Concert review: A showcase of Singapore jazz works

Jasso Pinnacle Concert 2025

Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra
Capitol Theatre
Feb 21, 8pm

In conjunction with SG60 celebrations in 2025, the Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra’s (Jasso) Pinnacle Concert was a showcase of original Singapore jazz compositions. This was a culmination of Jasso’s Build Your Legacy Through Jazz commissions in which benefactors had new works composed and dedicated to persons of their choice.

Fifteen works from seven composers, including seven by artistic director Jeremy Monteiro, were performed by the 18-strong jazz band of mostly brass instruments. Monteiro and his associate directors Weixiang Tan and Chok Kerong took turns on the grand piano and conducting the orchestra.

So, what did the evening’s Singapore jazz sound like? Judging by the short single-movement works which Monteiro casually referred to as “songs” (only two had actual lyrics), the tendency was to err on the side of caution by adhering to popular and familiar idioms.

There were neither edgy experimental or dissonant harmonies, nor reliance on local South-east Asian or vernacular material as possible themes.

This is not meant as criticism but an observation that when donors make hefty contributions, the results are expected to be cognitively coherent and aurally pleasing on first encounter.

The scandal and fisticuffs that greeted Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s epoch-making The Rite Of Spring of 1913, his conception of primal Russian music, were thus not to be found.

The end result was, however, a highly enjoyable two-hour concert with memorable melodies, virtuosic solos and ensemble playing dialled to maximal voltage by all on stage. Joe Lee’s The Chaffeur, which opened the concert, had a steady rhythmic drive which relived jazz of the Roaring Twenties.

In Sean Hong Wei’s Sunshine For Olivia, Weixiang Tan’s Love In All The Small Places and Ernest Tan’s My Wish For You – all inspired by love for close relatives – extended solos came to the fore. The saxophones of Julian Chan and Stephen Rufus, as well as Leo Jeoh’s trombone, were standouts.

Jasso scholar Lee Ann Gie’s Toby Boy, composed for former politician Abdullah Tarmugi’s grandson, was a playful and highly syncopated take on Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s In The Hall Of The Mountain King.

Chok’s Stars Of My Heart had a Brazilian beat, distinguished by the breathy but excellent alto-leaning vocals of Vanessa Shavonne. Sean Hong Wei’s Struttin’ Through Life With You, with its strident pace, captured a bold Broadway vibe.

Weixiang Tan’s A Gift From Sweden, about a teddy bear, exhibited the warmth and fuzziness of its endearing subject and a lovely trumpet solo. And in the rousing closing number, A Song For Peace And Love, the meaningful lyrics were belted out with conviction and fervour by vocalist Nick Zavior.

Singapore’s “King Of Swing” Monteiro, who turns 65 in 2025, should be saluted for his range and versatility. A lifelong student of orchestration, his attempts to vary the moods with harmonic experiments were laudable and far from predictable.