Comparative case study was used as the research method in this study. In this chapter, the researcher compiled and compared the results and divided this chapter into three sections which were the comparison of the “Status of Jazz in Malaysia and Taiwan,” “The Jazz Piano Pedagogy in Malaysia and Taiwan,” and “The Learning of Jazz between Malaysia and Taiwan.”
I. Status of Jazz in Malaysia and Taiwan
i. Malaysia
Jazz Scene
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, there was quite a jazz scene but not in other cities.
Kuala Lumpur was the federal city and most populous city in Malaysia. It was the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country in terms of populations and economy. Tourism played a very important role in Kuala Lumpur as this city was the sixth most visited city of the world with 8.9 million tourists per year.
There were a few jazz festivals happened in Malaysia each year which were Borneo International Jazz Festival, KL International Jazz Festival, Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival and Penang Island Jazz Festival. International and local jazz bands were invited to Malaysia every year.
Jazz Festival
i) Borneo International Jazz Festival
Figure 12. Borneo International Jazz Festival
Sarawak was one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo and it was also known as Bumi Kenyalang (Land of the Hornbills). It was situated on the northwest of the island, bordering the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, Indonesia to the south and surrounding Brunei. It was the largest Malaysian state.
Miri International Jazz Festival started from the year of 2006. At the year of 2011, it had changed its name to Borneo International Jazz Festival. This change was to reflect the growing stature of the festival among leading jazz festivals in the region.
“Borneo” gave a unique positioning of Sarawak among jazz music aficionados.
Borneo International Jazz festival was a two days jazz festival. Table 5-10 showed the international and local performers that had been invited to Borneo International Jazz Festival from the year of 2006 to 2013. The information of the performers was from The Borneo International official website (Borneo Jazz, 2014).
One-day pass ticket for adult was RM70 and the price for a two-day pass was RM130. As for children one day pass costed RM30 while a two-day pass was RM50.
The shows lasted from 7:30pm to 12:15am.
Table 5
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2006
Band Country
All The Best Malaysia, Sarawak
Fra Fra Sound Netherlands
Gangbe Brass Band Benin
Lluis Coloma Spain
Nah Youn Sun Korea/ France
Quinteto Mambo Jambo United Kingdom
Shanghai Jazz Ensemble China
Ublues Singapore
Table 6
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2007
Band Country
David Gomes Jazz Sextet Malaysia/Philippines
KCP4 India/Germany
Lluis Coloma Spain
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band United States
Son2nos United Kingdom/Venezuela/Philippines
Orak Naa Naa Morocco/Germany
George Washingmachine Quartet Australia/UK/France
Habana Sax Cuba
Table 7
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2008
Band Country
Mood Indigo United Kingdom
Diamond Dave & The Doodaddies Australia
Habana Sax Cuba
Table 8
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2009
Band Country
Thomson Big Band Singapore
Rumba Calzada Canada
John Kaizan Neptune’s Steps in Time Japan
Jeff Maluleke South Africa
Alamode Australia
Bombay Baja Brass Band United Kingdom
Double Take Malaysia
Dites 34 France
Table 9
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2010
Band Country
Ricardo Herz Brazil
SimakDialog Indonesia
Amina Figarova Sextet Netherlands
James Cotton Blues Band United States
Mellow Motif Thailand
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2011
Band Country
SIU2 China
Cunha E Piper Brazil/Australia
John Hammond United States
Les Doigts De L’Homme France
Victor Yong & The Electric Carnival Band
Malaysia/Canada
Yuichiro Tokuda’s Ralyzz Dig Japan
State of Monc Netherlands
Maria Muldaur United States
Table 11
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2012
Band Country
Koh Mr. Saxman & Takeshi Band Thailand Schalk Joubert And The Three
Continents Sextet
South Africa/Norway/Sweden/United States
Table 12
Performers list of Borneo International Jazz Festival for 2013
Band Country
West Jazz Band Malaysia
Lisa Young Quartet Australia
Scott Martin Latin Soul Band United States
The Nylons Canada
The Asian Jazz All Stars Power Quartet Singapore/Philippines/Hong Kong/Japan
Hazmat Modine United States
Mo’Blow Germany
Jump 4 Joy Sweden
The most invited performers’ country was United States with eight groups of different performers from the past eight years, followed by United Kingdom and Australia with five different groups of performers.
