Sunday December 28, 2008, Fil-Am JazzFest
As I mentioned previously I was going to attend the 4th Annual Fil-AM Jazz Festival at The Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood this past Saturday. It was great!
What is the Fil-Am Jazz Festival you may ask. This is a one-night event that has been held for the past 4 years that features talented Filipino-American jazz artists. It was put on by The Jazz Society of the Philippines, USA (jazzPhil-USA) and presented by ABS-CBN, a Philippine broadcasting corporation.
Carlos Zialcita was the Master Of Ceremonies for the evening. He is the San Francisco American Jazz Festival Producer/Executive Director and a great harmonica player in his own right.
Along with a standard jazz trio of bass, drums and piano (that was used for the remainder of the festival sets) Bay Area denizen Bo Razon opened the festival playing conga and bongo drums but he is a multi-instrumentalist and composer too. Bo has a Cuban/Filipino connection and Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue" and Dizzy's "Night In Tunisia "set the tone for the entire evening with his strong Latin percussion skills. This was going to be an exciting evening of jazz!
Next up was the world-class Filipino jazz singer Mon David (winner of the 2006 London International Vocal Jazz competition) who kicked off his set with Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" and ended with Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away" which included some Tagalog lyrics! I don't speak Tagalog so I can't tell you what he sang but it was a beautiful song. Mon's 3 song set also gave us a taste of his scatting finesse and his fine guitar playing besides his obvious vocal talent.
Tateng Katindig took the stage next and captivated the audience with his mastery of the piano and in his 3 song set played the ballad "My One And Only Love" in a touching tribute to his wife. When you hear him play you know why he is known as the "Filipino Oscar Peterson"! It's too bad he didn't have any CDs for sale in the lobby but I am fortunate to have the "Jaawe Lang" CD to listen to when I need a "Tateng" fix.
Then it was Charmaine Clamor's (the inventor of "jazzipino") turn to wow the audience and wow she did! The beautiful and talented singer started with "Harana Sa Dilim", a song from her latest CD "My Harana" and also sang the jazzipino "My Funny Brown Pinay", which is an interpolation of the jazz standard "My Funny Valentine". "Pinay" is a term for a Filipino woman and this song instills pride in being a Filipina. An amazing singer and I'm not alone in that opinion based on this quote from Charmaine's Bio: Charmaine Clamor is America's leading Filipina jazz and world vocalist, achieving the rare feat of making the Top-5 on both JazzWeek's World (#2 ranking) and Traditional Jazz (#4) radio charts simultaneously.
Jon Irabagon followed Charmaine's performance with an outstanding set of alto-saxophone wizardry! Jon is the first Filipino-American to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. The Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition is the most prestigious jazz competition in the world. I loved Wayne Shorter's "Charcoal Blues" and Jon blew us all away with his solo on Billy Eckstine's ballad "I Just Want To Talk About You"!
Emcee Carlos Zialcita, on behalf of The Jazz Society of the Philippines, USA (jazzPhil-USA) then presented one of my favorite jazz piano players, the late Bobby Enriquez with a 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Eddie Coligado accepted the award for the Enriquez Family and played a special number (Malaguena) in honor of Bobby.
The last artist of the evening was The Ben Luis Collective from the Bay area. Bassist Ben Luis' set included a song from his upcoming CD that was inspired by Ben's recent trip to New Orleans where he saw firsthand the devastation that still exists after Hurricane Katrina. My favorite song was Luis' composition "For You" that included Carlos Zialcita (he's the Emcee, remember?) on harmonica. Great song!
Then the night was over all too soon. Everyone came out for one last song "Auld Lang Syne" and then it was time to buy CDs and meet the artists. The access to the artists was great! I got pictures and autographs and actually spent time talking with some of the artists after the show.
In a larger venue it is impossible for the normal guest to get this level of access.
The only complaint I had all night was one that only Father Time could resolve: the fact that there was so little time for each of the artists to share their music with us. Three songs each just barely touched the surface of the musical talent in the house and teased us just enough to make us want to go buy a CD from every artist. I could have stayed all night and I have no doubt that I would have been joined by the entire room!
All-in-all it was a great night of jazz and the fact that the artists were Filipino is important but takes a back seat to the fact that they were all talented musicians and in the end, jazz is jazz no matter who plays it.
The talent, the jazz, the venue, the friendliness, the camaraderie, and the love and support from the audience made this a night to remember.
Good jazz comes from around the world and Filipinos can play jazz with the best of them as was evident at this jazz festival.
I saw cameras recording the event so I hope they make this into a DVD at some point but even so I look forward to attending the 5th Annual Fil-Am Jazz Festival next year in 2009. Maybe I'll see you there!
