No BlaCk TiE pt 2!

Ok ... OK KKAAAY... REALLY okkkaaayyyy.... after an almost 2 hours of PURE jazz music ,
i can declare this to the world .


I AM HHHIIIIGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!


This is so from the bottom of my heart. Yesterday night was really another one of the best nights i've had. Anytime with jazz music LIVE in front of my face in a superb jazz bar will be good i think. Hahahah .. Mun Wei and I reserved our table for another one of James Boyle & The Ragged Tigers night out in No Black Tie ... this time we made sure we get a chance to sit upstairs ... and the show starts at 9 30pm. So James sms-ed me the night before reminding me but i replied saying Wei and i have already booked our seats to go cheer for him. And so he was expecting our attendance. No i think the other 2 might boys was expecting our attendance too.


And so we arrived at NBT around 9 45pm because of some stupid left turn junction i missed out so Mun Wei had to make another BIG ROUND in KL town ... knowing all roads these days are only 1 way. So by the time we reached there , we had no problem locating it now because it's JUST VERY EASY TO FIND after all. We parked our car opposite and walked in .... it was Soo quiieet... as usual .. from the outside.


Suprisingly .. also in the inside! We walked in , talked to the waiter .. (INDIAN WAITER WITH SUPER HEAVY INDIAN ACCENT WHICH MUN WEI HAVE DIFFICULTY HEARING!) and he escorted us in ... while walking , Wei saw James talking to the soundman just behind the curtain which means the Ragged Tigers haven't started playing. I interrupted by saying i needed to pee.. so yeah after that we came out and we walked into the seating area and was shocked to see ...

NO ONE

inside. Empty tables ... empty chairs .... only the stage , with 3 guys at their respective instruments ... and 1 sound man at the back of the place. While walking in, Mun Wei saw
Wagner sitting at the drum set this time dressed in casual black and spectacles and she immediately went,

MW : "Eh your drummer sudah tukar orang ah!? What happend to Wagner?"

Me : HUH!? really ? NO la! that's wagner .. he's wearing spectacles today!


What can i say .. my friend seem to have some eyesight problem as well...
So when we chose our table to sit .. it was a very beautiful grandstand seat right in front of the stage facing the Ragged Tigers playing ... we were so near that we could hear each other talking by just raising a little of our voices off and on stage. So the Ragged Tigers started playing their first set ... and it was almost 10pm that time. ... both of us settled down , ordered our drinks...but instead of just making it simple and short , ms Mun Wei had a little trouble hearing our dearest indian waiter who seemed to want to serve us a drink which is just a mixture of Red Wine and some other stuffs called


SANGRIA


Which Mun Wei made him repeat 10 times saying the name and enquiring what on earth was that .. until the word RED WINE came out from his lips... she went , "AAAH OK..I'll take that" . Life will be much easier NBT , if you call it RED WINE instead of


SANGRIA A/P RAMASAMY!


Ok so we settled down ... and here goes the music. They started off with some old jazz waltz Bill Evans tune called Waltz for Debby .. really nice. Then some other slow bossa nova stuffs ... lounge jazz music .. which according to James , these are just to warm themselves up to make sure their in TUNE. What the heck!? As if they'll go out of tune .... James had a mic attached to the grand piano he was playing so that he could speak and interact with the audience after each number .. as the leader of the band .BUt yesterday night his voice sounded strange and a little more mellow than usual on the mic so he was asking the soundman what happened but i shouted


"YOU SOUND SEXY!"


Hahahhaha ... then he went on throughout the whole night crapping his way through ... introducing his band members ... to start of with. And he started by introducing Hiro (the japanese killer bassist blood) who this time brought his "KILLER FRETLESS BASS" tonight to play along ... then of course not to forget our dearest drummer Wagner .. and James went on to reveal Wagner's middle name which is LISA because of his native Sarawakian' background.. what the heck!?!? Wagner Lisa Daniel!?


Next ... James went on to crap about us not clapping .. because there were only MUN WEI AND I! watching .... and the soundman .. so after his 2/3rd song i clapped ... then he went on to say HI to the both of us "faithful audience" Mun Wei and Lily down there ... so he continued ,


"We are going to dedicate alll of our songs tonight to them!"


AWWW thanks ! We went on to enjoy every single piece of music they played ... from their own compositions , to pop tunes , to British pop funk jazz tunes , to old school Swing , to fusion JOGET , to melancholic jazz tunes , to even typical bossanova styles ... the only thing missing is those modern jazz tunes i used to learn from him this sem but i can understand that not everyone can accept modern jazz music.


By the time the first set ended it was 11 22pm ... and finally there were some customers walking in to eat BUT it was just 1 table. Then they left during the start of the 2nd set.. and cut the story short. The music was BLOOODYY GOOOD!


