It was truly an honor to finally able to approach Lee Ritenour and had an interview with him right before his performance at this year’s Java Jazz Festival 2010. (Check out the report and pictures of Lee Ritenour at Java Jazz Festival 2010 here).  Lee Ritenour is one of the most influential artists that has become the inspiration for many guitarists all around the world for some generations. One of our photographer who also play guitar admitted that the reason he play guitar was only because he was heavily inspired by Lee Ritenour. And that’s really no wonder. Lee Ritenour has been doing it for more than 30 years. Ever since he started his career at the tender age of 16, so far he has recorded over 40 albums, made an appearance on more than 3000 sessions, performing in every side of the world and definately has very solid fans in everywhere he goes. He charted over 30 instrumental and vocal jazz hits and also known as one of the pioneer in smooth jazz and jazz funk.

With that achievements there’s no doubt to place Lee Ritenour as one of the living legend. Even after this long span of career and experience, he still has his passion as strong as the time when he started it all. He showed it at the interview section as well, as he kept playing his guitar while he answered the questions we threw at him. Lee always loves to experiment with different styles of music, trying new things, exploring all kinds of music and place his signature in them. He has been a standout fusion player, but he also famous as a smooth jazz, pop, blues, classical to Brazilian or even rock. The nickname “Captain Fingers” was given to him for his amazing fingering skill, the name that he also used for his third album and song, released in 1977.

Currently Lee is focusing on a project named “Six String Theory”. This comes from the unique vision of Lee gathering 18 superstar of guitar players in a majestic collaboration, internationally, across genres and generations, from legends to the new ones. This project also includes an international guitar competition where he became one of the judges besides being the producer and artist for this magnificent project.

In just a short time given for an interview, we managed to ask Lee about many things. From his past, his coming to Indonesia, his thought about the Java Jazz Festival, his vision and more. Let’s hear what the Captain Fingers had to say.

Lee, it’s great to have you back again at the Java Jazz Festival. What made you decided to come back?
Well I’ve been coming to Indonesia since the late 80s, maybe the first time was in 1988 or something, I love Indonesia from the beginning. I love the people, I love the place, I love the way fans turn to the music, I love Bali (laugh)

What do you think about the Indonesian musicians?
In the earlier years it was a little too simple, too much coping of their cultures but now Indonesian sounds are getting stronger, the musicians are getting stronger, they are getting more individualistic..

Would you like to collaborate with more Indonesian musicians?
Yeah, it’s interesting. Maybe tomorrow finally I can come to hear more music at the festival. I wanna hear more on what the Indonesian artists are doing.

Like you said, you have been coming to Indonesia many times, including several performances at the Java Jazz Festival. Why is that?
When I met Peter Gontha many, many years ago, he’s been such a great supporter of music especially jazz music. He loves music. He’s passionate about it. So it was easy to come here because I love the people, I love the culture, the place, and that Peter was always very positive about musicians coming here to play and trying to collaborate with Indonesian musicians, which I have to do more of. I didn’t do enough yet.

Let’s talk about one of your classic, “Captain Finger”. What’s the song about?
Song is about a lot of melody (laugh). When I wrote it in 1977, that was long time ago, that was the time when there were a lot of fusion with the Mahavisnu Orchestra, Chick Corea’s Return to Forever, and.. Al di Meola, we were both very young, Al was just came out with his first album and I came out with my first album. My first album is called “First Course” (released in 1976) which was very melodic, very funky, not fusion. So for the second album I thought, well..we should do something with more fusion sound. And I wrote Captain Fingers.

Since jazz is not really the leading genre in Indonesia, I wonder what you think about the audience based on what you’ve seen from your several performances over the years.
Well I think the audience are great here. There are so many great fans and they are a little bit like the Japanese audience, that is if you get the fans when they are still very young, they will stay with you. That’s why I keep coming back and make good music. I think the fans are getting more knowledgeable here, more sophisticated.

