Jam at Pete's Place - July 29, 2016 - Abbee Concillado (Chasing Cars)

JULY 29, 2016 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE

It was quite a surreal but a refreshing feeling to see myself back in the music room after missing last week's gathering as if no tragedy had happened. After my son Kevin's fateful accident in Nuvali less than 2 weeks ago, we had to be away to attend to his every need while he was confined in the hospital. Now that my son is back home determined and on his way to recovery, things had gone back to normal..thank and praise God.

My family and I are truly blessed with genuine, caring and loving friends who had unconditionally gone out of their way (and still are) precisely to make things a little bit more easier for us to cope. These people are a perfect epitome of true-to-life guardian angels. Truly God's handy work in display. My family and I are forever grateful to all of them. God bless their kind souls.

The evening started quite early with dear friend Monchie Henares spearheading the list. Monchie, Luisa Distor and Rick Trinidad had previously agreed to an early meeting to discuss and finalize some details of Sunday's benefit concert that they had organized for my son. Surely, their time and efforts were not put to waste. A little bit more tweaking here and there and we are all set and ready. Kudos to these conscientious and hard-working bunch!

Early, too, were keyboardist Atty.Pecky Casuela and percussionist Vincent Garrucho. Vincent arrived with his talented daughter Maxine. Maxine, incidentally, was last week's surprise revelation. Young as she is at 13 years of age, she wowed everyone in the room with her cool and sultry voice garnering more than an unprecedented 1.2k views on the videos of her performances posted in facebook. Indeed a star in the making. More power to Maxine.

Among the other houseband regulars who showed up were Joaco Marco, Tinnie Esguerra, Dennis Espiritu, Bubui Colico and back-up vocalist Marc de Asis. The rest of the other guys who came arrived at their usual leisurely time.

Another surprise revelation came to fore when a couple of newbies showed up later on. Melissa Puey and Abbee Concillado arrived close to midnight after agreeing to swing by from an invitation extended by some of their friends already in the room. We were warned that Abbee sings and plays the guitar. With little prodding, she quickly obliged, went up and performed on stage. She surprised and delighted the appreciative crowd with her vast array of songs she shared, delivering them with utmost talent, confidence and ease. Never had i witnessed any female performer, who had previously shared talent in the music room, possess so many songs lined-up in her vast repertoire. What a talent!

Before closing time, it was the regular house band's turn on stage. It was time to rehearse. We tried and lined up some tunes to play for Sunday's benefit show. The house band was listed to be the last to perform and will be alloted one hour for the effort. Five or so songs in the list before the free jam commences was the plan. Good luck to everyone involved.

Please come down and join us at the REBUILDING IRONMAN Benefit Concert on Sunday July 31st. It will we held at 19th East, East Service Road, Sucat. Show starts at 8pm. It is guaranteed to be awesome fun! Hope to see you all there!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - July 8, 2016 - A night of jazz with Lorry Zamora, Meong Pacana, Wendel Garcia & Kookie Taylor (Days of Wine and Roses)

JULY 8, 2016 - LSGH BATCH 79 JAM NIGHT UPDATE

And so it came to pass. Last night's LSGH Batch 79 Jam Part Two at the music room proved to be another humdinger of a classic. A definitive night of total musical experience for jazz freaks like myself. With such brilliant jazz virtuosos collaborating on stage, the overwhelming fusion of sound and rhythm emanating from their artistry is simply breathtaking. Still making waves in their individual musical careers, these guys were truly on a different level.

It was a pseudo homecoming to some of the players as well, having been a part of the music room's history about 20 years or so ago. I was so happy to see old musical friends again after all these years. We welcome back to the music room world class bassist Meong Pacana and saxophonist Lorry Zamora. Who said eagles can't mix with archers?

Musical geniuses with the likes of keyboardists Joey Quirino and Kookie Taylor along with first-rate jazz drummer Wendel Garcia were likewise in the house. It was an impromptu session of solid jazz fusion that seemed liked they had already rehearsed and performed the tunes many many times before. Totally a pleasure and a sight to behold and experience. My hat's off to these bunch. Excellent and inspiring performance!

The event was well attended with most if not all the expected guests arriving for the occasion. Some of them even brought their wives and kids along. A good accounting of music room regulars and musicians were in the house too. Among the house band regulars who came were Tinnie Esguerra, Joaco Marco, Rick Trinidad, Monchie Henares, Richard Parcia, Bubui Colico, Vincent Garrucho and Erwin Dimaculangan.

Consistently, the house band was to be the last batch on stage. Unceasingly performing non-stop till closing time along with some gamely guests who joined in the fun. My gratitude to the newbies who took part of the evening’s entertainment.

And so another classic night of music and friends had concluded...Praise and thank God! Congratulations to LSGH Batch 79 and to the organizers for a successful event! Looking forward to the next reunion!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - July 1, 2016 - Nick Mangubat at the Magic Hour

JULY 1, 2016 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE & PHOTOS

And just like that, we're half way through the year (Tapos na ang June, Jolina...este July na! LOL!). As the old adage implies.. time truly flies when you're having fun. Despite another meager turnout, last night was no exception to the rule. The shebang started quite late with the first person arriving at already past 10pm. With the slow pace of arrivals at the onset, it was already past midnight when the jam finally started. It did take awhile before the action heated up but before you knew it, it was already past 5am. 

As previously planned, percussionist Vincent Garrucho brought along his nifty high tech Zoom digital audio recorder to the room. He set it up and tried it out to test if it will capture a much better audio recording of the jam compared to our usual setup. The sound quality you hear while wearing the headset was indeed astounding. We did a little bit of tweaking here and there on the mixer and searched for the sweet spot in the room until everyone were satisfied with the output. But we still need to hear the final outcome after editing is done. According to Vincent it will take some time to accomplish the task. Keeping our fingers crossed. 

The overall jam was nonchallant but worthwhile nonetheless. Unfortunately, we ended up stuck with just our old songs and nothing new on the table. Not really in strong protest but personally, i would rather us push to learning new songs each and every time the band meets. O well...c'est la vie.

Among the band mates who came to join me were Tinnie Esguerra, Joaco Marco, Rick Trinidad, Mark Longos, Vincent Garrucho, Nick Mangubat and vocalist Monchie Henares. Good friends Luisa Distor, Gab Villanueva and Juan Brew creator and manufacturer Alexander Lietz were likewise in the house. Incidentally, July 2 is Alexander's birthday. Happy birthday Alex! 

Along the way, Nick breathed new life to the jam when he took over center stage for a quick set and kept the jam in stride and exciting. Thank you Nick! Kudos to Monchie, as well, for painstakingly taking charge of the video coverage using Vincent's cam. Good job Monch!

And so we look forward with much anticipation to the next jam night and that hopefully will solicit more interesting and exciting stories to tell compared to this one. Brush up comrades...we can do better! 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!