The power of the flawed note

The cup overfloweth. Last night, 21 February 2011, we were overwhelmed by the beauty that Manila can be in her more magical moments. The evening began in that coiffured oasis that is Makati's Greenbelt 3 Park. Precious, understated architecture framed the evening. Lovely greenery cast her fragrance upon February evening air. Purple lights winked upon a night of music. Drummer par excellence Alden Abaca and bassist Colby de la Calzada were the launchpad for a succession of cohorts:

Johnny Alegre sprayed a bunch of bland but rapid note volleys at a dispassionate audience but also tried to speak from the heart a few times. His center was a tad more settled & his articulation was relatively better than it's been in recent memory. If either Bush pere' or Baby Boy Bush can be president of the USA, why not an Ayala bigwig behind a fretboard? (Obama still rocks, in our opinion.) We discern Johnny Alegre's heartsong, muffled though it may be behind a blanket of gadgets & widgets. Harmonic stratosphere Saxophonist Doug Little offered East Coast chocolate minted in Midwest (& West Coast) warmth. One of his solos last night led off with lines in the Charlie Parker idiom before soaring into the harmonic stratosphere with far-reaching upper structure triads. Warm chocolate mint. Yummy. Behind a nylon-stringed guitar, LA-based Pinoy Ric Ickard -- beset though he was by 3rd world sound system issues not of his own making -- regaled us with a softly strung tale of Pinoy diaspora. It was a beautiful song. Other fingers may be more dazzling, but Ric Ickard's song is second to none. Bay Area-based (harmonica player & vocalist) Carlos Zialcita lives in San Francisco but he left his heart in Inang Bayan. Having spent his kiddie years in an apartment above a Malate nightclub & armed with early memories of falling asleep to the scent of cigarettes & San Miguel beer, how could he have become anything but a dyed-in-the wool bluesman? And having come home after decades away, he says he has found his heart again. In Inang Bayan. His blues have now become Bluesette. (Bluesette is a sophisticated jazz waltz penned by harmonica/guitar great Toots Thielemans.) Jazz version of All The Single Ladies The evening's second half was spent at the Manila Peninsula's Salon de Ning. We must admit to a preference for a five-star hotel adorned in bebop rather than bullets. Any hotel looks better garbed in music rather than bursting with attention-seekers in uniform (& their attendant squawking paparazzi) and besieged by rampaging armored personnel vehicles. Song trumps sword any day of the week, especially in February. For this number of the program, the front act was the duo of Israeli chanteuse Aya Korem & an Israeli compatriot on guitar. They did a set of sugary, non-threatening music. It was cool. Noteworthy perhaps was their take on Beyonce's All The Single Ladies -- proof that almost any song can be jazz. And that jazz isn't the exclusive province of the aged. But the crown goes to Inang Bayan's own Queen Amidala, Mishka Adams y Arellano. The Queen's jedi knight honor guard were: bassist Simon Tan, saxophonist/flutist Michael "Pikong" Guevarra & maestro Mar Dizon on drums. On piano was princess pianist/arranger (also composer/songriter) Ria Villena-Osorio. It has been asked why jazz events are played by the same names over & over. Perhaps it is because only the most intrepid need apply. Perhaps only those who would bleed gold stay the course in an Inang Bayan which seems to prefer Love "Tototot" Radio's wares to ambrosia. Mishka Adams y Arellano, afflicted with a cough & sore throat, stretched for notes even when she knew she might fall short. To our ears, she hit every note. She hit each note cleanly, although not every note was pristine. Picture a winning basket sunk by Kobe Bryant. The shot may not be all net but the shot still wins the game. Picture Pacquiao's winning punch. The face may be mukhasim but the Pinoy still wears the belt. Perfect notes are merely pretty. Perhaps only a a flawed note has earned the right to be beautiful. In the words of Miles Davis, "... don't ever finish nuttin'. Always leave sum'tin hanging...." Mishka's last song was, poetically, Madame Marcos' trademark -- Dahil Sa 'Yo. Kudos & clinked Cerveza Negra bottles to princess Ria Villena-Osorio's truly beautiful arrangement.It hit the vein. Jagged harmonic surprises were as diamonds in velvet consonance. Sung by young Queen Mishka, the song was ambrosia. Mishka is Inang Bayan's Great White Hope. On her wings rest the hope of Pinoy musikos of sophisticated substance. She has it all: beauty, gravitas, pathos, levity, light-hearted charm... ... and Song. Jazz in the time of revolution What's the difference between a jazz musician & a rock musician? A jazz musician plays 10 million chords to three