Album Review by NST

ALBUM REVIEW

Publication: Sunday People, The New Sunday Times Magazine
Author: Subhadra Devan
Date: 13 Sept 2009

Album: Eleven
Artiste: WVC TRiO +1
Label: Black Machine Music Production

GruvAvenue stalwarts Tay Cher Siang, Vincent Ong and Adam Osmianski have teamed up with Julian Chan to record an experimental album under a new band, WVC Trio +1.

The “+1” means the trio (Tay, Ong and Osmianski) can be plus any other musician, and any instrument.

Eleven is filled with jazzy, classy originals. This is not big band or dancehall jazz. It’s Dave Brubeck plus Keith Jarret and Herbie Hancock.

The guys — Chan on saxophone, Tay on keyboard, Ong on bass and Osmianski on percussion — are each outstanding. They gel on Eleven like steaming-hot roti kaya with black coffee.

Standing In The Rain On Euclid Ave is lovely straight-ahead jazz. Thumping percussion beat against a wistful piano tinkle. The beat is picked up by the piano, which still plays lead, then again by the drums. Ends with tinkling black-and-whites.

The Art of The Windup Alarm Clock was inspired by a Chinese adage, “An inch of gold can’t buy an inch of time”. It’s a melodic, uptempo tune which ends, yes, with an alarm clock ringing.

Hunger Strike has a long segue with drums and piano while Little Steps is no warmup tune as initially intended by Ong. This and Merry-Go-Around have a modern, New York sound.

Caipifutra is cute, even a little house, while Dawn is more smooth jazz in the GruvAvenue style. Eleven is a good album by hot local jazzsters to hold on to.

New Band: WriteUp Styling? :-P

INTRODUCTION: WVC TRiO + 1

In the fall of 2004 at West Virginia University in the US, the WVC TRiO was originally formed as a class for three music majors: Adam Osmianski, Tay Cher Siang, and Jon Cavendish. The three immediately noticed that they had musical chemistry and began holding extra rehearsals and continuing the class semester after semester, building a very large book of repertoire containing original materials, and the groups’ own unique arrangements of jazz standards and rock tunes. Drawing inspiration from the great trios of the past like Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and today's modern counterparts such as Brad Mehldau and The Bad Plus, the WVC TRiO has developed a sound of their own. In the summer of 2008 the trio toured Malaysia and Singapore for 7 weeks, and recorded their first studio album. The spring of 2009 sees Adam's return to Malaysia for another tour, while Vincent Ong from GruvAvenue stepped into the bass chair. To complete the +1 formula, we have Malaysian “Man in New York” Julian Chan on Saxophones. WVC TRiO had toured TianJin and GuangZhou in China, and throughout Malaysia this June 2009.

WVC TRiO +1 is presenting a variety of musical styles and premiering many brand new, original compositions penned by Cher Siang, Vincent and Adam. Experience this vibrant and original music from July 16, 2009 at various CD stores in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

Rock Corner Bangsar Village, KL

Rock Corner One Utama, PJ

Tower Records Lot 10, KL

and many more.

BIOGRAPHY OF PERFORMERS

Tay Cher Siang – Pianist, Composer, Producer
Tay Cher Siang began studying jazz as a teenager in Melaka, Malaysia after learning classical piano for a time. Tay later went to United States to study with Dr. James Miltenberger, and Prof. Paul Scea at West Virginia University. Here Cher Siang earned a Bachelors degree in Music Performance, and a Masters of Music in Jazz Pedagogy. While at WVU, Tay was a graduate assistant to Prof. Scea which gave him the opportunity to direct the school big band, small ensembles, as well as teach classes in jazz improvisation. Also at WVU, Cher Siang won the “WVU Young Artist Competition”, and received the “HERF Top-Off Award” and the “Valerie Candy Award".

Throughout his stay in the US Tay performed regularly as a soloist and with many ensembles such as the West Virginia University Big Band, the Mon River Big Band, the Jenny Menna Trio, the Washington Street Jazz Band, and the West Virginia University Wind Symphony Orchestra. He also performs regularly in Malaysia, China and the United States. Not only a performer, Cher Siang composes, arranges music for various ensembles, and gives music master-classes throughout Asia.