In your opinion, what is the good thing we can get from the Java Jazz Festival?
The best way to hear jazz music is to hear live. When you don’t understand the music and you hear it on the CD, or the radio, you will go like..”I don’t like it.” But when you see it live it’s easier for you to love it, you’ll go..oh I get it, I undertand it.” So Java Jazz Festival is very great for that,  because there are so many fans come here having artists selling different kinds of music. It’s like being in school you know.. not school like class school, but fun part (laugh)

Throughout your more than 30 years career which you have tried so many genres, from fusion, smooth, funk and Brazilian, classical, which one do you like the most?
Well, the reason that I still love making music is I keep changing. You know, keep growing, try new things. There’s new album coming out it’s called “Six Strings Theory” which combining all different kinds of guitar player in one album. Right now there are 18 guitar players I have on the new album.

When will the album be released?
The album is coming out in June. You can check it at the website http://sixstringtheory.com. It’s a great album you should check it.

Of course I will. Can you please name those 18 guitar players?
So far the guitar players are myself, Lee Ritenour, BB King, George Benson, John Scofield, Pat Martino, Mike Stern, Vince Gill, Steve Lukather, Neil Schon from Journey, Slash, Keb Mo, Taj Mahal, Joe Bonamassa, Jonny Lang, Andy McKee, Guthrie Govan, Joe Robinson and Kazumi Watanabe.
So 18 guitar players combine together.

Wow, it’s like the combination of the best guitarists in the world from different genres and different generation.
Yeah, and the new one, Joe Robinson from Australia, he is only 18. This kid is the new one, but mostly they establish a guy like that to join BB King and all..it’s a great album. It’s really fun.

Thanks Lee, we hope to see you again.

Interviewed by Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Ata Michaella (interview session), Praditya Nova (stage performance)

What do you have in mind when you hear this name, The Manhattan Transfer? For me personally, I guess my mind would refer to one of the finest vocal harmony quartet of the century. When this formation came up in 1972 with Tim Hauser, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel and Laurel Masse, the music world especially the jazz side got enriched by the beauty of vocal harmony. It became more obvious when “The Manhattan Transfer”, the selftitled first album with this formation came out in 1975,  even when Laurel Masse was replaced by Cheryl Bentyne in 1979 . The test of time has proven that The Manhattan Transfer has proven themselves to be a strong, consistant and very solid as a group with many achievements and awards, and that goes on until today. I personally can’t imagine how jazz would be today without The Manhattan Transfer.

This year of 2010 became a very special year for us, all the Manhattan Transfer’s fans. After 5 years without making any album, this year they are back with a very interesting album entitled “The Chick Corea Songbook“. My first thought when I saw this album was, how is it possible to pin Chick Corea’s complex compositions into 4 piece vocal harmony? I rushed to listen, and I got wow-ed immidiately. It’s such a masterpiece that I’m sure will still remember many years to come. There are many singers or musicians have tried to interpret Chick Corea’s collections, but with the new outfit made by The Manhattan Transfer, suddenly I saw some sides of Chick Corea’s compositions that I’d never heard before. The songs are made very well to fit the harmony of their vocals, and that includes the rhythm, tempo and so on. Chick Corea Songbook appears to be a very creative and smart album, showing that The Manhattan Transfer is still strong, solid as a unit and still have a wonderful future ahead. It’s a high degree of difficulties album ever be made by any vocal harmony group. Having said that, the way they brought the songs were very enjoyable and delivered ellegantly. You will keep guessing what’s coming up after hearing each song. Try to listen to “Spain”, and you will know what I mean. Their rendition of this song will surprise you from the start.

The Manhattan Transfer’s Press Conference at the Java Jazz Festival 2010

This year The Manhattan Transfer made two phenomenal performances at the Java Jazz Festival 2010. The first one was The Chick Corea Songbook which served with rhythm section and more electric (read the report and see the pictures taken from the show here), while the second one was a very sweet and intimate session with Ron King Big Band. (check out the report and pictures from the session here).  Right after their 2nd Night Performance at Java Jazz Festival 2010 with Ron King Big Band,  all the members of The Manhattan Transfer made  a press conference. We got the chance to ask them about the album material and stories behind the making.

Let’s talk about your album, The Chick Corea Songbook. We know Chick Corea as a composer who like to write complex compositions. It must be difficult for you to translate them into the shape of vocal harmony. Was it?
Cheryl: Yes, it was very complex. We didn’t know it would be that complex until we actually did it.