The performers from United States covered different styles included blues, world, Latin, soul, rock, swing, calypso, fusion and funk music; whereas the band from United Kingdom covered mostly the same as those from the United States. However, there was a band by the name of Bombay Baja Brass Band who played Bhangra.
Bhangra was fusion of music and dance which originated from the Punjab region of
India and Pakistan (Bhangra, 2014). Its earliest form was a celebratory folk dance meant for welcoming the season of spring. Now Bhangra had evolved became integrated into popular in the past 30 years. The most important rhythm pattern in Bhangra music was known as chaal. This was a repeated eight note pattern, played on the dhol:
Besides dhol, Bhangra used string instruments like sitar, tumbi (a plucked string instrument with only one string), and the sarangi (a bowed string instrument) too (Bhangra, 2014).
Lastly, the performers from Australia covered bossa nova, samba, world and swing jazz music.
From the most invited country’s performers, researcher concluded that the most popular music styles being performed were blues, swing, Latin and world music.
Figure 15. Sitar Figure 16. Tumbi Figure 17. Sarangi Figure 13. Rhythm Pattern of chaal Figure 14. Dhol
ii) Penang Island Jazz Festival
Figure 18. Penang Island Jazz Festival
Penang was a state that located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca and it was the second smallest state in Malaysia. Penang was often knows as “The Pearl of the Orient” and Pulau Penang Pulau Mutiara meant
“Penang, Island of Pearls”.
Penang Island Jazz Festival began in the year of 2004 as an independent festival organized by The Capricorn Connection. It was a two day event at the beginning of 2004 and it had expanded to a 3-days event in 2005 and from 2006 to present, the event was 4-days long.
The festival was held annually during the first weekend of December. The festival also had a number of other supporting musical activities such as workshops, talks and forums, photography and poster exhibitions. The festival attracted a regional audience and had established itself to be one of the most highly anticipated and important musical festivals in the South East Asian Region.
One day ticket pass was RM78, children aged below 11 admissions were free but they had to be accompanied by adults. The doors opened at 7pm whereas shows started at 8.20pm. Workshops, talks and forum, photograph and poster exhibitions admissions were free and open for public. Table 13-20 were the performers lists from
the year of 2004-2011. The researcher gathered these information from the official Penang Island Jazz Festival website (Penang Jazz, 2014).
Table 13
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2004
Band Country
Aseana Percussion Unit Malaysia
Double Take France
The Idea of North Australia
Juwita Suwito Malaysia
Jeep Jazz Trio Malaysia
Tonal Alchemy United States
Steve Thornton LPJ Group United States YAA Quartet Featuring Atsuko
Kawahara
Japan
Shelley Leong Malaysia
Table 14
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2005
Band Country
Penang Areca Jazz Ensemble Featuring Colleen Read
Malaysia
Ruby Rozells and Kathleen Rodrigues Malaysia
Saharadja Indonesia
David Gomes Jazz Trio Featuring Junjie Delfino
Malaysia
Greg Lyons Nonet United Kingdom
Zailan Razak Project Malaysia
Steve White United States
Randy Bernsen Group United States
Table 15
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2006
Band Country
Seo Young Do Trio Korea
Denise Mininfield Singapore
John Kaizan Neptune United States
Koh & Mr. Saxman Band Thailand
Fredrik Noren Band Sweden
Idang Rasjidi Quartet Featuring Tompi Indonesia James Boyle & The Ragged Tigers Malaysia Roger Wang & Farid Ali Malaysia
Fairuz Hussein Malaysia
Jeep Latino Jazz Band Malaysia
