Jazz to blues, some rock-n-roll, and back

Must be the positive reverberations from that P.I. Jazz shebang all of last February. Do look and listen now, ’cuz jazz gigs still seem to be bursting all over the place, make that Megalo Manila. And must be part of the post-Holy Week syndrome that it all seemed to come together all of last week. And what a sosi whirligig it was.

First off, we heard a few weeks ago from Gracie Venzuela, with whom we’re shaping up a corporate anniversary book, that we had another thing in common — old friend Pete Canzon, one of the baddest saxophone players in town. And that he was performing Tuesday nights — live jazz at this new place named Master’s Den on Shaw Blvd, between EDSA and the Wack Wack area.  

Hadn’t seen Pete in years, last time I recall basking in his scintillating musical presence was maybe a decade ago at the old, now lamented Penguin on Remedios, on a special night where he performed along with another legend, wazisname, oh, ya, Jose Smith, a.k.a Joey a.k.a Pepe a.k.a. “Piyaps” a.k.a. “’Tol, rakenrol.”

And it has been all of three decades since Pete headlined the Genesis band with all of our old buddies such as Carlitos Calaguian, Jun Viray and Jaime Fabregas at My Place on the far end of Shaw, towards Barangay Kapitolyo in Pasig. Them were the days when yet meager traffic allowed us make it to that seeming edge of the known world all the way from Q.C. in 15 minutes flat by 10 p.m. or so.

Now, Genesis was a terrific band. And as it goes, it had a short shelf life, like, say, the way comets come and go.

So it would be good to hook up with Pete Canzon, and so an SMS series went back and forth with good buddy Jaime, but we both couldn’t make it for three straight Tuesdays, even with Pete now joining the texting brigade for repeated invites.

Finally found time last Tuesday. Came for a treat, and got it. First, a free beer from Gracie. Then Pete steps up onstage and does Bye Bye Blackbird, oh my, blast from the past and how.

Wally Gonzales, Tom Colvin, Bong Sotto and Louie Talan whip up the blues at Martinis

Turns out he’s also the musical director for Tuesday jazz and jam nights. Heeding the clamor for nostalgia were several other regulars, like Gracie among other soulful ladies, and this young guy who came over from another table to re-intro himself, and I had to blink and retrieve old memory bytes — oh, yes, Boboy Reyes whom I saw grow up from knee-high on Mariposa St. cum San Juan, kid bro of ol’ gin buddy Botit, and Nene and Dodo, our sisters.

It was that kind of a night, when part of your old life parades before you, or rather, make that a candlelit procession, with Boboy’s Beatles ditties marching everyone back in to the church of reverie.

Boy Katindig was part of the audience. Had a brief chat with him. Yes, it’s true he’s opening yet another jazz place soon, maybe around the area, too.

Then there was this wild-looking guy, whom Gracie introduced as manna from Down Under — Bong Sotto, blues musician, with his son Raul, also a guitarist. They were just visiting from Melbourne where they’ve lived, and performed, since the late ’80s.

Turned out Bong was a bandmate of Pete’s all over Southeast Asia in the mid-’80s. But I didn’t have a chance to catch his act that night, no thanks to an expected midnight call back home. He’d be jamming at Martinis the next night, though, so I kind of committed myself to that.

Kat Agarado on Blues Nights on Wednesdays at Martinis

Something intervened on Wednesday evening. But it made for near-perfect timing, and musical variety. Some Bedans of 1960 had been plugging for attendance at this benefit retro concert billed as “Senior Prom: Senior Moments w/ The Rockin’ ’60s” at Teatrino in Greenhills. Wasn’t sure I’d go, until Nancy Reyes-Lumen issued an order, threatening cessation of a lifetime supply of her special homemade sofrito. Okay, so I was in; I need my lycopene. 