Where did you get the idea?
Cheryl: The idea came from Yusuf Gandhi (the excecutive producer of 4Q/Four Quarters Records). He approached us to do it. We have been friends to Chick Corea, so we thought, why not? We were thrilled to do it.

How about the concept of this album?
Janis: We made the concept to fit for four vocalists.. we tried to make something different than what you have heard from the other artists. There are many artists had done it, so we had to make something new.

Like your version of Spain..it was really different
Janis: Yes, like Spain. You know people tried to do it faster and faster. But for us, with four vocalists it would be impossible. So we tried to have another approach. We did it slower. We want to get the emotion, be more evocative instead of focusing on the speed.

By doing that you could focus on the beauty of the song and the meaning contained in it, is that right?
Janis: Yes, exactly. I’m glad you could see it that deep.

Jazzuality.com with Tim Hauser and Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer

Thank you. As far as I recall, you hadn’t release any album for 5 years before Chick Corea Songbook came out. Why was it?
Tim: Because we have no clue or idea what to do, until Yusuf Gandhi came to us and offer this amazing idea. Let me continue what Cheryl said. Yusuf Gandhi has had the idea for 10 years. When he offered us, we thought it would be interesting. It’s like coming out of the box for us to do something different like this.

What do you think of the audience here in Indonesia?
Janis: the audience are fabulous! They are warm, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. They were singing Spain together with us. It was unbelievable. We never seen any other crowds who could sing Spain along with us, but they really did it.

Thank you very much.. It’s been so nice to see you again this year. I hope to see you again next year.
Tim: Thank you, We definately look forward to it

Interviewed by Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Mark Swapo

It’s been 4 years now for Jajan Jazz to spread the jazz love among all jazz lovers and community. 4 years is not a short time, but with all their efforts and strength, also the passion to introduce all kinds of jazz to the society, Jajan Jazz continuously carries this important mission and it still goes on until today. “We use jazz as a media of appreciation..” they said, “And we give a certain package to all the music lovers, as the combination between the location and the jazz itself.”

This Saturday there will be a party at Jajan Jazz, celebrating their 4th Anniversary. Holding the title, Jajan Jazz 4th Anniversary Celebration, the event is going to be made very special. If you look at the lineups, you’ll know how special it is.

With all the respect to other great performers, we’d like to highlight one of the finest fusion group consits of senior jazz musicians, the Story Tellers. This is the group with a clear concept of how to deliver jazz fusion to reach the heart and attention of all the music lovers. Story Tellers was born 4 years ago in 2006 consists of outstanding musicians such as Iwang Noorsaid (keyboard/synthesizer), Krishna Siregar (acoustic/electric piano), Franky Sadikin (electric bass) and Inang Noorsaid (drums). The Story Tellers has told their stories on many stages since then, such as Grande Jazz, several JakJazz edition, Tour de Music Campus, Benton Jazz Karawaci and of course the Jajan Jazz. If you like jazz with quality, if you love fusion more than anything, or if you want to know about the soul of jazz fusion better, you should check out this group. It’s going to be great to have them telling their story again in the shape of jazz fusion at the Rooftop BSD Junction this Saturday, March 13, 2010.

Jajan Jazz 4th Anniversary Celebration will also be the place to launch Jajan Jazz Member Card. With affordable price (Group Card: IDR 125.000 and Single Card: IDR 75.000) you can get so much advantage and benefit by holding this card. Check out the benefit of each card at Jajan Jazz official website.

Here are the performing artists and schedule:

Date: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Location: Rooftop BSD Junction

02:00 pm – 03:00 pm (Coaching CLinic by Rhythm & Groove Music Camp with Yance Manusama, Kadek Rihardika, Rayendra Sunito, Taufan Gunarso, Timur Sagara)
4.30 pm – 4.55 pm       BETIGA
4.55 pm – 5.20 pm      NATHAN GULO
5.20 pm – 5.45 pm      KRIS KRUISE  
6.30 pm– 6.55 pm      JACKET POTATO
6.55 pm– 7.20 pm      STARLITE
7.20 pm– 8.00 pm     GUGUN BLUES SHELTER
8.00 pm– 8.25 pm      BIANGLALA VOICES  
8.25 pm– 8.35 pm      SPEECH/CEREMONIAL
8.35 pm– 9.15 pm      RESTU & WISDOM BROTHERS
9.15 pm– 9.55 pm      LIAN PANGGABEAN AND FRIENDS
9.55 pm– 10.35 pm   ABE SIMPSON TRIO
23.15 pm– 23.55 pm     STORY TELLERS   
23.55 pm– 00.35 pm    CROSSFADE
01.15 pm– 02.00 pm   JAM SESSION

ps: There might be Emerald band to perform as well. (subject to change)

