The jazz world of Boy Katindig

MANILA, Philippines - Asked by this journalist as how Philippines’ noted jazz icon Roland “Boy” Katindig could define the word jazz, he said he did not know its exact definition. For him, it is “improvisation and a matter of taste.”

Jazz, he said, is a popular music first played by Negro groups in Southern USA in the early 20th century, characterized by improvisation and strong rhythms, and a later variance much influenced by the blues to create an unhurried emotive style.

When Boy left Manila in 1984 to try his luck in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he formed The Waves band (and later in the US in 1986) to widen his jazz audience, the country’s jazz scene was at its peak. However, when he returned to his homeland 20 years after, he realized “it was not like that anymore. There were no jazz bars, no radio stations that gave all their full support to jazz music. There was no crowd, no line (to the venue). How come nobody has maintained it? It should have gone further. We’re back to square one again.”

Two years ago, he, together with some Filipino partners, put up a club, the Boy Katindig Jazz Café, along Greenhills’ Ortigas area. Sadly, it is no longer there because “four months into the ballgame they want to change the format. I was surprised to walk in one night and showing in the video was Abba and later Always by Atlantic Starr. OK, I get my exit and I am not gonna be here.”

He admitted that he did not know he would get into jazz music. “All of us started playing with rock music. Before, I was fond of rock music. As I grew up, I started writing old material just to get ideas. I did not realize I was listening to the records of Cannonball Adderley, Chick Corea... I was still young then. That was before I joined the Circus Band.”

He was then a freshman high school student at La Salle Greenhills when he formed his own band, the Last Fogg. He was only 13 years old, playing the piano, guitar, drums and bass.

At 14, he said he became professional. “The minute you get paid, it’s the start of your professional career.”

Later, he auditioned to be part of The New Dimension Singers, which later became the Circus Band, whose members included Pabs Dadivas, Walter Calinawan, Wally Ang, Basil Valdez, Hajji Alejandro, Tillie Moreno, Jacqui Magno, Pat Castillo, Ray-an Fuentes, Bobby Paulino, Richard Tan and Atek Jacinto (the group’s musical director), among others.

He said he was not able to finish high school education because “I was already busy with the Circus Band and making money.” In 1978, he signed up with A&W Records International and recorded his first album, Midnight Lady, which was named Best Instrumental Composition by Himig Awards. His single, Don’t Ask My Neighbor, was also a certified gold record.

While he was in Hawaii, Boy met Michael Paulo, a half-Filipino, half-Japanese American saxophone player. “I would never imagine I would meet that guy one day. Michael actually introduced me to America. I produced then an independent album, Journey to Love. While they were playing my CD, Michael was there and he became interested when he heard it. It so happened he was opening up a label in Seattle, USA. We later played together with Pauline Wilson, a Filipina who grew up in Hawaii. Somehow I got into the mainstream.”

He said he has gone through many trials to prove himself in the US. He had to compose original music, which, he believes, is “the bottomline wherever you go,” especially when one’s music touches people’s lives.

“You get the boost when you played the first melody for people to know it, and you wrote it. You get to test the waters by playing it in front of a theater. All right, I like it, and you know where you are. That’s the best way for you to know who you are when they appreciate you by performing your own material. That’s why I migrated to the US for I brought my own material. I recorded and produced it,” he elucidated with a gleam in his eyes.

As to the possibility of having a repeated reunion with his Circus Band colleagues, he found it impossible at the moment. “We wanted to do that. In fact, lawyer Liza Araneta-Marcos (wife of Sen. Bongbong Marcos) asked me to do it. She said, ‘I can make it happen in my backyard.’ I know she can do it, but the problem is the technicality, the personality and ego. She said, ‘I’ll be the one to take care of them, I can talk to them.’ But the problem is that Pabs Dadivas is now with Hari Krishna (a religious sect founded in the US in 1966 and based on Vedic scriptures). There are lots of forbidden things there. No cigarette, no liquor. You cannot play or perform in a place where there’s liquor. The problem is the technicality indeed. Pabs is the clown of the Circus Band. Circus Band won’t be a band without a clown. I don’t know how it’s gonna happen.”

Some years ago, the Circus Band’s first reunion was handled by the Zobels, and it worked well.

“There were no technicalities to consider then. They had money,” said Boy, who has five children — Michelle (a product of Juilliard School in New York), Michael (a graphic artist and guitar player), Margeaux (who lives in Germany), Melissa and Christian (who studies in middle school in Las Vegas, Nevada, plays the piano and loves to mix music).

By the end of this year, he plans to visit Pabs in New York to attempt to convince the latter for a reunion concert.

He also readily gives his unsolicited piece of advice to aspiring musical composers. “First of all, learn your music. The more you put your time into it, the better is the result. Stay focus. Learn your music and write original material regardless whether you are a pop composer or jazz composer. It’s truly best to play your own because I realize that when I went to the US.”

To give aspiring Filipino jazz artists an opportunity to be recognized, he has conceptualized the Boy Katindig Songwriting and Jazz Band Competition (the deadline of submission of entry is today) to discover true artists who can transcend traditional and contemporary jazz.

“I think it’s time for the renaissance of original Filipino jazz,” said Boy who desires to create awareness and bring back the interest in local jazz scene by producing world-class concerts and promoting and developing contemporary jazz as well as “promoting cultural exchange.”

Lastly, he also wants jazz to reach or be a part of the masses, the ordinary men in the streets.

Certainly, it is a gargantuan, but noble, task for Boy, the eldest child of Romeo Katindig of the famous Romy Katindig and the Hichords which has left an indelible mark in the world of jazz music in the country.