Date: 4 April 2008 (Fri)
Time: 5th act (Salsa Celtica)
Venue: Genting International Showroom
Occasion: Genting International Jazz Festival 2008



Salsa Celtica are definitely the ultimate dance band for the first night. Imagine a convergence of the Afro-Cuban dance blowing across the Atlantic and colliding with the Irish-Scottish-Celtic one, creating a “Perfect Storm” that unleashes a mighty fury of infectious fusions of Latin rhythms and Scottish folk music that sweeps one off their feet. Yes, it may seem foolhardy, but the offspring from the musical matrimony is quite remarkable.

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Date: 4 April 2008 (Fri)
Time: 4th act
Venue: Genting International Showroom
Occasion: Genting International Jazz Festival 2008



Hamilton de Holanda and his band execute with extreme technical finesse, a most-unlikely combo of a Brazilian world-jazz band what with its two lead instruments being the bandolim (mandolin) and the harmonica which succeeds in ushering in an immersive visual-auditory encounter fused from the eclectic mesh of jazz, samba, pop music, choro and even classical Brazilian musical traditions.

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Date: 4 April 2008 (Fri)
Time: 3rd act
Venue: Genting International Showroom
Occasion: Genting International Jazz Festival 2008



It was hot rollickin’ blues in the house alright! A crowd favourite judging by the vociferous cheers that reverberated through the house, “Diamond” Dave and the Doodaddies proved “…not only that the roots of the blues are strong and far reaching but that the blues is bright!”

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Mention “Cameroon” to most Malaysians my age and the name Claude Le Roy comes to mind. He had led the Cameroon national team to runners-up in the 1986 African Cup of Nations and then champions in the 1988 competition.

How can one not forget the quarter-final match between Cameroon and England in the FIFA World Cup in 1990? After that, he was the Malaysian national soccer coach from 1992 till 1995. Alas that ended in disaster after the Malaysian national team failed to make it for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Now what about Cameroon’s offering to the Genting International Jazz Festival 2008, Bens Belinga Quartet?

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Date: 4 April 2008 (Fri)
Time: 7:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Venue: Genting International Showroom
Occasion: Genting International Jazz Festival 2008



When jUnKoFuNc walked onto that stage they knew they were faced with insurmountable odds. Firstly, it was a Friday evening and secondly their slot was at 7.15 pm where most folks are still on their way back from work.

Nevertheless, they took it all in stride for a whole solid hour.

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The Mingus Dynasty

Where? The Iridium Jazz Club
When? 29th January 2008, Tuesday.
Time? 10:30pm, NYC time.

This is my second gig I've caught so far, in my second week of being in the Big Apple. Contrary to popular belief, although I'm in NYC, I am not always able to catch gigs as often as I would like (and there are a LOT happening on a given night!).

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Date: Jan 5, 2008
Venue: UCSI
Concert: Az Samad in concert: The New Acoustic


The rain did nothing to stop the 300-odd people from packing UCSI's hall to watch Az Samad's “The New Acoustic” concert two Saturdays ago. It is not very often that the Berklee's graduate gets to return to his native homeland and thus the concert offered an opportunity to play catch up on his post-Berklee progress.

There were students still clad in uniform, loads of fans, a flotilla of pressmen and of course, winners of the Guitar Collection Az Samad contest held at our website. It was encouraging to see the celebrated songstress Mia Palencia and well-known folk guitarist Azmyl Yunor there.

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Date: 3 Jan 08 (Thu)
Venue: Rick’s Café Casablanca
Group: Julian Chan Quartet



I finally got down and visited Rick’s Café Casablanca for the first time since it opened. Worried that I would not be able to make it for Julian’s final gig (which I found out later would be on Jan 13th at Bangkok Jazz), this was one gig I couldn’t afford to miss.

Thus, it was amply rewarded not just with impressive music, but great friendships forged that night.

The “Julian Chan Quartet”, had our woodwind player who will turn 30 this year, lock in the groove with long-time friends and collaborators from the Happy People Quintet days, A.J on bass, Justin Lim on keys and John Thomas, the superhuman drummer.

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Dec 30, 2007 will be a date I will never forget.



In a statement of defiance in the face of its demise, The Top Room went out, not with a whimper but with a bang. A night that one will probably never forget, the words of the legendary Miles Davis who once declared “Jazz was dead… the music of the museum” momentarily seemed like a kid’s prank.

Gathered to see The Top Room on a grand send off was a diverse group of people reading like a list of Who’s Who in the jazz and social clubbing scene. Apart from the usual suspects, we had among others the socialite Charmayne Chung, Cassiemarie, the English professor Lim Chee Seng and even the acclaimed Malay-contemporary songstress, Salamiah Hassan. A large family of 10 occupied the front-most table and provided the most boisterous cheers and it was encouraging to see that the mean age of all attendees is the late 20s.

The final night of 21-month labour of love that was initiated by the incredible jazz pianist David Gomes and vocalist Junji Delfino was graced with the presence of some blue blood Malaysian cats that came to pay their last respects to this great hall of jazz. You can bet your bottom dollar, that high quality music was served.

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Date: 29 Dec 2007
Venue: Alexis Ampang





Victoria Newton, I found out, is loud and powerful. She’s sharp and witty too. Although I wished I could say there was euphoric pandemonium, the cover charge ensured that only serious, paying, listeners who weren’t a plenty were admitted.

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