One on One with Professor Fred Robles

Recorded June-July, 1999

Fred Robles will be a name to remember when it comes to local jazz and its propagation. During World War II, he first started playing the accordion before switching to the piano. He was sought after by the leading bandleaders of the 50s and 60s. He organized the Philippine Musicians Guild and was its guiding force. A music educator at heart, he pushed for musicians to get educated, and as a result, built a huge following. This interview was held in person over spicy tuna pizza from Domino’s, on a hot afternoon in February of 1999.

Richie C. Quirino - What were the early years like sir?

Fred Robles - I started as a professional musician after the liberation of Manila in 1945. When things got settled after 3 or 4 years sometime in '48 or '49, I was lucky to have joined a jazz group headed by Vestre Roxas. A trumpet player who had a natural instinct for jazz and at that time that was the bebop style of playing. He settled down in Australia but did not have much of an opportunity to play jazz. Instead he got into the commercial floor shows, and he played in the Harry James style. As far as I can remember we played in the U.S. air force base in Clark Field and in Manila there was a small army camp where the Americans were very receptive and encouraging.

RCQ - How about the 50s, what were the jazz clubs like?

FR.- In the 50s I played in some spots along Roxas Blvd. and at that time it was still called Dewey Blvd. We played in a club called Ulog. An Igorot name that meant a hut where men and women would have premarital relations (this was an Igorot tribal custom with ceremonial rituals). This was a trio with Rudy Adriano on bass and Bert Delfino on drums and myself on the keys. We also played in Cafe Indonesia but this time it was a quartet. The regulars were Piding Alava who alternated with myself, and on trumpet naturally was Vestre Roxas. We had a guitarist, but I can't recall his name now.

Durng the 50's my time was occupied with playing stage shows, which were held at the Manila Grand Opera House. It was a very historical place connected with a lot of political events, but the place, sad to say, has been demolished. We also did one-night stands, playing parties and other functions. I also did a lot of recordings for films with the three big studios namely, LVN, Premiere and Sampaguita Productions. I also did commercial recordings. Jazz was already prevalent after World War II, in the US army camps. There were 2 kinds of engagements, one was the dance engagement and the other was the small-group situation, which was more intimate and jazz-oriented.

RCQ - What were the popular jazz songs then?

FR - Well, mostly bebop like “Nights of the Turntable”, “Elmer's Tune” and “Ladybird”. These tunes were played in mainland USA during the war, and of course this was the bebop era that Dizzy and others spearheaded. Later on, George Shearing's “Lullaby of Birdland” was a mix of commercial and jazz, but harmonically it was pretty advanced.

RCQ – What were you doing in the ‘60s?

FR - Well, I started teaching piano in the ‘60s but privately only. In the ‘70s it was at the Greenhills Music Studio where I taught improvisation to the prospective contestants of the Yamaha contest because part of the requirements were to be able to improvise on a given theme. This studio was run by Prof. Carmencita Arambulo and some of my students were Maritess Salientes (Berklee '76), Caroline Kleiner who took her masters at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and who is now teaching the Kodaly method in UP and of course Louie Ocampo (Berklee '83), but I taught only the basics. This was about 1974 up to the ‘80s.

At the UP Conservatory I started teaching in 1977 up to 1990. I had more or less a thousand students but many of them were not really into jazz. Just like this summer class of music teachers, wherein all they wanted to know were the fundamentals like chords, minor and major, etc. But throughout this time I was a member and in contact with IAJE, the International Association of Jazz Educators. I would get a lot of material on jazz education and who's playing where and so forth until I couldn't afford the fees to subscribe. Now this kind of contact should be encouraged in the Philippines. If possible, UP should maintain contact with IAJE or the Philippine Jazz Foundation. There must be a central office here where musicians can go and inquire about jazz, maybe a library, something which we don't have. The UP music Library was starting to build their references on jazz when I was still a professor teaching various jazz subjects but I don't know about the present situation

RCQ - How about jazz education today, is it progressing according to your expectations?

FR - It is really regrettable that nobody is teaching jazz in the Philippines as far as the institutions are concerned. Possibly there are private instructions around town. I think it would be good if some of the Berklee musicians like Robin Rivera, Tots Tolentino and Louie Ocampo could teach, but I don't think they're in a position to do this because of their personal careers.

RCQ – What are the main objectives of Philippine Musicians Guild (PMG)?

FR - The main objectives of the guild are: higher pay, regular and shorter hours of work, protection against dismissal without cause and notice, overtime pay for work after regular hours, holiday pay for Sundays and Holidays, sickness and death benefits, SSS coverage, extra pay by commercial use of recordings and replays of films and TV shows. In 1961 a collective bargaining agreement occured between the PMG and the 3 major film companies namely; LVN, Premiere Productions, and Sampaguita Pictures. The Supreme Court ordered the film companies to negotiate with the PMG. The musicians union was represented by Edmond Nolasco and myself. At present I am its acting president.

RCQ - How about the future of Pinoy jazz, what does it need most?

FR - It’s been taken for granted that jazz is not really as profitable as compared to commercial music. There should be other sources of financial assistance like the Philippine Jazz Foundation. In other countries they have foundations or groups which are financed by collecting certain percentages of the income earned from the broadcast stations and the recording companies. Part of these funds, are used to encourage and propagate jazz in their respective countries.

This is history: Do you know that conductor Federico Elizalde was credited for bringing jazz to London? It was his group that stayed for a long time in a hotel performing his arranged music. He was mentioned as a Spaniard with Filipino parentage but born in the Philippines. His group existed circa 1927. His brother, who became an ambassador, played the clarinet in his brother's band, and had a recording with him soloing with the band backing him up.

[ I had the opportunity to visit Professor Fred Robles at the Makati Medical Center a few months before his passing on September 3, 1999. A non-smoker, he was as thin as a reed from battling emphysema, the sad legacy of a lifetime of inhaling second-hand cigarette smoke during performances in smoke-filled clubs.

It was his fervent wish that the Philippine Musicians Guild (PMG), which he set up as a young man in the early ‘50s, be revived. Fred’s colleagues, headed by former Jazz Friends pianist, Jun Cadiz, and guided by Fred’s son Neal, re-established the guild with the election of new officers in November 2001.]