After you, Kuh!

The first time Richard Merk heard her sing jazz, he was floored. He found out that Isabella not only got her mother Kuh Ledesma’s genes, she will also make a mark in a field her mom has not explored too well: jazz. And she’s only all of 21.

Jazz is written all over Isabella. Her iPod is full of jazz. She devours a jazz book Richard gave her. And yes, Richard sheepishly admits, "Isabella knows more jazz songs than I do!"

"Watch out for this girl," Richard looks at Isabella beaming beside him. " She’ll surpass what Ella May Saison has achieved when she (Isabella) reaches her (Ella May’s) age."

He should know. Richard has the genes of Queen of Jazz, Annie Brazil no less. So sure is Brazil’s son of Isabella’s promise he has vowed to Kuh that he’ll guide Isabella in the field of jazz forever and a day.

He will never turn Isabella into any jazz singer’s clone, though.

"I want her style to be different. I want her to develop her own way of singing," he says.

Richard is already laying the first stone in building a strong jazz foundation for Isabella. He and Isabella will perform back-to-back in a Valentine jazz concert dubbed Jazz You, Jazz Me at the newly-opened Teatrino in Promenade, Greenhills on Feb. 14.

Richard’s mere presence on stage with her awes and pressures Isabella no end. To allay hers – and her mom’s apprehensions – Richard has vowed he will never steal the show from the upcoming jazz singer whose potential he’s so confident of.

The night’s repertoire is a mix of romantic songs by jazz greats like Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn, among others. Just right for Richard and a self-confessed old soul like Isabella.

"I long for things of the past," says Isabella. Of prime import to her are the good values and the firm moral foundation the past was so rich in.

No wonder Isabella wants to bring it all back, even if only through jazz, the music of yesteryear, the favorite listening fare of people much older than she is.

"I want to bring back what we have lost," explains Isabella. No wonder her mom calls her "an old soul."

And while she’s at it, Isabella might as well introduce the MTV generation to the music their parents and grandparents embrace with such gusto.

Isabella adores jazz to the point of veneration. In fact, Richard proudly reveals no way will Isabella sing jazz songs with negative messages like drugs. Wholesome, God-fearing Isabella will balk at the idea of tainting the music genre she loves so much with vice or any kind of depravity.

It will conflict with this young painter’s description of jazz as one that, "just like abstract painting, lifts the spirit."

And so, Isabella, or Isabella Maria Francesca, will celebrate the fire and spirit of jazz as she sings solo, and dishes out a mean duet of It Had to Be You with Richard.

Kuh, who has taught her to do everything with a passion or never at all, will surely be in the sidelines, holding her breath, clapping for all she’s worth. And, if she has to pass the torch to Isabella someday, Kuh will surely do it wholeheartedly, complete with a wide smile and a tight embrace that says, "Go, girl!".