On a smoking break outside Teatrino, ran into someone whom I thought was impersonating Willie Nepomuceno. Turned out to be the real dude. Great. Good chat and tobacco exchange. And Mitzi Borromeo, who’s doing this series of TV shows on erotic Pinoy food for the National Geo channel. And Lino Dionisio and Chat Veloso with their respective better halves. And Nori Villena. And Meiling Paredes Sicam, Katrina Bolasco and Cathy Guballa. Not necessarily in that order. Well, the beers kept coming, until the inevitable upgrade to single malt in a smuggled flask.

Suffice it to say that we all swooned and swayed to retrofitted numbers featuring our friends Nancy, Lorie Paredes Tangonon and Dero Pedero onstage, together with Weng Eraña and Titus Santiago, after the aperitif provided by The Peppermints, and until the maestro Ramon “RJ” Jacinto capped the evening as Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll, oldie but goodie!

Then it was a rush to meet up with yet another Bedan classmate, Ed Lim who seems to have temporarily given up on diva nights at Charlie’s Speakeasy (the former 7th Note) off Malugay in Makati. So he was at a cubicle in Martini’s when I got in. Regrettably, a home emergency pulled him off just before the band started its second set. So I had to scramble for company. Found a seat beside music great Mel Villena, and there started taking many pics of the good fortune that unfolded before us onstage: Kat Agarado on vocals, the legend Wally Gonzales and my former neighbor Louie Talan on guitars, Wowie Posadas on keyboard, and Vic Mercado on drums. 

Came the jammers: Tom Colvin on harmonica and Bong Sotto the livewire act, yeah, hey, this guy’s something, Mr. Blues Man himself. We gotta catch him again at Master’s Den on Tuesday, that’s tomorrow!

Remember, however: on Wednesdays it’s Blues Night at Martinis. And if you can bilocate or shuttle, there’s also the torch singer and upcoming diva Margaux Salcedo singing standards at Charlie’s, backed up by Demi Lumacad Jr. on the piano. Yeah, when she’s not gorging on food she’s torching the place, not necessarily as a front act for Sandra Viray Lim with Jun Viray and Egay “Koyang” Avenir.

Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll RJ joins Lorie Paredes-Tangonon, Nancy Reyes Lumen and Weng Eraña onstage at Teatrino for a Senior Prom night

 But it doesn’t stop there. Last Thursday the Manila Hotel’s Tap Room featured a special break-in night with THE Romy Posadas et al. Turns out that our friend Georgina Garcia Banaag a.k.a. Ginny, who’s just come in as senior VP at The Grande Dame, has arranged to convert the old Tap Room into a nightly jazz venue. At the launch, all the musical artists were present, rendering samplers.

The weekly sked now goes: Monday to Thursday nights will have THE Romy Posadas, with France Jancie Tape on Mondays, Sandra Lim Viray on Tuesdays, Luisa Sta. Maria on Wednesdays, and Cooky Chua on Thursdays, while Friday nights will feature Jazz for Kicks with Sandra, Jun on drums and Koyang on guitar, and Saturdays will have the Jazz Notes.

Wait, there’s more. Myra Ruaro has amped up the former Ten-0-2 and rechristened it as Skarlet’s Jazz Kitchen Restaurant/Cafe, which is on the corner of Scout Ybardolaza and Timog Avenue, Q.C.

Last Friday, it was yet another blast, with Galerie Joaquin and Galerie Raphael, doubly run by my buddy Jack Teotico, also the publisher of the outstanding art magazine Contemporary Art Philippines, sponsoring the “Summer Jazz Jam” with “Asia’s Queen of Jazz” Jacqui Magno, backed up by Rey Cristobal on keyboard, Colby dela Calzada on bass and Mar Dizon on drums.

Oh my, our jazz greats are just doing great, livening up the Big Noisy that’s MM. Just our luck. Going into Maytime from April Fools summer break, after all that pasyon we are still so blessed with vintage rock, with thumping blues, with percolating jazz — all the spirited music of generations still celebrating nightly genesis.