For more information, log on to Jajan Jazz official website

Following the Contemporary Jazz Night two months ago tributing 3 legendary jazz icon, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Chick Corea, this time Contemporary Jazz Night comes again with another three legendary jazz greats.

This time Shanghai Blue 1920 is presenting three legends who had uncountable contributions in shaping jazz in their eras. George Gershwin,  Duke Ellington and Herbie Hancock.

George Gershwin is one of the greatest American composer in history. He wrote so many songs and compositions remain classics until today, which become the jazz standard that we all love dearly. It’s hard to imagine how it would be without Gershwin’s songbook.

Talking about Duke Ellington means talking about a figure that always remembered as one of the most influential artists in the history of music recording. Some take him as one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz. And that’s no wonder since he has written so many songs in many genres, strectched from blues, gospel to even classical. His big band became one of most important role in size or compositions. I believe we are all agree that Ellington is an important milestone in jazz history.

Now the living legend, Herbie Hancock. Not only regarded as one of the greatest living jazz musicians, but also as the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. He becomes the role model for many generations as he involved in shaping many sub genres of jazz that we know today. He was one of the main man of post bop, he also shaped fusion and so on. You’d find his name in almost any sub genres of jazz. He also entered the funk and pop jazz field, showing that he always accept all kinds of music with open arms. That’s what the legend do.

Don’t miss this interesting show with Nita Aartsen Project in charge.  In the hand of Nita, an amazing pianist, vocalist and composer, we know that the result would be special.

Save the date!

Date: Saturday, 27 March 2010
Time: 9 pm onwards
Place: Shanghai Blue 1920 Jazz Club & Restaurant
Jl. Kebon Sirih Raya 79,  Central Jakarta
Free Entry!

Special Offers:
Buy a bottle of wine, get complimentary platter of Shanghai Tapas
Private table at IDR.1.500.000 nett with choice of:
1 bottle of Chivas Regal (incl. mixer) and platter of Shanghai Tapas
OR
Lavish dinner set menu for 6-8 persons

The night never ends at Shanghai Blue 1920 Jazz Club & Restaurant
RSVP: Hatina/ Diana at +6221 391 8690 or 0878 8169 6895
Jl. Kebon Sirih Raya 79,  Central Jakarta
Shanghai-blue@tuguhotels.com
www.tuguhotels.com

If you remember one of the article we wrote last August titled “Jazz Merah Putih Goes to Banua” (check out the report here), now comes the sequel of it. At that time, our  report from Jazz Merah Putih at Banua got many attentions and comments from the readers because they were surprised to see that jazz is actually living and breathing healthily in Borneo, the place that not so often related to jazz, or if I may say, rare. But that’s the fact, a serious but fun jazz event with such quality was acceptable and well understood by the audience. Many questions that were thrown by the audience during the show proved how jazz has been acceptable, enjoyed and loved by many people who live in the middle part of Indonesia.

We need to keep it alive.  More event should be made. A now, here comes the next chapter of Jazz Goes to Banua, following the huge success of the first one. Jazz Goes to Banua II will quench the thirst of jazz lovers just like the previous show.

Banjarmasin Jazz Community presents Jazz Goes to Banua II,  the next chapter of Jazz Merah Putih Goes to Banua last August 2009. If we look at the lineups, we see a pretty one. All lines are filled with high quality musicians. Imam Pras is one of the most sophisticated pianist resides in Bandung who also has a call to teach and spread the knowledge of jazz for many years now. He’s the master of technique, he knows how to deliver jazz in the exact way it should be. Next we have Venche Manuhutu, the senior jazz musicians who owns Venche Music School (VMS) and the proud father of the wonderkid David Manuhutu who filled up the performers lineup at the previous first event.  We are happy to see that he’s going to appear in more and more events after being off under the radar for quite some times.  The rest of the performers are great as well. You will know it when you see the show yourself. The event are free of charge, and dedicated only for Jazz Lovers.

