2nd Miri Jazz International Jazz Festival 1st Day - 11th May 2007

The 2nd installment after the 1st successful one. Didn't plan to go indeed as the time doesn't permit but suddenly my manager had a change of plan and I need to be in Sarawak so my planned trip to Miri was brought ahead and I took the opportunity to extend my stay lor...

The show hasn't started yet so I stroll along the beach... yup, unfortunately, alone.

I guess that's the restaurant but I couldn't find my way there.

Parkcity Everly Hotel, the venue for the inaugural jazz festival.

The KCP4 performers which combines the mystical Indian traditional musics with the jazz piano and trumpet.

The kickstart was with a bang from our very own David Gomez and the Sextet band featuring Junki Delfino. They put up a great show and yes, jazz can be big in Malaysia like what Delfino said.

Junji strutting her stuff belting out some jazz standards.

Charles from Sabah on the drums and Julian Chan on saxaphone.

The 2nd performer. Mystically enchanting traditional Indian musics blends in harmoniously with the jazz piano and the trumpet. I got to know from one of the audience the female singer was singing some musical notes, some sounds of the drums and some lyrics repeatedly but the atmosphere was mystified. However, not everyone buy it as some of them were restless and walked away. It's personal preference I guess.

Matthias on the trumpet. He's jamming with other groups later part of the show and on the 2nd day as well.

I saw this reporter last year...

And this one too... recognize his cool appearance, with the tatoo and the kungfu hair.

The 3rd performer was Lluis Coloma from Spain, the last year's favourite who was brought back again this year due to popular demand. Their boogie-woogie swing musics are so addictive.

My favourite among the 4 saxophonists. He can play the flute too!!!

But of course the crowd favourite was the youngest and "show"iest one.

Not to forget the drummer, typical Spanish stud look.

Again, my favourite saxophonist of Lluis Coloma.

He is definitely a joy to watch.

His fingers were working so fast and the result was magically enchanting performance.

The crowd started to boogie-woogie to the tune of the Lluis Coloma.

The way the musicians playing the instrument with each other was like teasing flirtatiously with each other.


Another shot of the dancing crowd, which was really worked out by Lluis Coloma.

Even the Deputy Chief Minister was caught boogie-woogie with the musics! Dr. Chan Hong Nan.

This year there were 2 stages. One was the main stage in the Pavillion. The other one was the outdoor stage on the beach. The band was playing at the intervals of about 15 mins for the instruments change over between performances. It's a good arrangement as it successfully moved the crowd around though. The band's members were from Phillipines, UK and Venezuela.

The crowd on the beach.

The organizers were trying to inject some real jazz elements this year I guess. They brought the Dirty Dozen Brass Band this year and coming from New Orleans, the many-considered birth place of all that jazz and boy, they were GOOD!!! The vibe and the groove were so right and it's fun!!!

Matthias from the previous performance was invited to jam together and it was a blast and such a joy to watch such spontaneous collaboration between musicians.

The guitar player was showing his mettle by playing it using his tongue... yes, his tongue.

God know what else can he do with that tongue!!!!

Matthias certainly stole the hearts of the gals with his good looks and his trumpet.

Notice the water droplets when he blow the trumpet.

The trombone player.

Now the Miri Beyonce came on stage.



She was stealing the limelight of the band with dance move. Some of us who stood in front of the stage taking photos were kinda distracted by her unusual appearance but seems like she really enjoy dancing on stage.

Having said that, that Miri Beyonce really did surprise us when she came back the next night with not just her dance move but she got more to offer and it was quite a shock............

(more to come in 2nd part, the 2nd Day)