people. A rock musician plays three chords to 10 million people. It's so painful, it's funny. Jazz is a music which asks its listeners to rise to its level. Rich, poor, uneducated, erudite -- all are asked to rise to the music's level. Ambrosia is the nectar of the gods. To drink ambrosia is to glimpse the divine. At Makati's Rockwell Tent on 25 February 2011 -- the anniversary of our fabled People Power Revolution of 1986 -- pearls were cast before Novellino's wine. Fourplay was cotton candy music. Everyone loves cotton candy. And who can blame us? Who among us can say no to sinfully sweet caloric content? Perhaps smooth jazz is dentist music because sugar rots your teeth. (Look, children, it's Eric Baines...) An explosion of musical wasabi Truth be told, though, we longed to plunk a dollop or two of wasabi on Fourplay's cotton candy. Alas vox populi would not have it so. Further truth be told, however, man & woman cannot live on cotton candy alone. A healthy diet must have vegetables -- the essential nutrition of beans, nuts, legumes, leafy vegetables in the form of Pinoy drum maestro Mar Dizon and Pinoy bass maestro Colby de la Calzada. Theirs is the nutrition which builds strong bones & strong teeth (look children, it's Eric Baines!) -- the skeleton without which the music would collapse. Seafood, too, is a wonderful gastronomic delight. Bassist Simon Tan is the lobster thermidore in the Pinoy jazz gumbo. Simon's manful authority, impeccable note choice & delicately shaded timbral flavors are gustatory explosions of delight. His musical meat is manly, delicious & thrumming with flavor. Pianist Ria Villena-Osorio is curry -- a bracing spice without which our gumbo would be woefully underflavored. Her well-sculpted arpeggios, post-bop runs & singing lyricism are a jazz gourmet's delight. Maestro Elhmir Saison, also a pianist, is an explosion of wasabi. Not everyone gets it, perhaps, but its potency is undeniable. To partake of his wasabi is to savor music which is prickly, bracing & gustatorily orgasmic -- it clears sinuses clogged with the snot of illusion. (Joshua) Reedman (flute, clarinet & saxophone) Michael "Pikong" Guevarra is the heroic salmon in our tropical gumbo.With lightning quick wit, our heroic salmon Pikong braves raging 3rd world currents to swim upstream & spawn his fish roe -- clusters of pithy, witty, prickly clusters of precious jazz supreme. Our man Pikong serves himself up on a platter, a musical meal divine. Monster saxophonist mofo Jon Irabagon, a transplanted N.Y. based coconut & winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Competition's top prize, is a delicious meal in & of himself. Sharing a birthday with Thelonious Monk himself, Jon was perhaps meant to win the coveted melodious thunk award. Jon's gourmet offering is adobo in gata (coconut sauce) with black beans & collard greens. Mighty, meaty (but sans Swift hotdogs), finger-licking good. The man is, in the African American vernacular, a baaaaaaaaaaad mofo. Simply put, the man is a monster. High point of the evening: Mishka Adams y Arellano's Dahil Sa 'Yo again. While Madame Imelda once attempted appropriation, last night Mishka owned it. Just flat out owned it. Superimposed upon song was an inner vision of People Power Revolution of 1986. Arise, motherland! In the hearts of many, Fourplay was the main event of the evening. As mentioned earlier, though... yes, cotton candy is wonderful. Sweet (sometimes cloyingly so). Delightful. Non-threatening. Comforting. Familiar. Nuggets of nutrition were also tasted in Fourplay's cotton candy. A morsel of taro here, a chunk of sago there, specks of soya scattered here & there. Maybe a mongo nut or two. But a healthy musical diet cannot be of dessert alone. While Fourplay is fun, procreative love is a whole other thing altogether. To our ears, the two Pinoy sets (Mishka Adams y Arellano & Jon Irabagon) had musical meat to chew to the bone. Fourplay is fun, but it's the coitus which gets the job done. There is much to be said, however, for music which puts smiles on so many faces. Music which puts a smile on so many faces can't be all bad. The truth of vox populi is just as valid as the truth of the cognoscenti. Postcript: At the Manila Peninsula, where our intrepid musiko viands retired after the show, we caught Fourplay bassist Nathan East in an after hours jam with the mezzanine lobby's local house band. Fourplay guitarist Chuck Loeb joined in too, as did Pinoy hero, reedman Pikong Guevarra. On the Victor Young-penned jazz standard Stella by Starlight, the musicians sang music divine. In those moments, we were witness to Nathan, Chuck & Pikong in their true, unadorned beauty. Alas, as it has ever been, ambrosia is offered only to the illuminati. Sadder still -- truth be told, everyone is a god. But only a handful choose to remember. - GMA News