|
  here’s not much rambling verbosity between the members of the Affinity jazz group, perhaps because their best conversations happen onstage – when their collective improvisations spark a seamless musical dialogue.
Such is the interplay and level of affinity in this progressive jazz quintet that has been making waves lately in Manila’s tightly-knit but rather sluggish jazz community.
This new swing collective is comprised of some of the music industry’s finest jazz instrumentalists including Tots Tolentino on saxophone, Elhmir Saison on keyboards, Johnny Alegre on guitar, Colby dela Calzada on bass, and Koko Bermejo on drums.
Though also revered as top-call session musicians, these virtuosos have also chalked up years of experience as bandleaders in their own right, having led their own jazz ventures in the recent years.
United by a passion for jazz, their collective skills showcased in smoky club gigs and high profile concert dates (and the release of their much-anticipated debut album Johnny Alegre Affinity on Candid Records Philippines, CAN-KC-5001), these stalwart artists found each other forging a new sound as they gradually break out of familiar “bebop” jazz territory.
 Affinity is the brainchild of founder-leader Johnny Alegre (who, incidentally, holds a day job as a corporate information technology officer for one of the country’s preeminent and admired real estate firms). A formidable composer and guitarist, he was one of the founding members of the U.P. Jazz Ensemble; was formerly a top-notch record producer during OPM’s golden heyday; and was a major player in such progressive jazz/rock outfits as Phase II, Hourglass, and more recently, the hard bop influenced J.R. COBB Jazz Chamber.
It was around early 2002 when Johnny – then taking a respite from J.R. COBB’s self-imposed hiatus – broached the concept of assembling a CD anthology to Rhany Torres, an independent record producer and jazz anthologist, to provide jazz listeners a sampler of Manila’s jazz scene, old and new. The suggestion came to fruition with the release of the two-volume “Adobo Jazz” series of CDs, the first of which featured notable performances by groups such as WDOUJI, Majam, the J.R. COBB Jazz Chamber, the Bobby Enriquez Trio, and a few more.
 Inspired by the Adobo Jazz project, Johnny followed through on Affinity. Starting in May 2002, with phone calls to his friends, Tots, Colby, Koko and Elhmir, he managed to assemble the stellar group that originally converged in the studio to record his musical composition, ‘Stones of Intramuros.’
Affinity made its first live appearance in October 2002 for the “Adobo Jazz” album launch at the Rockwell Center’s Monk’s Dream jazz bar, performing as a power trio comprised of Johnny, Koko and the electric bassist, Jerri de Leon. Later in December of the same year, the live group re-emerged, supplemented by J.R. COBB’s keyboardist, Butch Saulog, and vocalist Cooky Chua for Kidd Creole’s Greenbelt Blues and Jazz Festival. Then in 2003, the original quintet returned to the studio to record ‘Guardian Angel’ by Johnny; and a composition by Colby, ‘Groove’. Club gigs followed with Elhmir Saison joining the group with increasing regularity, and then capped with major concert events such as the 2003 Fete de la Musique in El Pueblo and the subsequent Korg Festival at the Dish, in Rockwell, when pianist Elhmir Saison and saxophone wiz Tots Tolentino subsequently committed to their full involvement with Affinity. From then on, the quintet took its act to other jazz-friendly venues such as ‘70s Bistro and the Conspiracy Garden Café, both in Quezon City.
“There’s something very phenomenal about this band! There’s very little verbosity, and when we do indulge, it’s seldom about musical issues, we just talk about life in general and the things going on around us,” Johnny confides. The chemistry can perhaps be attributed to the seminal links between Johnny, Tots, Elhmir and Colby, affinities that date back to their early years in college and early bands. But in the case of drummer Koko Bermejo, the group’s youngest member, it’s simply a matter of hitting it off well.
“Koko is a very, very melodic drummer,” says Johnny. “Very loose, very independent. It’s like having three percussionists playing for you at the same time. He studied at the Musician’s Institute and the Drummer’s Collective in the U.S., and when he was in L.A., he was living close by the Coltrane family’s house. He’s a very good friend of Oranyan, son of John Coltrane.”
Even after Affinity had won the support of both peers and a younger generation of jazz fans, Johnny Alegre feels that the time is ripe for Affinity’s debut album. “It’s a natural consequence,” he explains, “pretty much like what inspired us to do the Adobo Jazz anthology thing. It’s also a reaction to all that’s come before this group. For example, as I’d been playing straight ahead hard bop in J.R. COBB, I wanted to do something more contemporary, representative of the evolving jazz of today.”
“As I’d been playing straight ahead hard bop in J.R. COBB, I wanted to do
something more contemporary, representative of the evolving jazz of today.”
Searching for common tonal denominators that have influenced his album’s soundscapes, Johnny muses, “There’s Wayne Shorter, Brian Blade, the new Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, James Muller, and so on. It has a concert hall feel, a wide open feel with lots of room for exploring.” Comprised mostly of his original compositions, the melodies veer away from the traditional A-A-B-A and head-solo-head repetitions. “With this sound conception, with the chords we use especially; it should be a worthwhile and engaging sound voyage for listeners. We’re doing this album to open doors, perhaps to offer a better introduction of ourselves to the community of concert organizers here and abroad.”
Tots, for his part, hopes that Affinity will find the opportunity to represent the country in regional jazz festivals, in pretty much the same way that his former group, Buhay, did in the Singapore Jazz Festival a couple of years back and the Bali Jazz Festival this year. The album serves to show how worthy Philippine musicians are of this level of musical aspiration.
“We hope to make jazz viable in the scene,” Johnny continues, “so that’s why, this. We’re evangelizing, spreading the good word. This is like a crusade, so to speak.”
Out with the blue note, in with the new note, Affinity sets its sights on infinity as it redefines the boundaries of Manila’s jazz and takes swing on a new wing.
Read Tom Colvin’s review of Affinity’s latest Candid CD here
Visit the Johnny Alegre AFFINITY web site
|
