Braga Jazz Walk 02 : The Report

We scored another streak. After the crowded premiere edition, the Braga Jazz Walk #02 once again draws good number of audience. Held in the mall located at the historical Braga street named Braga City Walk, this second edition served something quite different than the menu on the previous one. This time it was about pop jazz, soul, and then the rare jazz flavored reggae with some blues, rock and pop delights. We believe by bringing in different styles we could introduce the rich variety of jazz towards the society as well as showing that jazz is indeed a genre that could fit everyone’s ears. Another important mission to accomplish is to make Braga City Walk a jazz spot/destination in Bandung. With the solid cooperation between us Jazzuality.com, the venue Braga City Walk and the kind-hearted music school KPH Music who provides the instruments and sounds plus the support of musicians in Bandung and the jazz fans who have been with us, we know we can make it happen.

The event started 15 minutes after 7:00 pm with a band of Maranatha University student, Imagodeo. Since Imagodeo shows the intention to reflect the image of God in their nature, this band wishes to luminate it through their music and performance. This band is focusing on ‘Pop Soul’ by placing quality and harmony up front. The personnels are Andhika Caesar Sesa (Dhika) on vocal, Yohansa Ambarita (Yoan) on electric guitar, Dennise Natasha Inadea Mata Hine (Dea) on keyboard, Janoko Dewanto (Ojan) on bass, Engelberth Fredrick Watory (Engel) on acoustic guitar and Gerids Yanri Yulius on drums.

RAN & Tulus’ “Aku Bisa” was their first song that directly followed by Earth Wind and Fire’s “September”. After the happy groove they turned to ballad, this time with a big hit from Brian McKnight, “Back at One”. A song from Tulus’ second album titled “Satu Hari di Bulan Juni” with a piece of “When a Man Loves a Woman” being blended in the middle. Dewi ‘Dee’ Lestari’s “Malaikat Juga Tahu” which also sang by Glenn Fredly was the next choice. In this song Dhika showed everyone his deep, soulful vocal quality that reminds us of Glenn. Dhika has the kind of voice that perfectly suits the trend in our music industry today. It was beautiful, but they didn’t want to end their session in mellow tune, so they took everyone for one last joyride with Slank’s “Kamu Harus Pulang”.

We have planned to bring them in for some months, but only until now we could find the time to have them for real. Well known songs, nicely executed with happy moods. This band would perfectly fit to run around the field of blues, jazz, groove, doo woop, traditional pop, soul, RnB and everything in between. An entertaining band it is. Well done, Imagodeo, keep reflecting the image of God in anything you do, especially in music!

The second session was taken by a band, still two months old named Rizki Jonathan Project. This group is led by a young male singer Rizki Jonathan, whose vocal character has gentle yet strong, bluesy, soulful and husky that in a way reminds us of Sandhy Sondoro. He came to our event so often, almost in every edition and consistently joined the jam session. Since he already established a group, it’s about time to feature him up in the showcase session.

Andre Fernando (guitar/backing vocal), Felix Jose (guitar), Yosua Setiawan (bass), Farrel Yanaga (drums) and Chaerul Ahmad (saxophonist) stood alongside Rizki. Their session started in a duo between Jonathan and Andre. The song was “Amazing Grace”, brought acoustic and quickly bagged applauses. The whole band members then joined these two lads and brought nothing but popular songs including Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and the most recent chart topper from the Canadian band Magic!, “Rude”. Then they went back to the past and covered one of Chrisye’s evergreens, “Kala Cinta Menggoda” and reached the end with a cool rearrangement of Michael Jackson’s “Man In the Mirror”.

That’s Rizki Jonathan. Not only he could sing very well, he also has his own color in unique tone. Since he’s still very young, he still has a lot of time to fulfill his dream. With such gift he can make it to the top in the near future. We’d love to see him and his fellows grow on our stage. Hope he will keep jamming and take some more slots in the future.

The last performer was an artist who amazingly can enter the mainstream industry while still keeping his idealism attached. As long as people feel happy and have fun with him, then he’d accomplish his wish. Through quite long time of searching and trying, he found his magic formula that uniquely combines wide-array of music, from jazz, pop, soul to reggae. What’s great about his music is that you will find colorful dimensions created by crossovers of genres that feels natural. He is Erwin Saz a.k.a Mr. Uye.

As he’s finishing his new album (projected to release soon in November 2014), we were happy to be able to hijack him to share some teasers (as well as singing his hits of course) for this second edition. He was accompanied by heavy caliber (all-star cast) including Nissan Fortz (guitar), Dede (bass) and Dani Irjayana (drums).

We say it was a truly magnificent session that spoke loud about the multi-dimensional music concept, yet served really friendly and easy to absorb even by the most common listeners. And the entertainment factor is very high! All in all, they were playful and attractive throughout their almost an hour round.

The main team started first and directly surprised the audience by a jazzy version of Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain”. Well, it started with smooth jazz-reggae outfit, but then more and more flavors were added into the palette, from blues to country. Nissan Fortz performed like a wizard, totally riveting with his multi-color tones. Dede got the rock bassist style by holding his weapon down low yet the groove and notes were clearly went to jazz. Dani is no stranger to jazz drumming, but here he demonstrated an all-rounder beatings. The featured artist Erwin Saz didn’t just sing, he already sounded his trumpet and harp from this first song all the way to the very end.

Mr. Uye suddenly opened the jam session on the second song, his own hit “Sumitro Rojali”. Genta (blues harp), Hafidz (trumpet) and Estu (violin) quickly submitted themselves into the show. Again, this song became a free-for-all playing ground. They all had solo run and Nissan conducted the drum and bass to keep changing the musical layer, from Latin to blues to country folk. The audience were involved too, singing together with them. “Englishman In New York” was the next source to have fun. All kinds of genre floated in, including house music. Everyone sang again led by Mr. Uye himself. “Do you want to hear one more, or should we stop right here?” he said. Of course we wished to have more. Apparently he still had one last song in his mind. It was a famous song written by the late, legendary Batavian artiste, Benyamin S entitled “Nonton Bioskop”. Keroncong was pretty much alive in this one, especially through Estu’s violin. They poured out every energy they had left for one last magical jam.

The whole show of Erwin Saz and friends was built under the concept of jam session. These guys turned the stage into a fun park where they could play around freely. An amazing, highly entertaining show was the result. Since the time was already too late, we had to cancel the open jam session in this edition. Many musicians came to jam, but we’re sure they understand. Not everyday we can have an ensemble like this. We can learn so many things from them. The concept building, the way to execute it, the good way to jam and of course, the entertainment factor. So X factor, WOW factor, or whatever you call it, Erwin ‘Mr.Uye’ Saz and his team mates have it. It was mad! Uye!

The Braga Jazz Walk #02 turns out to be a fun edition. We got lots of groove, a lot of happy vibes, cheerful moods and tasty tunes. There were many cool covers of today’s hitlist, but there were also some originals that have strong potential to be succeed in the market. Many thanks to all the bands, the jam participants, our partners and of course to you all, gorgeous, happening crowds! We hope you enjoy this edition and keep supporting us in the next editions. Jazz belong to everyone and should be able to penetrate all segment of society. We bring our concept into the mall which is located in the middle of the historical Braga street in a wish to introduce the friendly face of jazz and its colorful varieties (and possibilities) to both devoted jazz fans and new/common listeners.