Thread: Pattaya Jazz Royale Festival 2006

“Jazz Royale” says it all

Will Burroughs & Paul Strachan

Sometimes, words cannot adequately reflect the reality behind the experience. Occasionally, something so magnificent, so absolutely magical happens, that it is necessary to invent a new range of superlatives. I’m known as being particularly hard to please; I’m tough to convince at the best of times. Recently however, an increasing number of times in and around the throbbing heart of Pattaya, I have felt subjected to assaults of great joy, my senses assailed from all sides.

Chris Botti, shining brighter than his silver trumpet.

Gastronomically, artistically, culturally, musically, I have given in. Uncharacteristically perhaps, I have been surrendering most willingly to hedonistic instincts which had hitherto almost been anathema. It’s true that I have been making a conscious attempt to ‘get out’ more, but as I was driven at frightening and unnecessary speed in and out of pot-holes towards the spotlights of Horseshoe Point, lit up to the heavens, nothing could have prepared me for the multitude of pleasures that awaited me, at the second of a quartet of jazz extravaganzas touring Thailand, featuring the very best jazz the world has to offer.

The rhythms of the night reached me long before I beheld a vision, which just blew me away. An oasis of jazz lovers bathed in the sweet sounds emanating from the Regina Carter quintet. She fused exciting technical proficiency and improvisation with aggressive, fast, fluid, musical muscle. Her violin embraced a multicultural influence that was both melodic and percussive. Under a tranquil sky and feeling a breeze which seemed to undulate to the beat, I was immediately infected by jazz. I offered no resistance and succumbed to a medium that embeds itself in your very being. The jazz funked-up rhythm guitar of the McCoy Tyner Trio takes possession of you physically, mentally and spiritually; you’re surfing on an endless sea of musical possibility. I had to pause for breath. “Blimey,” I thought, “and I’ve only just arrived.”

Jenny Scheinman (violin) and Franco Pinna (percussion) were the perfect match playing with Marta Topferova.

I needed sustenance and I needed it now. Around the perimeter of a deep green oval, purveyors of Pattaya’s finest cuisine waited to grant me my wish, aided and abetted by suppliers of the most stupendous libation. I spotted that delicious paragon of cool, Horseshoe Point managing director, Jate Sopitphongsathorn, all suave subtlety. Drinking it all in with his gorgeousness were an understated impresario from Canada, Josh Keller, managing director of Global Arts Concerts Ltd and a rather ravishing lady from Brighton, latterly Germany, Ina Dittke, who runs B.P.R. (the artists’ agents). Between them, they had made this impossible dream come true (you see, I’m running out of superlatives). Just look at the line up; Marta Topferova, Regina Carter Quintet, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, Georgie Fame, McCoy Tyner Trio, Nancy Wilson, Chris Botti and Kenny G. Read through the list again; line ups just don’t get any better. Tremendous.

Veteran performer Georgie Fame pounds the ivories.

Marta Topferova, a young woman who grew up in Czechoslovakia and Seattle (not simultaneously) delivered South American music written by her own fair hand, in Spanish, with genuine tenderness. Her clear voice, low but not mannish, was sweet and melancholy and full of a musical gravitas beyond her 29 years. Hers was a Latin lullaby to enchant.

Amongst an audience which rendered age barriers irrelevant and was wonderfully cosmopolitan, there was a palpable sense of double celebration; it was with His Majesty’s love of jazz in mind that the promoters, in conjunction with Horseshoe Point and the Tourist Authority of Thailand, had organised this most prestigious series of concerts. “Jazz Royale” says it all. In this most auspicious of auspicious years, His Majesty the Kings 79th birthday and the 60th year of his ascension to the thrown, one respectfully hopes that such a landmark event would have met with the seal of approval.

Marta Topferova, shown here with Pedro Giraudo on bass, delivered South American music written by her own fair hand, in Spanish, with genuine tenderness.

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, a veritable “Who’s who?” of jazz musicians, was formed in 1998 to continue the legacy of the late master’s classic big band repertoire. This show was real foot stomping jazz, suitably enhanced by the helter skelter voice of Roberta Gambarini.

