first two albums Bulan Di Atas Asia (1994) and Sabda Prana (1998) incorporated Sundanese pentatonic scales played on Western instruments. Embong died in 2001 and the group entered pause until 2009 when Dewa Budjana, guitarist and songwriter of the band Gigi, joined as second guitarist and Joy, Joy, Joy has was released. He was the father of Indra Lesmana Jack (see above), who introduced the principles Dewa and jazz bases.

Keyboardist Riza Arshad simakDialog formed with guitarist Tohpati in 1993; their first two albums, Lukisan (1996) and Baur (1999) showed the influence of the popular American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. Although I like Metheny, I'm not interested in the clones; pleasant enough, but not particularly "Indonesian". However, for Trance Mission (2002) Riza replaced with drummer and percussionist Sundanese Tohpati too found his very distinctive voice; it is now a guitarist that can send shivers down the spine.

Leonardo Pavkovic, owner of Moonjune Records in New York, heard Trance Mission signed simakDialog (SD) on his label. The first version was Patahan (2006), recorded live at the Goethe House and mastered by Indra Lesmana. This was followed by Demi Masa (2009) and last month with 6 Story . dialogue Simak means "listening to music", to be part of it. As Riza said. "We humans are tiny creatures in a gigantic universe, but we also have the ability to interact with it" With this sixth album, Riza and his longtime cohort Tohpati take us further in their trip; far (as hippies were saying).

Tohpati two albums now available on Moonjune his Ethnomission - save the planet (2010) has Endang Ramdan SD Indonesian percussion play more Indro Hardjodikoro first bass player of SD. Indro is a third of which Tohpati Bertiga Riot was published in 2012. The drummer is Wibowo 'Bowo' Adityo whose main gig is the Blues Shelter Gugun popular. This shows another side on reading Tohpati; hard rock.

Dewa Budjana is now also signed Moonjune. He just turned 50 years (but not air) and has an impressive discography from 1994, with Gigi and solo albums since 1997. At the end of last year Moonjune released Dawai in Paradise . This is a compilation of five separate recording sessions between 2000 and 2011, with its incredibly melodic spiritual side as well as high energy tracks echoing the likes of Mahavishnu Orchestra, and National Health, the group "Canterbury Scene ".

Around the time you read this, his second album will be released Moonjune Joged Kahyangan . This was recorded in Los Angeles last year with a stellar set of US Jazzers; Larry Goldings, Bob Mintzer, Jimmy Johnson and Peter Erskine, who interpret Indonesian inflected compositions Dewa with great empathy. (Listen here: http://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/album/joget-kahyangan )

Also this month, following a mini tour of clubs and festivals in the United States with SD, both Riza and Tohpati recorded solo albums to be released on Moonjune. The sidesmen of Tohpati were Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) on bass and Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth) on drums. Riza were from Chad Wackerman and Ernest Tibbs (Allan Holdsworth) on bass.

So my long search is over; not only Indonesian jazz musicians have found their voice, but their own. There are jazz festivals in much of the archipelago, concerts on campus and in the clubs. It may have taken 25 years, but there is hope for the future, with Indra, Riza Dewa and mentoring young musicians. Listen for 10 years Joey Alexander, and musicians such as Sri Hanuraga studying and playing abroad.

Then there are people I know You Well Miss Clara, the elders of the Yogyakarta Indonesian Institute of Arts. Their amazing first and just published on Moonjune Chapter One deserves a full article.

Sorry guys, you'll get one soon and that's a promise.

http://moonjune.com/

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