Featuring guest stars:
– Imam Prass (Piano)
– Venche Manuhutu (Guitar)
– Teddy ( Bass )
– Budiono ( drum )
– Arif Setiadi ( saxophone )
– Grace Sahertian ( vocal )

and off course popular local Jazzers like :
– Meratus Jazz Center (MJC)
– Eqvalent
– Purwacaraka Music Studio

There will be jazz shows, music clinic/ workshop, and jam sessions.

Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010
Time: 19:00 WITA (Middle Indonesian Standard Time)
Location: Jorong Cafe and Resto
Jl. S Parman 115 Banjarmasin, South Borneo Indonesia

FREE OF CHARGE!

Attention girls! Prepare to have your heart stolen by this new sensation in the music world. Meet Griffith Frank, a young man who is gifted with many things. He’s handsome, cool, down to earth and really can sing very well. With 3 octave vocal range that connected perfectly to his heart, he’s ready to reshape the music industry very soon.

We are not exaggerating. All the audience who came to watch him at the A 2 BNI Hall witnessed a stunning performance they would never forget. His vocal is amazing, and he has his soul attached in every note he sings.  Songs from wide range of genres were personally selected by him to show that he could sing just about any song perfectly. And for us, he should be listed as one of the singer who has the greatest voice in this century.  You’ll love Griffith Frank from the very first time you see him and hear him sing.

Recently he made headlines by singing his debut single, “Unusual Way”, a very heartfelt song that was made to fill in the Golden Globe nominee “Nine” OST.  He’s finishing his debut album right now that is scheduled to come out later on this summer.  His appearance at the Java Jazz Festival 2010 was a huge success, we heard many compliments from the audiences from the stages area to the media room about Griffith’s performance.

We got a chance to have an interview with Griffith Frank just an hour before the Java Jazz Festival 2010 began. In one of the cozy and comfy room at Borobudur Hotel we asked him some questions. Let’s get deep with Griffith.

First of all, welcome to Indonesia. I know you’ve been travelling so far from US to reach here, was it tiring?
Thank you. Actually, somehow, it was like 20 hours on the plane, it doesn’t seem that long. I’ve flown across United States and it was take about 6 hours, but those plane trips seemed longer than this one. I wasn’t bad at all. It’s interesting.

What do you think about Indonesia?
It’s great. I like it a lot. I love spicy food so we work it well here. And the climate is very humid wet here and actually it makes very easy to sing. And everybody here is very nice.

With your three octave vocal range, it should be easy for you to sing just about any genres. Which genre do you like the most?
Well, in any genre I would find the song that I’d like to cover to sing..something rock, something pop, something classical, it could be anything. I don’t really have a preference because you find individual song that could really connect with you in special way. So I’d like to sing it all.

As you mentioned special way, now let’s talk about your song, “Unusual Way” which appeared in “Nine” OST. Was it based on your personal experience or it was strictly only for the movie?
It’s actually from the musical itself. It’s not my own song. Surprisingly enough it does connect with me very well because I had experiences like that, but it’s a great song. And it was very easy for me to connect with.

Nine is an Italian movie, and you sang the song in operatic style.. like the style of Pavarotti or the younger and lighter Josh Groban.. is it your real style or it’s because of the movie?
Well, my style is kind of a combination of everything I’ve experienced in my life because I have such a wide range of music over the years. From pop, extremely pop to classicly based or rock or anything really.. it’s what I’ve come up with myself. I don’t model it after anybody else. I just sing and that’s what comes out. And so we were creating our own sound. That’s exactly what those guys are doing as well. They are taking what they have created as a sound and and they are putting it out there. So this is me, this is my sound. The song itself is from the musical so it’s more musical theatre drivin’ song. It’s actually the most theatrical musical song on my album. But you’ll see at the show that I actually have a very wide range of musical styles going on.

Where do you get influence from?
Like I said, everything. But it’s hard for me to pinpoint who has had the biggest affect on what I do. In terms of my songwriting, I’d say definately my biggest influence are from Sting, Annie Lennox and really unique artists like that who kind of do their own thing, really on the emotion, romanticism in the music..that’s really something that I like. Kind of melancholy feeling. I really like Coldplay, how they capture the melancholiness of music. Really they captured it that well.

