….And All That Jazz!

Nothing beats seeing a live jazz performance and furthermore, nothing beats a great live jazz performance, which was something I’ve had the privilege to witness last saturday, at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2006.

I still couldn’t get over the fact that I’d seen Lee Ritenour (amongst many other great jazz performers, such as Tompi with Groovology, and Ireng Maulana and many other crazy musicians) played live on stage and it totally blew me away. Not only that the whole performance was outstanding, it was also breathtaking, because seeing those brilliant guys up there doing their thing, improvising along the way and trying to outdo each others with their own skills, but somehow ended up playing in perfect harmony together, was really something out of this world.

But what I noticed the most about jazz that evening was that no matter how all over the place everything sounded, there was a sense of togetherness about it. I’m not only talking about the music itself, but also the crowd and the atmosphere, the energy, and the whole jazzed up feeling about it – there I was surrounded with other people who loved jazz as much as I did, getting excited to the thought of seeing this geeky looking guy with a mullet-ish curly hairstyle (I bet that’s what Irine was thinking about Rit!) playing mean sets of jazz music on ‘air-conditioned’ guitar while his mouth imitated the guitar sounds, and actually didn’t mind standing up for hours wearing ridiculously high heels (Yes Syl, I’m talking about you) just so they could see their fave jazz musicians. Exactly like what Irine had said, I was staring agape in amazement, captivated by the whole thing from start until the end. I kept gripping on to my gals’ arms and annoyed the heck out of them for keep saying, “I can’t believe we’re at Java Jazz Festival!!!!!!”

But thinking about the way jazz goes, it’s funny how much it resembles life itself. Everything is not always a smooth sailing ride – very often it gets a bit messy and everything is all over the place, but then somehow, after the storm has subsided, everything just feels right; as if that’s the way they’re meant to be. The different instruments are like different aspects of our lives – sometimes one is more significant than the other, sometimes they all demand equal attention simultaneously, and sometimes we have to juggle them all together in order to keep our lives running smoothly. And of course we have to improvise. All the time. Even harder as we get older, me thinks.

But it’s all that jazz that keep us hooked on, wondering where the hell our lives are taking us.

It’s all that jazz that keep us alive.