...And jazz for all
When my editor asked me to write about jazz, I hopped into my time-traveling DeLorean (actually it’s a Kia Pride), and zoomed through time and space to arrive at certain African-American communities in the Southern United States at the beginning of the 20th century. This was where American pop music was combined with music traditions European and African—the West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note, according to Wikipedia—to form this distinctive musical genre called jazz. (The term ‘jazz’ itself was apparently first coined in Chicago around 1915.) Then I went over to the Philippines, where we were being exposed to the music by visiting American military personnel.
It was all very exciting and interesting, but I neglected to take notes, the battery on my mp3 recorder ran out (you try finding triple-A’s in the early 1900s), and I had to rush back lest I risk distracting my great-grandmother and invalidating my own existence (long story). But as that famous jazz song says, I get by with a little help from my friends (...not really a jazz song).
I asked four people who should know—four jazz enthusiasts, all of them around my age (okay, two of them are much younger, okay), some basic questions about the genre, for the benefit of ignoramuses such as myself. They were the unbelievably talented bassist of soul-jazz collective Yosha, Berklee-educated Karel Honasan, drummer Mikah Azurin, who plays in Helen and Quail Quartet and “speaks jazz, metal and drum&bass” (all of them with remarkable fluency, I might add), Allan Tabilog, an IT professional based in New Zealand (and also the biggest Miles Davis fan and one of the best guitarists I know), and the amazing Roxy Modesto (a.k.a. “the Lisa Simpson of the Philippines,” ha ha), who first blew me away in her capacity as “Sax Bitch” for Corporate Lo-Fi, but also plays (baritone and sometimes tenor sax) with the UP Jazz Ensemble, Nyko Maca, Radioactive Sago Project, and the AMP Big Band.
My first question: How did you get into jazz, as a listener and/or as a performer?
KAREL: Jazz wasn’t the easiest thing to digest at first. It was too messy in my opinion. But after hearing this amazingly
Hot brass: Effortlessly cool saxophonist Roxy Modestotalented bass player by the name of Alain Caron, my mind was turned into a sponge. I couldn’t stop the need to learn more!
MIKAH: I was influenced by a bandmate back in the early 90s, and then did my own researching and buying. Eventually I learned a little bit about playing jazz, and managed to get a little lounge jazz gig back in 2000.
ALLAN: It was my love for guitar-playing that first led me to jazz. After hearing jazz guitarists on the radio as a teenager back in the late 80s (thanks to that local radio station, CT Lite 88.3), I’d try to emulate the fluid riffs which sounded cooler and a bit more sophisticated than the stock-standard pentatonic rock riffs. Eventually I wanted to learn more about the music itself and got hold of books and CDs from libraries.
ROXY: Papa had a lot of jazz CDs, so a lot of it was just subconsciously listening to what he put on the stereo as a kid, and slowly growing into performing jazz through learning the saxophone. I remember picking up a CD he had on and asking him who this big white dude with a big-ass horn was—he answered “Gerry Mulligan,” and intrigued as I was by Gerry’s sound, I had no idea that I would be getting into baritone saxophone about two years after that. I learned saxophone at the Jakarta International School and took what I learned technically in their band program to growing into a performer here in the Philippines. My first involvement in jazz performance was playing in the JIS Jazz Ensemble, of which I chose to continue by playing with the big bands of Metro Manila, the UP Jazz Ensemble and the AMP Big Band. It’s been playing and experiencing the jazz scene here in the Philippines which got me to listen more and really study the language of jazz.
More next week, as Karel, Mikah, Allan and Roxy share their listening recommendations for beginners, and their thoughts on the local jazz scene today. In the meantime, it’s good to keep in mind the motto on Roxy’s Facebook page: “Don’t be intimidated. Don’t underestimate either. And JUST HAVE FUN.”
FURTHER LISTENING: Check out Karel’s band at www.myspace.com/yoshagroove. See more of Mikah’s bands at youtube.com/WeSpecializeInCages and youtube.com/BrimstoneInFire. Learn more about one of Roxy’s many bands at www.myspace.com/corporatelofi.
FURTHER READING: “Pinoy Jazz Traditions” (2004 National Book Award winner for Music) and “Mabuhay Jazz: Jazz in Postwar Philippines,” both by Richie Quirino and published by Anvil Publishing.tration