Are you thinking to have any collaboration with any Indonesian musicians?
I guess it’s not a surprise.. I’m singing in duet with Andien and some other collaborations. I’m going to sing with Due Voci a night before and with couple other Indonesian artists as well.

What do you think about Andien?
She’s great. She’s really great. I actually practiced with her this afternoon before this press thing. She has a really great musical sensibility and beautiful tone. It’s always fascinating to go around the world to see the type of musicians. I actually on my plane flight over here I was flying an international flight.  So it had a huge selections of musics. Like Saudi Arabian music to Russians, Mandarin hits, Japanese stuffs, so I got to listen to any kinds of music from all around the world and it’s interesting to see they are kind of like each other but very different in the traditional influences and all.. so it’s really cool that there’s so much music in the world. I wonder if I could listen to it all.

As you are preparing your debut album, can you give us a hint what the album will be like?
Every song that I’d like to do always have something to do always has something very special about. something that can make it stands on its own..it’s very important. And also that I wanna get across. So they are all connected by my voice, overall focus on the words and the emotion of it. My music is generally more like the type of romantic. I think that’s kind of connect it all. But every song has its own thing and it’s different. I don’t think any one song is too much like another.

Since this is a jazz festival and there will be many jazz lovers come here, do you think it’s important to change the arrangement or vocal style a bit to suit the genre?
Well I’m singing a jazz standard (laugh). I’m going to sing ‘Autumn Leaves’, I love that song. And through my life I’ve had everything else, like jazz.. jazz has been a big influence. The standards expecially. Like Gershwin.. I like Gershwin. But my favorite song of all time is ‘What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life.’

Do you also play any instruments?
Yeah, I play piano and elecric bass. With piano I started to play classical music but now I  play more pop oriented stuff. But on bass I play rock. I really want to learn how to play jazz base, because some of the players are so amazing.

Is there any experience you really remember the most throughout your career?
When I sang the song for the movie Nine, I was invited to sing “Unusual Way” at a launcheon in Los Angeles. In the movie Nicole Kidman sings this song. So at the luncheon there were they, the producer, the director, the actors, and right in front of me when I was singing.. you know, there were Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz. I was like this.. (Griffith thumping on his chest). My dad was accompanying me and he’s playing an electric keyboard. When he puts a higher key that I should sing higher than I could, I said “wait, wait”. I stopped singing, and you know. With Nicole and Penelope standing there I felt just like I want to runaway.That was huge. That was quite an experience. But that was great. It was very fun.

What do you expect to be in 10 years from now?
I wanna be playing music still. It’s just I love it, and my creative thrives gonna keep going so that’s what my plan. I suppose I’m lucky because I have that sort of thrive to do what I have to do but definately something involves with art. Because I love to write, I love to sing, I love to do a little sketching, I love to play music, anything to do with sort of creative work.

Okay then..thank you very much for your time.. good luck with the show, I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you, hope to see you there.

See more pictures:

From the interview session:

From Griffith’s performance at the  Java Jazz Festival 2010:

Interviewed by Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Ata Michaella, I Putu Surya K.B

So many things were happening at the JIExpo, Kemayoran, Jakarta, the venue of Java Jazz Festival 2010 for 3 days in a row! Hundreds of show took place in 21 stages that spread around the big venue. The venue itself was prepared amazingly. It almost looks like a big jazz city, that was the impression we got when we went around every inches of the place to give you reports for 3 days.

Right from the entrance you’d see long queue ready to experience the most spectacular jazz event on earth with their own eyes. There were many interesting spots to take pictures, there were enough lifts to bring you up to the 6th floor, where you could find the media room, the press conference room, some performing stages and merchandise booths.

There were many big stages located on the left and right side of the outside hall. And in the middle you could find the biggest food market selling all kind of foods you could ever imagine. Thousands of people filled the whole areas. And it became quite an attraction for us besides all the amazing artists around the world who performed in each stage.

Many interesting things happening outside the music halls were captured by our photographers, and we believe these pictures would tell more stories of the Java Jazz Festival 2010.  That’s why we decided to make this article.

