Ask anyone about the current hip and happening jazz venues in town and you’re likely to get directed to www.alldatjazz.com, that well-known Malaysian web portal for all things jazz.

Now go back 22 years and you're likely to have been directed to another portal, All That Jazz, sans the dotcom. That iconic venue was where the seeds of Malaysian jazz, as we now know and enjoy it, were sown.

ATJ in SS2, as we fondly referred to it then, was THE place to be. Jazz die-hards used to travel from as far as Ulu Klang and even Ipoh and Penang to get their fix! Weekends at ATJ saw crowds standing shoulder to shoulder with barely enough space for the service staff to move, let alone take orders or serve drinks.

The stage saw the likes of co-owner, Michael Veerapen, top-rated musicians Zahid Ahmad, Salvador Guerzo, David “Ah Wah” Yee, Jimmy Sax, Lewis Pragasam, Jose Thomas, Francissca Peter, Sheila Majid, the late Rey Fabi, David Gomes, Zailan Razak, Gary Gideon, Mac Chew and a host of other well-known musicians, both local and international, who plied their jazz wares and laid the foundation for other musicians and venues that came in their wake. Some of these names are still deeply ensconced in the present jazz scene, testament to their commitment to and passion for the genre.

The club was pure, unadulterated jazz goodness, right down to the last note. I still recall some of those heady nights with the likes of the late Krishen Jit, his wife, Marion, Ivy Josiah and their posse of jazz “kakis” getting up from their seats to form a Can-Can line each and every time we did New York, New York! It was a sight to behold indeed!

ATJ was also the place where I first came face-to-face with an internationally renowned jazz giant! Ellis Marsalis, grand patriarch of the musically prolific Marsalis clan, came to town for a performance at The PJ Civic Centre and, as fate decided, blessed us with a visit to the club. At 26 years old, I was awe-struck, to say the least, and absolutely petrified when I was asked to sing with him! Alas, it was pre-camera phone era or I could’ve immortalized my claim to fame on youtube!

But given the success and popularity that ATJ enjoyed, especially in their first two years, its demise in the late 80s was, ironically, due to a lack of patronage and support.

Within the first couple of years, ATJ went the extra mile and secured the adjacent lot to expand its premises, including a basic kitchen to their setup to provide some simple grub and bites to their clientele. This addition obviously resulted in higher overheads and, to compensate, ATJ slowly moved from the classic acoustic jazz setup towards the more electronic, fusion-based sound in the hopes of roping in more people to make a bee-line for the entrance. Though it may have initially served its purpose, I think in the long run, it proved counter-productive as the jazz purists eventually found themselves staying away while the intended market failed to hit a home-run in terms of keeping the till running at full speed.

Alas, it all boils down to the dollars and cents and when the going got too tough, the owners decided it was time to move on and they sold ATJ to its new owners, who ran it until it folded in 1990.

Notwithstanding, ATJ and its efforts at setting the bar (no pun intended) for jazz in Malaysia will forever be etched in the annals of Malaysian jazz history.

Since then, Jazz in Malaysia has definitely come a long way, though not without its fair share of drawbacks. The jazz community, though its followers have grown significantly in the last 12 years, still lacks systematic growth. It needs the kind of incentives and structural support, be it from the government, education or corporate sector, that will allow it to take root, deep in the hearts and minds of the listeners, the venue operators and the musicians as well. It is not enough to label a gig or a performer as jazz. You have to make sure that what you are getting/giving IS jazz.

Now what is jazz, you say? Well, jazz is what R & B isn’t and it’s not what pop is. And if you can’t make the distinction as you read this then that’s where the problem really rests. The lines that differentiate one from the other have been blanco-ed over and over until nobody seems able to know the difference!

Yet some may be inclined to say, “Does it really matter so much to you? It’s all music, what?” Well, if you’ve spent every waking moment trying to soup up, embellish, accessorize & polish your Beemer only to have the next guy say, “nice Proton, dude!”, you’ll know how it does matter. No disrespect to the national car at all but the point that I’m trying to make here is that people must know the difference and give credit where credit is due. Rod Stewart released an album singing jazz standards. Does that make him a jazz singer? I read a couple of months back that Madonna wants to purchase that gigantic beacon of recorded jazz gems, Blue Note Records. Does that elevate her status from pop diva to jazz diva? God forbid.

I’ve also observed that, in Malaysia, people are quick to flippantly accord titles like jazz diva to every Tammy, Dani & Hani. I’m sure the likes of the real divas like Ella, Sarah, Billy, et al, are turning in their graves and wishing someone else would go on a major re-branding exercise and give them a new title just so they can be exorcised, figuratively of course, of this degenerative disorder.

But given all that, I am still thankful that the Malaysian jazz industry is thriving, more so with the increasing number of venues opening their doors to promote jazz as well as the number of young musicians coming into the fold.

I, for one, was very disheartened when I made a short visit back to the Philippines last year to find that there’s but a handful of venues still providing jazz entertainment, whether it be once a week or a couple nights more. Given that Manila used to be the hub of jazz some 20 or 30 years ago, this is a serious indication of its near-death existence. Something that is really worth lamenting about, given the number of talented jazz musos in one nation. Sadder still to note that the legacies from those that came before us, like my late dad and his peers (some of them still plodding away in their 70’s or 80’s), have amounted to nothing more than a one-night stint at a club, attended, at best, by some 30 to 40 people, and that is on a good night!

And that is what drives me to stand firm for jazz. That noble art form as Wynton Marsalis portrayed so eloquently in his tributary album, The Majesty of The Blues. It is more than just music. It’s a spiritual awakening that allows one to see beyond the shallow and the mundane into a life that’s richer and more meaningful. A legacy not reserved for the elite few, as some are wont to believe, but to be enjoyed by everyone who willingly opens up their minds to that which is higher and better.

In closing, jazz’ greatest personal legacy to me yet lies in the fact that it was through jazz that I met my husband, David Gomes. All That Jazz couldn’t have been a more appropriate name or place to serve as the backdrop for our meeting. And some two decades on into this blessed jazzy union and we are still plowing away at this verdant jazz soil. I remain confident in my hope that our efforts, as with our peers, to promote jazz, whilst educating and entertaining the public, will grow into a noble Jazz tree that will bear luscious fruits for generations to come.

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Pictures courtesy of Junji Delfino.

As Jazzmamma celebrates 48 years of blessed existence, she ponders on her love affair with jazz that first brought her to Malaysian shores in the mid 1980s. Since then, she's borne 5 children, launched 1 album, earned a fairly decent following in the live jazz circuit, owns a spanking new Malaysian red IC and a matching Malaysian Driving License and is still happily married to the same man.

Junji is performing nightly, Mon to Sat, at InBlu Jazz Lounge at the Grand Millennium Sukhumvit, Bangkok, from 1st July to 30th August, 30 Sukhumvit 21 (Asoke) Road, Bangkok. Tel: +662 2044000.