Jesse Lucas on wings of song

Some people are just plain gifted. At six, Jesse Lucas content himself by visualizing he was playing the piano at the family dining table because they could ill afford to buy the musical instrument.

In college, his parents told Jesse to stay away from music and focus on medicine instead. The family tree is filled with doctors and medical practitioners, so wouldn’t it be nice for him to follow in his elders’ footsteps?

The future composer/musical director did as he was told. He took up BS Psychology at St. Louis University in Baguio to prepare for a course in medicine, and graduated cum laude.

End of story? Not quite. Jesse indulged his musical whims by playing the organ during mass at the St. Louis chapel. He’d arrive at the chapel 30 minutes before mass to practise his music and dexterity on the organ.

He couldn’t deny his true calling anymore. Jesse bid his psychology books goodbye and took the UP Conservatory of Music entrance test. Wonder of wonders, his professor and mentor, Ryan Cayabyab, told him he perfected the theoretical part. And he couldn’t recall having any musician in the family from whom he got his talent.

Jesse went on to become a university scholar majoring in composition. One day, Ryan Cayabyab was looking for someone who could arrange Nonoy Gallardo’s songs for Musical Theater Philippines’ Sino Ka Ba Jose Rizal. The shows were part of the Concert at the Park series.

Ryan asked his brilliant student to arrange the songs of Celeste Legaspi’s husband. And Mr. C’s eye for talent proved him right again. A new musical arranger was born.

He went on to work as musical arranger for such theater groups as the CCP-based Tanghalang Pilipino (Aguinaldo 1898 and Ang Pagpatay Kay Luna, where he was also the musical director, composer and conductor), Dulaang UP, Gantimpala Theater Foundation, Ateneo Children’s Theater and the De La Salle University College of St. Benilde.

His original songs for Luna won for Jesse this year’s Aliw Awards for Best Stage Musical Production.

After falling in love with musical theater, Jesse leapt to ballet productions. He composed and arranged music for Ballet Theater Philippines at the CCP.

He collaborated with Rachel Alejandro, Ariel Rivera and Bituin Escalante, whose concerts he helmed as musical director. He turned album producer for Jamie Rivera (for the chart-topping I’m Sorry) and Bituin Escalante. Lately, he discovered a fresh talent in the person of Tex Ordoñez, whose album Jesse is producing.

He romanced the movies, doing scores and producing soundtracks. Jesse’s very first film project was a landmark in itself. His musical score for Lupita Kashiwahara’s Babae, starring Nora Aunor, won him an award in the 1997 Metro Manila Filmfest. The auspicious start was a foretaste of things to come. Jesse won the Best Music award from the Young Critics’ Circle three years in a row for Phone Sex, Sugatang Puso and Minsan May Isang Puso.

"I watch the film and ask its director what he wants," Jesse describes his working style. Some directors, he goes on, admit they’re uh, musically-challenged. They can’t explain exactly how they want the music to be. Young directors, for one, resort to trial and error in their musical scores. But he admires them for their refreshing ideas.

Jesse helps them, and others groping in the dark by citing concrete examples. "Is it similar to Whitney Houston’s sound?" he asks.

Joey Javier Reyes, director of the controversial Live Show, knows what he wants as far as music for his film is concerned, says Jesse. He may give Jesse a lot of creative elbow room, but the director has a gut feel for what works in a scene.

"He will tell me he doesn’t like the music for the finale scene and it turns out things can be done better," states Jesse.

Providing the music for Jologs was a challenge. The film had seven different stories and many characters, each needing a distinct sound. Each story carried a theme, and one complete, unifying musical score at the grand finale.

Jesse’s challenge was to edit the music so one flows seamlessly into the other. It was complicated all right. Jesse labored two to five weeks on the project. Result: A youthful sound that goes well with the upbeat Jologs feel.

Up next is Jesse’s dream work: Darna! A dance musical for Ballet Philippines at the CCP Main Theater next year. He is also agog over a collaboration with award-winning Jeffrey Jeturian in a musical film about the life of a songwriter. The budget may be limited, but Jesse merely shrugs. He believes enough in the project to give it his all, as usual.

And, as usual, it is in giving his all, in projects big and small, that Jesse Lucas soars.