Support live jazz and the venues that host live jazz. Jazz on!
http://www.jazzphil-usa.com/
http://www.catalinajazzclub.com/
What is the Fil-Am Jazz Festival you may ask. This is a one-night event that has been held for the past 4 years that features talented Filipino-American jazz artists. It was put on by The Jazz Society of the Philippines, USA (jazzPhil-USA) and presented by ABS-CBN, a Philippine broadcasting corporation.
Carlos Zialcita was the Master Of Ceremonies for the evening. He is the San Francisco American Jazz Festival Producer/Executive Director and a great harmonica player in his own right.
Along with a standard jazz trio of bass, drums and piano (that was used for the remainder of the festival sets) Bay Area denizen Bo Razon opened the festival playing conga and bongo drums but he is a multi-instrumentalist and composer too. Bo has a Cuban/Filipino connection and Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue" and Dizzy's "Night In Tunisia "set the tone for the entire evening with his strong Latin percussion skills. This was going to be an exciting evening of jazz!
Next up was the world-class Filipino jazz singer Mon David (winner of the 2006 London International Vocal Jazz competition) who kicked off his set with Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" and ended with Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away" which included some Tagalog lyrics! I don't speak Tagalog so I can't tell you what he sang but it was a beautiful song. Mon's 3 song set also gave us a taste of his scatting finesse and his fine guitar playing besides his obvious vocal talent.
Tateng Katindig took the stage next and captivated the audience with his mastery of the piano and in his 3 song set played the ballad "My One And Only Love" in a touching tribute to his wife. When you hear him play you know why he is known as the "Filipino Oscar Peterson"! It's too bad he didn't have any CDs for sale in the lobby but I am fortunate to have the "Jaawe Lang" CD to listen to when I need a "Tateng" fix.
Then it was Charmaine Clamor's (the inventor of "jazzipino") turn to wow the audience and wow she did! The beautiful and talented singer started with "Harana Sa Dilim", a song from her latest CD "My Harana" and also sang the jazzipino "My Funny Brown Pinay", which is an interpolation of the jazz standard "My Funny Valentine". "Pinay" is a term for a Filipino woman and this song instills pride in being a Filipina. An amazing singer and I'm not alone in that opinion based on this quote from Charmaine's Bio: Charmaine Clamor is America's leading Filipina jazz and world vocalist, achieving the rare feat of making the Top-5 on both JazzWeek's World (#2 ranking) and Traditional Jazz (#4) radio charts simultaneously.
Jon Irabagon followed Charmaine's performance with an outstanding set of alto-saxophone wizardry! Jon is the first Filipino-American to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. The Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition is the most prestigious jazz competition in the world. I loved Wayne Shorter's "Charcoal Blues" and Jon blew us all away with his solo on Billy Eckstine's ballad "I Just Want To Talk About You"!
Emcee Carlos Zialcita, on behalf of The Jazz Society of the Philippines, USA (jazzPhil-USA) then presented one of my favorite jazz piano players, the late Bobby Enriquez with a 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Eddie Coligado accepted the award for the Enriquez Family and played a special number (Malaguena) in honor of Bobby.
The last artist of the evening was The Ben Luis Collective from the Bay area. Bassist Ben Luis' set included a song from his upcoming CD that was inspired by Ben's recent trip to New Orleans where he saw firsthand the devastation that still exists after Hurricane Katrina. My favorite song was Luis' composition "For You" that included Carlos Zialcita (he's the Emcee, remember?) on harmonica. Great song!
Then the night was over all too soon. Everyone came out for one last song "Auld Lang Syne" and then it was time to buy CDs and meet the artists. The access to the artists was great! I got pictures and autographs and actually spent time talking with some of the artists after the show.
In a larger venue it is impossible for the normal guest to get this level of access.
The only complaint I had all night was one that only Father Time could resolve: the fact that there was so little time for each of the artists to share their music with us. Three songs each just barely touched the surface of the musical talent in the house and teased us just enough to make us want to go buy a CD from every artist. I could have stayed all night and I have no doubt that I would have been joined by the entire room!
All-in-all it was a great night of jazz and the fact that the artists were Filipino is important but takes a back seat to the fact that they were all talented musicians and in the end, jazz is jazz no matter who plays it.
The talent, the jazz, the venue, the friendliness, the camaraderie, and the love and support from the audience made this a night to remember.
Good jazz comes from around the world and Filipinos can play jazz with the best of them as was evident at this jazz festival.
I saw cameras recording the event so I hope they make this into a DVD at some point but even so I look forward to attending the 5th Annual Fil-Am Jazz Festival next year in 2009. Maybe I'll see you there!
Support live jazz and the venues that host live jazz. Jazz on!
http://www.jazzphil-usa.com/
http://www.catalinajazzclub.com/
posted by The Jazz Guy at
10:24 PM
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