The mood switched again, with the world’s leading female singer, elegant two-time Grammy award winner Nancy Wilson. Her sweet pop ballads and soulful blues mark her as the prototype of a contemporary female singer and she graced the stage with the confidence and poise of someone who has made more than 60 albums in four decades. Although in the late summer of her years her voice retains her trademark earthy, gritty character. She was perched delicately on her chair and had everybody’s ear; it was like being told bedtime stories by a Princess. She took great pleasure in acknowledging her fellow musicians and was manifest in her delight at taking part in this wonderful festival. In honour of His Majesty, here was a truly regal performance from one of the world’s great musicians.

The Legend himself: McCoy Tyner

As Georgie Fame, a blast from the past steaming into the future, bridged the musical river between rock and jazz, it struck me; once you’ve experienced it live, there’s very little else that can compare. There were thousands smothering themselves in melodious satisfaction, either semi-recumbent on the verdant pasture or seated on those silver encased cushions around tables laden with consumables, which have become synonymous with Horseshoe Point’s sensuous attention to detail. The ambition was not without risk; this was a concert on the grand scale. Yet remarkably, they had retained a sense of the intimate, a sensation wonderfully, dramatically and spectacularly enriched by both Chris Botti and Kenny G, who moved and played amongst their disciples.

The musicians were as captivated as the audience.

It’s just a personal preference, but I have never and I mean never, heard trumpet like I heard that glorious evening, such was the soft, gentle, subtle yet powerful and intense purity of sound. I was under a spell. Sure, Botti’s a good looking guy, sure he was dressed to woo in electric ultramarine that set the heart ablaze, but the sound, oh the sound! There’s something untouchable about the pure brilliance of a note launched into the night, that satisfies the soul in the most beautiful way imaginable. His band was as tight as a rope too, their intuitive control impeccable; they played as one but out there, far beyond the stage was Botti, shining brighter than his silver trumpet. The highlight of his set was a rearrangement of the love theme from the movie Cinema Paradiso. Composed by Ennio Morricone, it was as if Botti was on a mission, serenading each and every one of his spectators, with music of the Gods.

Kenny G, rivulets of flowing flaxen locks a bundle of natural harmony, appeared as if hailed from above. From nowhere, suddenly under a spotlight, there he was amongst his followers. From the first bewitching note, his saxophone coaxed, cajoled, nurtured, sang, suggested, swooned, swooped and seduced. It was as if the stars, surely the place from whence he had come, were listening too. There was one note that lasted minutes, a plaintive cry that grew into a surge of hope and then exploded into rapture and blinding climax. Then silence. Then he spoke. In Thai. I mean give the man credit; the dude speaks Thai. Respect.

Jazz musicians always seem so cool; so nice (I hate that word usually) but I had to hand it to Kenny G. Him, his band, they were all unbelievably impressive. Quite a few of them had grown up together in Seattle (what is it with that place?) and had been playing together for twenty years or so. It showed, frankly. There was a most enviable and obvious unity which translated into a free flowing, flexible and sometimes frenzied fluidity which was at once both intoxicating and liberating. At the centre of it all was Kenny G, loving every minute - and the audience loved him too. They dared him to do more and he did, running an hour past time no less, sharing his abundant gifts with his insatiable fans.

The Average White Band’s ‘Pick Up the Pieces’ was one last rush, causing the sky, by now as black as Prussian blue, to light up and get down, whilst his soulful interpretation of His Majesty the King’s compositions was the most appropriate tribute conceivable to a glorious year and a simply sensational evening.

Highlights of Jazz Royale, including exclusive interviews with Chris Botti and Kenny G, can be seen on PMTV on Friday the 22nd and Saturday the 23rd of December.

Chris Botti and Mark Whitfield.

The magical sounds of Mark Whitfield who performed with Chris Botti, mesmerized the audience.

Nancy Wilson’s sweet pop ballads and soulful blues mark her as the prototype of a contemporary female singer, and she graced the stage with confidence and poise.

Trombonist Slide Hampton and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band.

Kenny G, rivulets of flowing flaxen locks a bundle of natural harmony, appeared as if hailed from above.

Booths spread about the grounds offered everything from souvenirs to refreshments.

An oasis of jazz lovers bathed in the sweet sounds emanating from the Regina Carter quintet.

The crowd loved it when artists like Chris Botti moved and played amongst them.

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, a veritable “Who’s who?” of jazz musicians, performed real foot stomping jazz.

Kamala Sukosol (2nd right) was amongst the dignitaries at the show.

Pattaya Mail - Vol. XIV No. 51 - Friday December 22 - December 28, 2006 Features