You can also see what’s been going on at the media room as well, the checkpoint spot  for us and many other medias.   Jazzuality.com crews took the center of the room preparing the news and pictures before they went to reach you, all of our excellent readers.  The table was messy with lots of stuffs, some of us did nonstop writings, some kept resizing and tagging the pictures and cooked them all as the reports.

A picture speaks a thousand words, we hope you enjoy these titbits that were taken around the venue. It was an unbelievable festival, and we are very happy to be a part of it. See you  next year at Java Jazz Festival 2011!

The Chairman of Java Jazz Festival, Mr Peter F Gontha accompanying the Vice President of Indonesia, Mr Budiono

Mr Peter Gontha and Mr Budiono at one of the merchendise booth

A view of  artists’ registration desk at the hotel lobby

Not only the adults, even a little children could enjoy jazz nowadays

Queuing to see the performance of their favorites

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No.. it’s not superman.. it’s the daily schedule they were staring on

The “Golden Men” on the walkline became quite an attraction for many

Artists waiting to be transferred to the venue

A fans trying to impersonate John Legend. They look alike don’t they?

Some of our crews were busy to choose the pictures

Jazzuality crew.From left to right: Ata Michaella, Praditya Nova, Ardhi Saputro, Lanny Novianda, Daniel Irawan, Vierna Mariska K, Riandy Kurniawan, Mark Swapo, Novan Yahya Renatal, Eghi Gabred

Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Praditya Nova, Omar Arif Maulana, Mark Swapo, Eghi Gabred, Ata Michaella

Editor: Vierna M.K

As the theme of this year’s festival, Jazzin Up Remarkable Indonesia, Java Jazz Festival has finally established themselves as the greatest jazz festival in the world. Java Jazz Festival has been continuously carry on its mission to introduce our country and its best musical talents around the globe in general, especially jazz in particular. With its wide range of exploration in jazz genre, some to rock, some to blues, RnB, ethnical, dance and even pop, it’s one huge event where we can watch big and famous artists from every corners of the world doing their performance, sometimes collaborates, into the three days of pure joy and entertainment. Alan Paul of The Manhattan Transfer stated that there are no other places that can provide the number of performers plus the names like what the Java Jazz Festival does. This also becomes a reason why the audiences getting bigger year after year.

The needs of space made Java Festival Production now moved the place to JIExpo Kemayoran, with all the consequences for one better purpose to be able to provide the whole 21 stage that can contain over 1300 artists for 3 days and 75-80 shows per day. That’s an unbelievable achievement that brought them to receive a MURI records for The Biggest Jazz Festival in the World. This year, the event even attended by the Indonesia’s first and second man. For some, the hall’s range might be difficult to reach in short times, but for some others they might get the bigger walking area that feels more comfortable, although at some hours the venue still looks a little bit difficult to hold the crowds. The event’s progress was also breaking the opinion that our own local artists being neglected in the first place. With these venue and promotion that could reach bigger audience, not only the numbers of local performers had raised, now you could see the crowds and queue among local and overseas performers comes almost the same. The other main complains came from the difficulty to communicate via cellphone around the areas.  It’s not easy to deal with a big event like this of course, and we understand that. Plus, since the venue was used for the very first time,  some difficulties that occured were mainly because we are still not familiar with the new venue.

The shows themselves have some notes to take, with more new highlights came in many shapes and packages, from Diane Warren’s Greatest Hits to the great special show from The Manhattan Transfer, Babyface, Toni Braxton and John Legend. Two of them, Babyface and John Legend was also became the most spectacular shows ever held in Java Jazz Festival, alongside of Incognito and Level 42 in our opinion. From the other side of Jakarta, the performers also grown more varies, such as Batak Sensation from Medan and Surabaya All Stars, and at some points, the event felt complete by the comeback of Indonesian jazz icon, Indra Lesmana with his JavaJazz band, that consists of another jazz maestros ; Dewa Budjana & Donny Suhendra (guitar), Gilang Ramadhan (drum), and A.S. Mates (bass).