J-Sun Lithuania
Groove Doctor United States
Rhapsody Malaysia
Albert & Badar Malaysia
Members from the Areca Center of Performing Arts
Malaysia
Table 16
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2007
Band Country
John Goldie United Kingdom
Louis Soliano Quartet Singapore
Nah Youn Son Korea
Possicobilities China
Bangkok Connection Thailand
Bob Aves Jazz Group Featuring Grace Nono
Philippines
Anke Helfrich Trio Germany
Paul Ponnudorai Singapore
The Idea of North Australia
Jose Thomas & Groove Unction Malaysia
Cheong & Friends Australia
Evening Breeze United States
Elvira & Friends Malaysia
James Boyle & The Ragged Tigers Malaysia Areca Jazz Quartet & Quintet Malaysia
Table 17
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2008
Band Country
Pascoal Meirelles Trio Brazil
Ray Harris & The Fusion Experience Scotland
Jeon Youngse Trio Korea
Friend N Fellow Germany
Tran Manh Tuan Band Vietnam
Andy Peterson Inc. Malaysia
The Island Jazz Connection Morocco
Adibah Noor Malaysia
Djabe Featuring Steve Hackett United Kingdom
Aseana Percussion Unit Malaysia
Jaume Vilaseca Trio Featuring Violetta Curry
Barcelona
Evening Breeze United States
Albert Sirimal & Russell Curtis Malaysia
Dasha Logan Malaysia
Prema Yin Malaysia
Q Jazz Collective Malaysia
Tonal Alchemy United States
Table 18
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2009
Band Country
Janek Gwizdala Project United States
In The Country Norway
Studnitzky Trio Germany
Sizhukong Taiwan
Charlie Jung Band Korea
Buzz Bros Band Holland
Dainius Pulauskas Group Lithuania Paulo Bellinati & Cristina Azuma Brazil Michelle Nicolle Quartet Australia
Island Palm Beach Boys Malaysia
Organamix Singapore, Thailand
Band of Brothers Thailand
High Society Canada
SquareCircles United States
Rhapsody Malaysia
Ray Cheong Trio Malaysia
Tokyo Blue Malaysia
De Leon Jazz Experience Malaysia
Ocean of Fire Malaysia
UNIT United States
Mellowtones Sweden
Winners of the Jazz Festival Young Talent Competition
Malaysia
Table 19
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2010
Band Country
Ocean of Fire & Dasha Malaysia
JazzHats Malaysia
Clair V Rozells & Allan G. Murrilon Malaysia Jonathan Tse Trio and Winner of “Get
Inspired” Competition
Malaysia
PFS Jazz Jam Crew Malaysia
Northern Jazz Ensemble Malaysia
Jeep Jazz Band and UPSI Big Band from Sultan Idris University of Education Malaysia.
Malaysia
Table 20
Performers list of Penang Island Jazz Festival for 2011
Band Country
Shakatak United Kingdom
Ulf & Eric Wakenius – Father and Son Sweden Fred Cheah and The JazzHats Malaysia
Espen Eriksen Trio Norway
Michaela Rabitsch & Robert Pawlik Trio Austria
Jiyoung Li Quartet Korea
Yuri Honing Wired Paradise Dutch Amir Yussof Acoustic Project Malaysia Eve Bjerga Haugen with EET Norway
Rusconi Switzerland
De Leon Jazz Experience Malaysia
Damien Chew Malaysia
Besides the local band and performers, the most invited countries over the past few years were United States, Australia, Thailand and Korea. From here, the researcher found that the music styles they usually played were standards, jazz, bebop, folk, pop, rock, funk, swing, blues and world music.
iii) Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival
Figure 19. Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival
Kota Kinabalu was the capital of the state of Sabah, located in East Malaysia.
The city was located along the northwest coast of Borneo facing the South China Sea.
Kota Kinabalu was often known as KK within Malaysia and internationally and it was a major fishing destination a popular gateway for travellers. There were many leisure spots in KK like Anjung Samudra, a waterfront entertainment spot which featured restaurants, cafes, pubs and nightclub; Tanjung Aru, a beach that along the West Coast featured with drink stalls, restaurant, night clubs and so on.
Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival (KKJF), unlike the other jazz festival in Malaysia, it was an annual fund raising jazz festival jointly organized by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu and the Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah. It took place at the Nature Resort City of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (KKLF, 2014). The money raised from the KKJF was used to fund deserving community projects by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu- The Clean Water Projects, Literacy Program and Eye Screening and Environment Protection. Some rural communities which benefited from this were Kg.
Timbou, Kg. Tamburan and Kg. Kokol.
One-day pass ticket was RM70 and two- day pass costed RM100. Show lasted from 7pm to 11pm. Table 21-26 showed the performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz
Festival gathered by researcher from the official website of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival. Given that the performer lists from earlier years were not available online, such information was obtained directly from the co-organizing chairman via email request.
Table 21
Performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival for 2009
Band Country
Performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival for 2010
Band Country
Atilia Malaysia
Island Jazz Connection Malaysia
Amir Yussof and Roots Malaysia
Table 23
Performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival for 2011
Band Country
Momain Blues Malaysia
Elixir Malaysia
WVC Trio Malaysia
Juzzie Smith Australia
SIA Little Jazz Malaysia
Spice of Tones Malaysia
Z Yan Malaysia
The Benjamin Lackner Trio United States
Hato Mariko Japan
Aseana Percussion Unit Malaysia
Table 24
Performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival for 2012
Band Country
Rimba Malaysia
Amir Yussof Acoustic Project Malaysia
Juwita Suwito Malaysia
Raisa Indonesia
Asif & Rene Malaysia
UMS Big Band Malaysia
Winnie Ho Malaysia
Roger Wang Trio Malaysia
Johnny Rodgers Band United States
Rio Sidik Indonesia
Table 25
Performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival for 2013
Band Country
Appy Tots Malaysia
Kian Kok School Big Malaysia
Gee Mojina & Elixir Malaysia
Moscow Fish Canada, Thailand
Shanghai Jazz Redefined with Janet Lee Malaysia
Johnny Allegre Trio Philippines
Mia Palencia in Good Company Malaysia
Humanfolk Philippines
GruvAvenue ft. Poova Plachciak Malaysia
Kekko Fornarelli Trio Italy
Albert Sirimal Malaysia
Table 26
Performers list of Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival for 2014
Band Country
Shanghai Jazz Redefined with Janet Lee Malaysia
Moscow Fish Canada, Thailand
Johnny Alegre Trio Philippines
Kian Kok School Big Band Malaysia
Appy Tot Malaysia
Gee Mojina & Elixir Malaysia
KK Jazz Half Fast Marching Brass Band Malaysia Mega Boogie Blues Buster Malaysia Mia Palencia In Good Company Australia
Human Folk Philippines
Gruvavenue Featuring Poova Plachciak Malaysia
From Table21-26, the researcher concluded that Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival
featured mostly the jazz musicians from Malaysia, Kian Kok School Big Band and UMS Band. The latters were schools from Sabah, Malaysia.
iv) KL International Jazz Festival
Figure 20. KL International Jazz Festival
The KL International Jazz Festival (KLIJF) was a world-class annual jazz music festival which aimed to present performances by acclaimed international jazz performers to large audiences. It started from the year of 2012 and it was a signature event for KL and a premier jazz festival for Malaysia. Besides, it was also the winner of the coveted The BrandLaureate Best Brands Awards 2012 “Country Brand Award.”
KLIJF took place at the University of Malaya and the ticket prices were from RM98-RM288. Free admission for children under 12 years old but had to accompany by adults. Shows started from 6pm to midnight.
Table 27
KLIJF Ticketing 2013
Bronze (RM) Silver (RM) Gold (RM)
Pre- Sale 98 138 168
Offer Price 138 178 238
At the Gate 168 238 288
Figure 21. Seating Plan of KLIJF
The ticket prices and seating plan above were the information of KLIJF 2013 from the official website of KLIJF (KLIJF, 2014). Premier seats were reserved for sponsors and VVIP. The pre-sale and offer price period differed annually.