They played too much for me to describe how good they are .. but the night belonged to Hiro i must say . The killer bassist really melted Mun Wei's and my heart with his solo lines ... and his tension notes .. oh my ... and his passion for every single note he plays. Whether is it just the normal bass for the theme of the song , or during his solo showing off impro parts. He tried more variety of stunts this time ... with slap bass, slaaping until both of us had to drop our sushis' and watch him play. Err what else ... those freaking FAST running notes on the bass , plus ohh! DOUBLE and even TRIPLE notes on bass!! I've not watched anyone play bass being able to play double / triple notes before !! Just like us striking a chord on the piano .. bangang ... Then also those crazy dance movements he made ... enjoying the music so much I was literally dancing along down there at the table. That was Hiro .. the Japanese blood. Always with the snuggling cheeky smile after he managed a solo line and smiling his way through after both of us down there cheering for him and flirting with his bass.. gosh the way he moves can make you go "OH gosh the tension in his face ... does he have epilepsy or soemthign ? "


Alright back to James ... my maestro teacher! Oh my god .. i was totally blown away by his skills on the piano yesterday.. I totally forgotten how GOOD he is ... ever since he taught me for the past 2 years ... He never showed off so much in class , but playing in a band really gives the opportunity for him to impress us even more. His TOUCH , his RUNNING NOTES , his EVER SO CAPTIVATING improvisation lines ... they come in so many different techniques that mUn wei suggested i copy one of it for my EF solo lines. HAHAHAHHA .... You want Chopin , Bill Evans , and even EF solo style ... he did it! Amazing... Well he was nice enough to come and talk to us between breaks and tease us here and there ... and even joked with me saying that NBT is a HOKKIEN JAZZ BAR because both of us were conversing in hOkkien and mun wei couldn't understand a word we say .. hahahaha ..


Have i not mention the brilliant drummer? heheheh .. well last night he wasn't really someone we'd significantly pay attention to .. probably because he wasn't really in a good mood to perform .. but he only got HIGH and all showy towards the 2nd set of songs. .. prbably because he wasn't warmed up or he wasn't in favour for the first set songs .. dunno. But both Wei and I are guessing that he probably had a bad day on Valentine's eve. Hahahahha ... BUT i still enjoy his drums solo .. siao . I get totally in AWE everytime i see his hands moving sooo swiftly and FAST and the relaxation of him playing the drums but the sounds that come out are sophisticatedly FULL and so much going on .. so TIGHT .. brilliant co-ordination. I still felt he enjoyed himself more the other night ... But drummers are always being looked over anyway.. sigh sad. YOU ARE COOL boy!


Ya .. so while we were busy drooling over the 2 mighty guys .. James introduced 2 very special numbers which touched our hearts. He introduced a song called "Reaching For You" which was rearranged into a funk jazz version by them... when he talked about it though he seemed a little reserved choosing his words very carefully .. and i was wondering silently in my heart if it was THAT Reachign For You i am thinking of ... and trully when they played the pre-chorus and chorus both Mun Wei and I became HIGH again .. coz it waS! The Hillsong Aus church Reaching For You!!! Written by Raymond Badham , from For This Cause album ... Amazing how he rearranged it ... from a slow pop song into a funk jazz. ..and not to forget that song does have James' piano jazz solo and Hiro on the bass solo as well .


We were so high i started singing along to the chorus ... Later after that James introduced another song written by them , which he said


"Dedicated to the one and only The Way, The Truth , and The Life . It's called A Way".


I immediately shouted AMEN!!! from down there .. ahahahha .. sua ku .. And so it was a very soothing jazz piece ... AHH ... really nice and joyful to hear Christian musicians (and such talented good ones!) declaring their faith and proclaiming God's truth out there in public ... it's also one very good way to reach out to people. Now i'm wondering if both our mighty guys are Christians as well .. HIGH CHANCE HIGH CHANCE... =)


Ater the 2nd set ended around 12 30am ... James called it a day .. because there was literally no one left in NBT except our table , and another table with a couple sitting at the back ... so he ended with his signature tune Shaker Song by Spyro Gyra... and one more fast number i can't re member the title... I now KNOW WHY he used to give me a hard time when i was learning Shaker Song in sem 2 ... Mun Wei said because it was the Ragged Tigers' signature tune! So i can't screw it up .. AAAHHAHA ... aawww tell me earlier ma , i'll put more heart into it .


Just after the show was over , we called for the bill .. and waited awhile to settle our money issue.. and so James came down to talk to us again.. this time we chatted a short while before saying goodbye and then the pathetic lan ci Hiro packed his bass and came down the stage .. TURNed LEFT and moved over to this guy sitting at a table there and started chatting with him.. crap. Why can't he be more friendly? He lost some points there... then Just before we wre about to leave i stood up and Wagner came down after a long time sitting up there packing his stuffs .. and very courteously said


Wag : "Hey , thank you for coming... "

Me : No problem .. you played well. Great playing!


Shook our hands and left ... see... that's what you call gentleman! ehheheheh ... added points... Oh and so we left ... NBT .. pt 2.. ahhaha .... it was almost 1am .. and we reached home safely and THANK GOD for that. Our journey home and all the way to changing pyjamas , checking mail online , making bed , and sleeping was about how HIGH we were after the Ragged Tigers' performance... until this morning i woke up and we were brushing teeth ... until we met for lunch .. until i was practising Stagea .. programming .. until she was shopping alone , until we came home , until we met again online just now .. we were still talking and drooling over the whole experience we had last night in NBT. Amazing at how music can touch hearts right ? Especially when it comes from the pro's ...


Next stop. The girls and cousin is trying to persuade me for the next show.


21st feb : Brazillian sambas & bossa novas with Cheong , Badar and Nizam


They're still trying ... hhahahha ....


Sangria A/P ramasamy...