Since returning from US in Dec 2006, Cher Siang had performed in numerous festivals and concerts. These included Melaka Strait Jazz Fest 2007 at Riau, Penang Island Jazz Fest 2007, Kota Kinabalu Music Fest 2007 & 2008 (consecutive 2 years), Mosaic Festival 2008 & 2009 in Singapore, Malaysian Youth Orchestra Foundation Closing Ceremony 2007 & 2008 and “The Awakening” Jazz Concert 07. He represented Malaysia to join another four stellar musicians within Asia for the Unit Asia “Southeast Asia Tour” between Oct to Nov 2008, organized by Japan Foundation. Tay currently resides in Kuala Lumpur where he teaches at UCSI, the University of Malaya and running his own studio. He is an active musician on the KL music scene, performing with Boplicity, GruvAvenue, Rizal Soliano Band and his band WVC TRiO, as well as a number of vocalists.

Vincent Ong – Bassist, Composer, Producer
A graduate of the International College of Music, Vincent started playing bass professionally while he was in college. He then formed the jazz band “Black Machine” in year 2000. Black Machine was re-branded as “GruvAvenue” since 2005 and released their eponymous debut album on the same year. Vincent performs regularly within various set up from a trio to a seventeen-piece band; from relaxing hotel lounges, exclusive clubs, grand conferences as well as jazz festivals throughout Malaysia. These festivals included Sunrise Jazz Festivals 2004 to 2006 (3 consecutive years), KL Music Fest 2006 at Istana Budaya, Miri International Jazz Festival 2007, Johor Bahru Performing Arts Festival 2008, Promotional Activities for Genting International Jazz Festival 2008, HSBC Wind Festival 2006, and “Jazz Oasis” charity concert at Manila, Philippines. Vincent had organized and produced three concerts namely “The Awakening” Jazz Concert 2007, “Jazz Only!” 2002 at The Actors’ Studio Bangsar, and “Black Machine's Debut” concert at The Actors’ Studio Box and Theatre beneath Dataran Merdeka in year 2002. Vincent is a Music Production & Engineering graduate from SAE Institute. He was joined by Shazee for the mixing (post production) of GruvAvenue’s second album.

Besides multi-tasking as the founder, producer, band leader and songwriter of GruvAvenue, Vincent has performed with British chart topper jazz artiste Peter Grant for a two-weeks showcase of his “New Vintage” and “Traditional” albums shortly after Peter's sold out performances at Ronnie Scott's. He performs regularly for Malaysian jazz luminary David Gomes (North Sea Jazz Festival 90 & 91) at music festivals. Vincent had performed with many Malaysian artistes including Noryn Aziz, Atilia, Adibah Noor, Sean Ghazi, Izlyn Ramli, Juwita Suwito, Casey Subramaniam and Francisca Peters; jazz exponents such as pianists Hakan Rydin (Swedish), Jeremy Monteiro (Singapore), Don Gomez (Aust), Kom Wongsawat (Thai National Jazz Competition Champion 06), Adam Dennis (British), drummer Louis Soliano (Singapore Recipient of the Compass Artistic Excellence Award, “Best Drummer in Asia” by DownBeat), Boon Ghee (Singapore), Malaysian jazz legend saxophonist Salvador Guerzo and The Soliano Family, yogi extraordinaire and Saxophonist David Muehsam (New York), vocalist Rachel Guerzo, Junji Delfino, Marcela Panilla (Columbia) just to name a few.

Vincent is also the guitarist of an electronica-duo, “Severe Vain Syndrum” (SVS) which pushes the boundaries of modern DJ music by injecting organic improvisations, and for a jazz trio at the Executive Floor Lounge of Hilton Sentral KL for two years. Commonly referred by his peers as a stylistic chameleon, this go-getter with unique musical vision and diverse artistic tastes joined Asia’s leading music icon Lewis Pragasam (of Asia Beat) and top notch producer/pianist Mac Chew on 25 July, and ethnic-blues artiste Karen Nunis Blackstone on 1st & 2nd August to entertain the public at the Sunrise Jazz Festival 2008. GruvAvenue had performed at the Mosaic Music Festival 2009, hosted by Singapore National Theatre, the Esplanade in March. Apart from his busy schedule, Vincent runs a music production studio specialises in live bands, mixing for jazz recordings, and a graphic suite.


