Asia loses its best bassist, Roger H.

Roger Herrera is no household word, no teenage idol, no mass heartthrob. He is a bass guitarist who has earned his stripes among the best backup instrumentalists in the country, his name listed on almost all local recordings. To the small music communities here and in other parts of the region, Roger is “the best bass guitarist in Asia.” The title was conferred on him by no less than Joaquim Berendt, the German jazz critic for the prestigious music magazine, Downbeat. Berendt so concluded after a six-month tour of the clubs of the continent.

These days Roger displays mastery of his art at the Vineyard, a small classy pub on Pasay Road where the food and the spirits are good and the music even better. Roger entertains the nightly crowd of jazz freaks with the smooth flowing rhythm of the low octave guitar. He vibrates two basses, a custom-built Fender and a Gibson bass fiddle that looks like an oversized violin. Roger plays with Take One Band, led by sax player Dick Lagrimas, with Lando Catungcal on drums, Ray Cristobal on keyboards, Norman Ferrer on lead guitar, and Richard Merck on vocals. The band members are all praises for him.

Roger’s 30 years in the profession puts him right up front with the country’s leading jazz exponents. He has played with different orchestras and combos, leading his own Roger Herrera Band from 1964 to 1974. On travels abroad he has jammed with some of the top jazz musicians, Albert Mangelsdorf, Buddy Rich, Tony Scott, and the bands of Duke Ellington and Les Brown. He has performed during royal banquets for the King of Thailand, himself a saxophonist, and the former Shah of Iran. Last year he provided bass backup for Barney Kessel’s concert at the CCP.

At 47, the veteran surprisingly doesn’t look any older than today’s pop stars. Music hasn’t allowed him to age. He dresses young: blue denims, white T-shirt, and basketball shoes are his daily getup.

Roger got into music mainly due to his father’s influence. Roger Sr. was also a professional musician who played drums and guitar for several pre-War orchestras. Roger Jr.’s grandfather, an architect who was into music too, played piano and the native banduria.

Since age five, Roger had always been a fascinated audience of his father’s Ilaya Orchestra in Tondo. He would tag along and tinker with the instruments during rehearsal breaks. His old man saw promise in the kid and hired him an expensive private tutor for solfeggio and violin. As all instrumentalists say about their instruments, Roger later shifted to bass because “I just liked its sound.”

His trade secrets are simple. “I can read notes,” says Roger. “In the recordings, kailangang bumasa ang artists dahil apurahan lahat ng trabaho. More important, I never stop studying. Music is continually developing and I patiently study all the new styles and trends. I listen to records a lot, especially my favorite bass guitarists: Red Mitchell, Scott LaFaro, Ray Brown, Gary Peacock, Jaco Pastorius, Alfonso Johnson, Larry Graham and Stanley Clark. Hindi ako nahihiyang magtanong sa ibang musikero. I asked Rudy Lozano to teach me the funk beat when it was the craze in 1975. Then, I asked Hubert Laws’ bass guitarist, Nathan Hayes, to teach me harmonics during their recent visit here.”

Roger, with humility, discards the title “best bass guitarist in Asia.” “One cannot claim to be the best,” he maintains. “There are hundreds of bass guitarists in Asia and we haven’t heard all of them yet. I have a lot to learn, in style and technique. If I let this being the best get into my head, I might stop studying. That would force me into early retirement, which I cannot afford to do.”

Unlike many in the profession who have made it to the top, Roger does not recall any career frustrations or disappointments. He complains not of the long hours, the hectic schedules. For a moment his eyes betray weariness. But the contentment wins out, the joy of playing, that almost magical feeling that erases, even if only temporarily, a man’s share of worries. (Excerpts from “Soaring High on the Low Notes,” TV Times)

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I felt every word writing that piece about Roger 33 years ago, for an entertainment-culture mag. My barkada and I followed his gigs as often as we could. Musicians in the audience invariably had only superlatives for Roger’s bass playing. Years later he retired abroad with wife Megan and their two children.

Three months ago at Seventh High, The Fort, a new band called Joyful Jazz was playing, and everyone was raving at the stirring vocal renditions of Bituin Escalante. I spotted Jim Paredes and wife in the crowd, with the Apo Hiking’s manager. Kudos was going as well to arranger-keyboardist Tess Salientes, percussionist Jorge San Juan, and vocalist Jeannie Tiongco. The loudest claps went to the bass guitarist, who made the music so cool. It was Roger, on his Fender and fiddle basses, still in denims and basketball shoes, looking young but all of 80.

Roger was having fun, having been plucked out of retirement only in May. He had caught the bug again, but his children were urging him to go home to them, he confided during our short chat, for he was sickly. He was in hospital for two days fighting hemolytic anemia in July, again two weeks ago.

Last Wednesday Roger expired. His ashes will be interred this morning at the Santuario de San Antonio, McKinley Road, Makati.

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Ignacio “Toting” Bunye makes high finance understandable to the uninitiated in his book, Central Banking for Every Juan and Maria. To be launched today, the book narrates the workings of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, from regulating banks and pawnshops to issuing coins and banknotes and running after money launderers. Bunye is a former newspaperman and bureaucrat, now a member of the Monetary Board.

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