The maestro:  Drummer and musician Andrea Marcelli performs “O miobabbinocaro” at a mini concert at the Italian Cultural Institute in Jakarta in late May. (Photo by Frederica S. Priyanto)

About 100 Jakartans from different walk of life — from jazz lovers and students to ambassadors — braved the city’s terrible traffic one afternoon in late May to watch the performance of jazz drummer and composer Andrea Marcelli at the Italian Cultural Institute, Jakarta.

The concert was organized by the institute in collaboration with the Sjuman School of Music.

Marcelli commenced the concert that evening with his arrangement of Giacomo Puccini’s “O miobabbinocaro”, stating that he liked to rearrange classical music into jazz.

Pianist Julian Marantika and bassist Doni Sundjoyo performed alongside Marcelli in the concert.

The three produced a heartfelt melody with the first piece emitting a chilled out, relaxing atmosphere. Following “O miobabbinocaro” was a piece that Marcelli himself composed, “Summer Nights”, a romantic and playful composition that represented the title well enough as we could close our eyes and feel a summer’s night ambiance.

“Jazz is very important. It is a form of art about dialogue,” Marcelli said after performing the third piece, “Dolphin Dance”, which is “standard American jazz”, according to him.

“In jazz, we listen to one another. We accept any background differences, because we know that all the players have the same soul [jazz], and we’re creating something positive,” he added.

Marcelli, who was born in Italy, lived in the United States and currently resides in Berlin, Germany, is a jazz musician and composer who has performed all around the world: in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa.

He has composed more than 200 songs: two of which have been included in both The European Real Book and The Digital Real Book Part 2, and about 200 of them have been recorded. He has also had five CDs released under his name, and seven CDs of his library music.

But his career didn’t start with jazz.

“At first, I was listening to mostly classical music. And then eventually, when I was around 10 or 12, I started listening to jazz as well, then I started liking Latin jazz. I listened to Carlos Santana, and also Django Reinhardt and Wayne Shorter. So it [his interest in jazz] started when I was around 10 or 12, but first I was listening to classical,” he said in an interview.

“But I still like classical music very much, and also European rock like Genesis, and some Italian bands and romantic rock,” he said.

Being a drummer has been in his nature every since he was little.

“I was always playing and tapping on books, or tables, or anything, all the time. So there was really no doubt,” he explained.

In the past, he worked as a featured drummer for a show on Italian television station RAI for three and a half years in 1982, before graduating from the L. Refice Conservatory in Frosinone, Rome, in jazz composition and arrangement as well as classical clarinet.

“There was a certain point where I really wanted to be a musician. So I started studying, and in a matter of a few years, I started doing TV shows — not many, but you know, it’s not something that happens in one day,” he said regarding how he became a big name.

For this concert, Marcelli chose to perform various songs that represented the memorable part of his journey as a musician.

For instance, “Summer Nights” was written when he lived in Los Angeles and is a lot about positive energy and love.

“When you are young, you have a lot of expectations, a lot of hopes, a lot of positive energy. That’s what it is all about,” he said, mentioning that it was written in 1993-1994.

Another song, “Gelsomina”, is from the Italian movie La Strada, a film he said meant a lot to him. “It’s a very old film. I basically grew up listening to it, and the melody has stayed in my heart. And that’s why I chose to perform that song,” said Marcelli, who was very much inspired by American jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter.

“The thing is that you have to listen to your heart, and then follow your instincts, and then try to do what you really feel,” he said when asked about his tips for aspiring musicians.

After “Dolphin Dance”, Marcelli played three more songs: Chich Corea’s “Windows”, Nino Rota’s “Gelsomina” and Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon man.”

At the end, Marcelli performed the final piece for the concert, Juan Tizol’s “Caravan”, where in one part Marcelli performed a solo and awed the audience with his swift hand movements in playing the drums and in switching from one pair of sticks to another throughout the piece.

This piece concluded the concert, along with a round of applause from the satisfied audience, members of which seemed to have forgetten the awful traffic that they had to endure to watch the concert. In the end, Marcelli’s astounding performance really made the trip worth it.

The writer is an intern of The Jakarta Post.

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