Adam Osmianski – Drummer, Composer
Adam Osmianski studied music from a young age in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. After finishing high school, Adam went to West Virginia University to study with Professor Paul Scea and Al Wrublesky. While at WVU Adam performed in the school big band, small jazz ensembles, percussion ensemble, symphony orchestra, various world music ensembles, and continued to perform in his home town of Pittsburgh. After placing 7th in the nation in the “Percussive Arts Society International College Tenor Drum Competition”, Adam spent two summers touring the US with the “Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps” from Toledo, Ohio. After touring with the Glassmen, Adam was appointed as the Percussion Coordinator and Arranger for WVU's award winning marching band.

Adam earned a Bachelor Degree in Jazz Performance and immediately began work on a Masters in Jazz Pedagogy where he was graduate assistant to Prof. Paul Scea. This gave Adam the opportunity to teach the school's big band, small groups, percussion ensembles, and classes in jazz. While working on his masters, Adam toured China and Malaysia in 2006 with the WVC Trio and the Paul Scea Quintet. Again with Scea's quintet, Adam traveled to Brazil in 2007. After finishing his Masters Degree in 2008, Adam again toured Malaysia and Singapore with the WVC Trio, and performed with Paul Scea's RA Ensemble at the “International Society of Improvised Music Convention” in Denver Colorado. Adam's other performing credits include jazz great Joe Negri, and appearing on the David Letterman show with the “Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps”.


Julian Chan - Saxophonist
Julian Chan has been playing the saxophone professionally since the age of 21 after studying accounting in Perth, Australia. Since returning to Malaysia he has studied with English educator/ saxophonist Greg Lyons, and performed in various musical settings including the 19-piece “Emergency Brake Ensemble”, The “Greg Lyons Nonet", and the funk band “Biophonics”. Julian continues to be an active performer on the KL music scene, performing with David Gomes, the “KL Hardbop Band”, Michael Veerapen, and Farid Ali among others, as well as running his own bop group called “Boplicity”. Not limiting himself to KL, Chan performs at music festivals throughout Southeast Asia and Australia. He is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at the Aaron School of Music at Queens College in New York City, USA.

When not playing jazz, Julian is doing session work for various pop artists both at home and abroad. This work has taken him throughout much of Asia, most notably with Taiwanese singer/songwriter Jonathan Lee Zhong Sheng's “South East Asian Concert Tour".


MORE INFORMATION

kindly click on the following links:
WVC TRiO +1 at ReverbNation
Manager's Blog

GIGS, BAND BOOKINGS, ARTIST COLLABORATIONS
please contact our manageress Sun at +6012 395 0670 or directly email me.

Welcome 2008!

Welcome year 2008 and
kick start your NYE celebration with
SVS @ Vincenzo Ristorante Italiano! Details as following:

Date: 31 Dec 2007
Time: 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Venue: Vincenzo Ristorante Italiano
Address: One Bangsar, 63H Jalan Ara, Bangsar Baru, 59100 KL.
Reservation: 6(03) 2287 1686

What other's have said about this cozy ristorante?
Mama Mia!
Blogger
Oriental Daily (for mandarin reader)

Off the record

Here's something not food related. This will be my last gig for year 2006 as it falls exactly on the last day of the year. So Come on, and let your hair down. Details enclosed here.

"Thank you" for your tremendous support and love all these times!

As we come to the closing of year 2006, let's have a great party!
To Recap All the Wonderful Moments we had in 2006!
To CELEBRATE Love and a Greater Life ahead of us all in 2007!

Title: Presto CountDown Party with Brandy & Cindy
Date: 31 Dec 2006
Time: 10 PM Onward til early morning
Venue: Bangkok Jazz Thai Bistro
Reservation: 03-2145 8708
(if you insist to have a table than hang onto the bar)

Let's Count Down @ Bangkok Jazz!
and Kick Start the New Year with a bang!

May all your dreams come true.

from my archives

Thinking about food is probably a suicidal act especially when one is hungry. While i'm going out for dinner real soon, these pictures from my archive of food-i-ate lately should work just fine as a measure of 'temporary relief'. You too, can check out these yummies if you happen to be in Klang Valley.

