Ralyzz Dig Quintet --Courtesy of Pein Lee/Sarawak Tourism Board

Different manifestations of jazz music were heard at the recently held Borneo Jazz Festival 2011 in Miri, Sarawak, to the delight of fans comprising a good mix of locals, expatriates and tourists.

Formerly known as the Miri International Jazz Festival, the event’s moniker has only been changed to Borneo Jazz Festival recently, to “highlight its vibrant qualities and prominence with other international festivals, as well as to present Borneo as a top destination among tourists”, said the festival organizer, Sarawak Tourism Board.

Having attracted a smaller turnout of over 6,000, as compared to over 8,000 last year, the four-day event (May 12-15) had proceeded with much aplomb.

Currently in its sixth installment, the festival had featured nine foreign headliners who performed at an outdoor stage located next to the South China Sea.

Many of the acts had displayed top-notch instrumentation, vocal and improvisation skills; and with an emphasis on offering guitar-based rhythms — a unique experience that’s contrary to the standard combination of guitar and horn section typical of live jazz gigs.

The festival’s opening act, SIU2 from China, had resorted to using Chinese musical instruments such as the zheng
(a traditional plucked string instrument), among others, to perform progressive jazz which incorporated World Music influences. Unfortunately, their brand of abstract music sounded rather monotonous at parts and it did not bode well with the crowd.

The next act was Cunha & Piper (from Brazil and Australia), whose playlist included highly melodious traditi-onal and contemporary bossa nova and samba tracks.

The band — which includes vocalist Fernanda Cunha who had sung in Portuguese — had offered a set that evoked a romantic mood and sounded so evocative that many audience members were seen humming and swaying to the music.

Among the highlights was when the band performed a slow, lingering-sounding interpretation of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Corcovado’ — which was apt for the festival considering the classic song is renowned for evoking images of white sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and cool breezes.

One of the festival’s main attractions is iconic blues act John Hammond whose masterful solo showcase had captivated the crowd.

Having displayed his top-notch vocal capabilities and helming the harmonica and acoustic guitar at the same time, and at times switching to a steel guitar, Hammond — who had been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame recently — had performed his own sublime original songs which boast eclectic influences such as the blues, honky-tonk, ragtime and bluegrass scales.

As the son of record producer John H. Hammond and sometimes referred to as “John Hammond, Jr” (who’s also a descendant of William Henry Vanderbilt of the famed super wealthy Vanderbilt family), the seminal musician and singer had truly showed the meaning of keeping it simple, in terms of just allowing his music “to do the talking”.

Grammy Award nominee Maria Muldaur (from the US) is another seminal headliner whose witty repartee from the stage had amused, even wowed the crowd. However, her cheeky showmanship and soulful, even highly energetic renditions of her own original songs as well as covers of tunes originally performed by James Brown, among others — all uniquely transformed by infusing musical influences such as jazz, blues, funk and gospel — got many audience members cheering and dancing profusely.

She had also said that “one of my must-perform songs at most festivals such as this is ‘Midnight in the Oasis’”, her most renowned recording released in 1974, and which
popular musical guide Allmusic’s reviewer Matthew Greenwald has described as “sounding so sensual and evocative that it was probably one of the most replayed tracks of the era and may also be responsible for getting most women pregnant just by listening to the song in the mid-’70s”.

After releasing the song (which launched her career), Muldaur has maintained a low profile for more than two decades, focusing instead on producing music and performing live around the world without much fuss.

France’s Les Doigts de L l’Homme, who specializes in performing gypsy jazz music, had offered a middle-of-the-road showcase. Worse still, their musical styles did not sound cohesive.

For instance, in parts, their set veered into the traditional Spanish flamenco musical territory which sounded rather limp, and once they’d performed Porgy and Bess’ classic song “Ol’ Man River” which, it must be pointed out, featured stirring melodies which included musical influences such as bluegrass and ragtime.

For something different, Holland’s State of Monc’s gig, complete with a DJ, did not disappoint. Having combined jazz music and dance music influences such as breakbeat, dubstep, drum ‘n bass and trip-hop, their overall scales sounded downright sexy, infectious and funky, judging by some audience members who were seen working their soles.

Led by saxophonist and vocalist Yuichiro Tokuda, Japan’s RALYZZ DIG Quintet’s inimitable showcase focused on top-notch musical instrumentation skills. Their set-list included acid-jazz tracks and jazz ballads which managed to pull many audience members’ heartstrings.

So much so, some of the crowd members were also swaying to some of the band’s swoon-worthy songs, one of which is, for some reason, titled “Brunei”. Yuichiro Tokuda, in particular, performed on the saxophone like his life depended on it — with much passion and panache.

With all the aforementioned, the audience members enjoyed lots of good music, exciting showmanship… heck, a memorable musical escapade under the stars and a full moon which were seen throughout the event.

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