Food stalls at KLIJF did not provide any alcoholic drinks and audiences were not allowed to bring food and drinks. As the main sponsor of KLIJF was Kuala Lumpur City Hall, it was the local authority charged with the administration of Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia as a Muslim country comprised mainly three different races which were Malay, Chinese and Indians. Malays were not allowed to consume alcohol. Therefore
unlike the other jazz festivals in Malaysia organized by private organization, KLIJF organized by Malaysia government did not allowed consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Table 28-29 stated the performers at KLIJF from the year of 2012-2013. These information were extracted from the official website of KLIJF.
Table 28
Performers list of KL Jazz Festival for 2012
Band Country
Legendary Ahmad Jamal United States
Hiromi Uehara Japan
Alfio Origlio & Roger Biwandu France
Barry Likumahuwa Indonesia
James Cammack United States
Manolo Badrena United States
Herlin Riley Helen Sung United States
Anne Drummond United States
Dezron Douglas United States
E.J. Stickland Canada
Yasuhi Nakamura Xavier Davis Japan
Shawn Kelley United States
Christy Smith Singapore
The KL Jazz Project Patrick Terbrack Quatet Malaysia
Marques Yong Malaysia
John Thomas Malaysia
Steve Thornton Malaysia
Michael Veerapen Dewan Bandaraya Big Band RTM Jazz Orchestra featuring Irene Soliano
Malaysia
Daniel Foong Malaysia
Steve Nanda Malaysia
Junji Delfino Philippines
Table 29
Performers list of KL International Jazz Festival for 2013
Band Country
Keiko Matsui Japan
Tizer Quartet United States
Diane Schuur United States
John Beasley United States
Michaela Rabitsch & Robert Pawlik Austria
Phillippe Sellam Trio France
Dominique di Piazza with Beyond &
Blues Quartet
France
Lisa Young Australia
Wadada Leo Smith United States
David Tughan United Kingdom
Beasley/ Biwandu Trio France
Ashton Moore Japan
Willerm Delisfort United States
Keith Loftis United States
Kirk Lightsey United States
Tropic Green Singapore
Christy Smith Singapore
Chris Ong & The Colour Codes Singapore
Roger “ KEMP” Biwandu Democratic Republic of Congo Patrick Terbrack New York Quartet
featuring Ashton Young
Malaysia
Steve Thornton United States
As KLIJF was quite new with only two years of programs, the performers from United States, Singapore and France were mostly invited. The music styles they covered were bebop, blues, fusion, Latin, pop, world, R&B, and rock.
To summarize the styles showcased in the four jazz festivals in Malaysia, it could be observed that Malaysia covered a rich variety of music styles. Besides providing the audiences great festivals, educating the audiences and raising funds during such festivals also brought purpose to the community.
Jazz Clubs
Besides jazz festivals, in this most visited city, there were also plenty of interesting and professional jazz clubs and live music bistro like “No Black Tie,”
“Alexis,” “Nero Fico” and so on that people loved. Those jazz clubs had jazz musicians performing live and provided a platform for them for jamming sessions.
i) No Black Tie
No Black Tie was a premier jazz club & bistro bar located in Kuala Lumpur. It
was founded in 1998 by Sarawak born-US trained classical pianist Evelyn Hii. It offered Malaysia’s top singers and musicians a decent stage to perform and had an impressive lineup of international acts over the years.
There were shows for almost every night in No Black Tie covering different types of music like jazz, classical, blues, folk or even spoken word acts. Uncompromising in its acoustics and sound quality, No Black Tie had the reputation of being the most sough-after venue for up-coming as well as established musicians.
There were shows for almost every night in No Black Tie covering different types of music like jazz, classical, blues, folk or even spoken word acts. Uncompromising in its acoustics and sound quality, No Black Tie had the reputation of being the most sough-after venue for up-coming as well as established musicians.