Pizza with all the toppings of Mediteranean vegetables and beef salami from Vincent's favourite italian restaurant, Nerovivo. Literally the toppings should be referred as stuffings cos its's all wrapped within the dough. So the outcome is very moist and juicy veges. A must try for people presume pizza toppings are nothing but oven-dried and burnt charcoals. Strongly recommended to the elders.

We check out the pasta buffet available at Italiannes every wednesday night. There's about five choices of pasta, five choices of sauces and five choices of toppings and eat all (pasta) you can policy. It's very thoughtful of them serving in smaller portion, so that one can try the different sauces and toppings. But you still need to bring your appetite. The caesar salad with deep fried squid is really huge and taste equally as good. Not Vincent's favourite eat-out place cos he persisted that i could cook these at home, if i practise and put some efforts in my irregular cookings.

We went to Low Yatt Plaza to buy some hardwares the other day. These curry mee and yong-tau-foo are simple comfort food that's served warm. The store is situated at the basement near the escalator. Food with soup is served in SQUARE bowl. i think they're halal too. So if you prefer an eatery that's clean with air-conditioning within the plaza, this is just nice.

Try the O'Brien sandwiches and salads if you're bored of the typical chinese, indian or malay food. Prices are reasonable. Portions are average. It's pretty much a chain store, meaning you can find them in most shopping malls and plazas. A good choice for some quick bites.

There's still plenty of food within my archives but if you would excuse me, i need to run.

A Great Place for Italian Food

After a long rehearsal in Gombak, we finally arrived Nerovivo around 8:15 PM. Parking spaces are very limited and most of their patrons came with much bigger cars and drivers in uniform waiting in the cars while double parking. There's no reason to feel intimidated if you arrive without a driver, because this is not another cut-throat restaurant. The exterior is very simple - a small white bungalow house. The interior is very lovely and space are used wisely. Each table is nicely set apart and the setting is efficiently spacious. A good way of testing this is trying to hear conversations of the couple in the next table. If you can listen to them, they could listen to your conversations over the table!

There's two main sections for dining: Outdoor or indoor. For outdoor seatings, you will be greeted by sight of a wooden oven and the heavenly aroma of freshly-baked pizzas. If you prefer some air-conditioning, the indoor decor guaranteed to 'wow' with the simplicity of white wall, wooden paneled windows, minimum lightings and oil paintings of Sandra Knuyt. Patrons are usually greeted by Paulo, the owner who at the same time supervises the operations throughout the evenings. A bar near the entrance provides a comfort spot for diners who didn't make reservations, and those who prefer to talk over few drinks. Wines are reasonably priced. There's plenty of choices for both sales by bottle or housing pouring by glass.

Services are fast and good. Upon we're seated, menu were handed over and the hostess informed us of some 'specialty of the day' which were fresh products e.g. yabbies (crayfish) and etc. A bowl of bread & pizza crust with olive oil & balsamic vinegar dipping were served while we read the menu. If your favourite dish is not in the menu, do what Vincent did. Ask the hostess nicely, chances are their kitchen could make it just for you if circumstances allowed. This is a great PLUS point!

The pictures of food, food, food... here they come.

Our birthday boy, Vincent got his favourite spaghetti Bolognaise with beef, while i ordered the seafood spaghetti in light tomato sauce. The seafood are clams, scallops, mussels, octopus, and prawns but X-tra large in size and X-tremely fresh. It might looked a bit plain in 'a sea of red tomato sauce'. But the greatest part for me was actually the service because the food are piping warm with sight of smoke while brought to the table.

Here's a serving for one person. Check out the plate, it's as wider as my shoulders. Pasta dishes are generally huge in proportions. The prawn were bigger than my nose! Almost the size of my palm.

After the pasta, we tried the gelato, ice-cream in wild berries and vanilla with chocolate flavours. Berry sauces were 'stroked' on the plate. Kinda like artistic calligraphy. Though i prefer the tiramisu. Vincent on the other hand was very full.