Complete composition of musicians should become our note as well. From the newcomers to the legends, highly skilled performers across generations, all kinds of instruments from western to the traditional, and we are talking about this in terms of globally. This year we got the presence of legendary artists such as Bob James, Hubert Laws, Rufus, George Duke, The Manhattan Transfer, Sly Stone, Ivan Lins, Bubi Chen, Benny Mustafa Van Diest, Oele Pattiselano, Idang Rasjidi, Benny Likumahuwa, Indra Lesmana and many more. We got the presence of world’s greatest songwriter through Diane Warren and Babyface. We also got to see the beautiful divas with remarkable gifts such as Toni Braxton, Sheila Majid, Jane Monheit, Roberta Gambarini, Mindi Abair, Jessy J, Andien, Syaharani and many more, the one who rocked the music industry such as John Legend, Eric Benet, the rising stars like Griffith Frank, Dira J Sugandi, Sandhy Sondoro, Alexandra Sterling, David Manuhutu, Rafi and many more. The brilliant players with distinctive style like Riza Arshad, Adonis Puentes, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Christian McBride, David Murray, Roy Hargrove and many other big names. If we look at these names, we would easily realize that Java Jazz Festival is the one and only jazz heaven that could place them all under one roof.

In this venue we also found more attractions such as increased exhibition stands, more foods and beverages, more merchandise from the performers, more art and photography exhibitions. The venue itself was designed more creatively that you wouldn’t bored exploring the areas the whole day.

We should feel fortunate to have these all, and we should thank Java Jazz Festival to make it happen. Growing 6 years in a row, the festival is getting bigger and better through the unbelievable efforts of Peter F. Gontha and the rest of Java Festival Production. We hope to see more surprises and highlights in the upcoming years. It’s like jazz itself. It’s a dream that coming true.

“Jazz is the light at the end of the day”.

Writer: Daniel Irawan, Riandy Kurniawan

Photographer: Praditya Nova, Mark Swapo, Omar Arif Maulana, Eghi Gabred

Editor: Ardhi Saputro, Ata Michaella

The last great special show in the festival this year caused another incident by the attendance of Indonesia’s vice president. Again the overprotective bodyguards doing the screening checkpoint that resulted the very long queue outside the hall, even when the concert had begun for quite sometimes. Booing by the queuing audience, luckily, the man finally leaving the festival. And the fully crowded concert was a great success for Babyface, who talked lots to the audience, about his teenage lovelife, his passion for Michael Jackson and also his career working with many famous people such as MJ and Eric Clapton.

Being a little different from other artists known as the hitmaker composer and writer, Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds could sing all his hits perfectly well, and also a good guitarist. So Kenny built over the one and a half show from his stories, did the medley of his many hits from Bobby Brown’s ‘Don’t be Cruel’ to Boyz II Men’s phenomenal ‘End Of The Road’. Before the encore ‘When can I See You Again’ that played acoustically, Kenny closed his story with the huge hit that won a Grammy for ’song of the year’ category. It was his collaboration with Clapton, the theme song of John Travolta’s Phenomenon, and the song we all did remember ever after, Change The World. Compare to his performance in JJF 2008, this one is longer, better and way more satisfying. Rarely has the festival presented two of the greatest special show in a row, and this year, it was finally happening!

Reporter: Daniel Irawan

Photographer: Praditya Nova

Editor: Ardhi Saputro, Ata Michaella

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It’s really not exaggerated to say that Griffith Frank is one of the greatest voice of this century. Performing the songs of his upcoming debut album and some classic tunes like Michael Jackson’s “She’s Out of My Life” also the classic Westside’s Story’s “Maria”.  Griffith brought the ultimate Brian Simpson, his own father David Frank who always stand by him on the keyboard,  plus special performance by Jeff Lorber, Harvey Mason, Mindi Abair, Nate Phillips and also a special duet with the Indonesian sweetheart, Andien.

The show itself reached its peak moment as Griffith Frank sang his debut single and music video from the Golden Globe nominee “Nine” titled “Unusual Way” that flew beautifully enchanting. Griffith Frank is a heartthrob that will make the girls’ heart melt away with his handsome face, charm, persona and amazing vocal quality. With everything he has within him, we are sure that he will reach the top in no time. It was a great show. Thanks,  Griffith! We hope to see you again.

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Reporter: Daniel Irawan, Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: I Putu Surya K.B