This is one of the very few restaurants which provides good food and services, with reasonable price. Definitely worth regular visits. Reservation is strongly recommended. Guess it makes sense, after all...

good food + good service + good price = good business!

recipe written by the dumb and lazy (2)

since many despice my fool proof recipe of chicken porridge i made another attempt and managed to modify it towards a healtier version... the vegie version, suitable for all vegans, vegetarians, and also anyone with a slow cooker. This is a recipe for the lazy... that's me! for anyone from three to ninety three. Very simple.
1. Change the chicken drumstick to a handful of shredded cabbage.
2. Don't add the pao-sum, as they don't go along with the cabbage well.
3. The rest is the same as in recipe 1.
4. Leaving it cooking for about five hours.
I strongly recommend this to the strict vegetarians, you know who you are lar...

the road is... long

that's how i would describe my driving trip back to KL right after the penang jazz fest. The road is long, with many winding turns... la la la... and if singing keeps me awake, you can consider it too!

a journey home (part 2)

We went for my mom's medical check out last friday. Apparently she hated the disinfectantish smell and reluctant to be hospitalised, so the nurse put on an ECG suit for her to monitor the heart beats for a day. It's equipped with a tiny recorder at the size of a walkman, and all the patient need to do is to press the "record" button once they sensed irregular heart beats. So we went to returned the hi-tech apparatus the following day, and waited for the reports. Thanks to my father who's taking good care of her. She was diagnosed to be very healthy. So now she was recommended to return for lateral healthy monitoring once a week.
After fetching my folks home, i drove back into town for vince's favourite tam boon pia. Since the time was early, i popped by to Sommerz to have a look at the workshop by Steve White. After spending more than half an hour to look for the exact place, i don't think i should give up finding. Luckily the workshop hadn't finished when i arrived. Steve plays the guitar, harmonica, shaker, and sings... all at the same time! The style is pretty much folk with some rhythm and blues. Normally he starts a tune with a rhythm riffs and talks a little bit before progressing to sing. Quite a humorous guy though the audience was very polite. I left early after finding myself the only one laughing at his story telling. And reached Him Heang to buy the last couple packs of the freshly baked tam boon pia, while other delicacy like the sweet tau sa pia was sold out hours ago!
It's my mistake to assume there's no traffic jam. So i was stuck in a jam for almost an hour nearby the race course all the way to the tanjung tokong. Hence missed the first performance! The second performance was Shannon and himself on the ivory. Sound kinda like broadway singing. Followed by Sufiah and friends.

These friends included Julian on sax, Eric on Keyboard, Fly on bass, and John on drums. And the best is yet to come.

More people entered after eight. Some actually were well equipped with mat, plastic or leisure chairs. There's also few attap huts, booths selling light snack & drinks and a lot of heineken banners which compliments the green-color atmosphere. After Sufiah, Mr. Zailan went on stage in clutches due to slip disc. Danial, his six year old prodigy son surprised the audience with his virtouso playing and great ability in tackling the complex rhythms. After about five to ten minutes break, Steve White went on stage to amuse everyone with his funny story of playing in a one-man-band.

Next, we have Greg's Nonet enthralling the people with their lush horn voicings. Few of the tunes were newly adapted for the nonet, which i heard in his quartet before. And i noticed an example of smaller people likes bigger instruments! The smallest people in the horn section was the baritonist!

Whereas on rhythm section, greg had the all star made up of mac on keyboard, andy on electric bass and lewis on drums.

The finale act? Saharadja from Indonesia. Everyone was astounded by Australian Sally Jo's beauty. When i say everyone, that includes quite a numbers of the musicians i was visiting as well. The band made up of Rio on vocal and trumpet, Sally on electric violin, edy on drums, Badut on fretless bass, Barok on banjo, sitar and tabla, Gede on vocal and guitar, Ajat on didgeridoo and zambre. Few of us there were very impressed by Gede's pitch-perfect super high falsetto singing and Ajat's superb groovy expressions by the steel didgeridoo. While i was standing by Charles, watching Gede playing the guitar with precise technique and great consistency, the gang of Julian, Eddie and a japanese kawaii were dancing and attempting the high kicks... as those you could imagine... as in the cabaret! And i should keep my mouth shut on this matter before revealing too much!