Anyone Here Into Jazz?

[Jay P. Mercado]

Jay, correct me if I'm wrong, but a bulk of the members of the New Minstrels were formerly of the Circus band, right? Were there any ex-Circus folks who joined the Music Making Company? I think Pinky Marquez was a part of the MMC, right?

And I think prior to the Circus band there was also the Ambivalent Crowd (not sure if I got the name right.) Were they also made up of Eugene V. et al?

Hope you enlighten me on these milestones. I've been learning a lot of Marcos-era OPM from your posts.

Jeremy,

Some members of the Circus Band included the likes of Rudy Lozano, Paco Gamboa, Boy Katindig, the late Gerry Paraiso, Walter Calinawan, Henry Tongson, Ceres Jacinto, Pabs Dadivas, Basil Valdez, Hajji Alejandro, the late Richard Tan (eventually re-spelled to Tann), Jacqui Magno, Tillie Moreno and Pat Castillo. For the Ambivalent Crowd, notable members included Nan Clavecilla, Celeste Legaspi, Cynthia Patag, and Pol Enriquez. And yes, Pinky Marquez, prior to joining Music Making Company, was with the Ambivalent Crowd (not sure if Dale Adriatico was also part of Ambivalent)...

These bands mostly did covers of top tracks back in the 70's - from the Friends of Distinction to the Hues Corporation. The distinction of the bands in the 70's to the contemporary bands that we have now is very significant as the past bands focused more on the melodic and rhythm elements of the song coupled with voice harmony and soothe blending...

[Jay P. Mercado]

^ And a song penned by Little David even made the finals of the revived Metropop

I forgot the title of that track, it's in my I-POD so I'll try to check it out later. But this track, a duet by Zebedee Zuñiga and a lady whose name I also forget, was given heavy airplay by K-Lite sometime in the late 90's especially since its composer, L'll David, was the program director of the station back then...

I'll try to supply the list of winners of the Metropop Fest in the Marcos days later as I have all the CD's with me from the initial staging in 1978 to 1985. The Metropop, a project of then KBP President Teodoro "Doroy" Valencia (the then Daily Express columnist), didn't push through after the Edsa Revolution.

Here's what I can recall though (will edit this when I get home):

1978 - Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika - composed by Ryan Cayabyab and interpreted by Hajji Alejandro
1979 - Bulag, Pipi At Bingi - composed and interpreted by Freddie Aguilar
1980 - Isang Mundo, Isang Awit - composed by Nonong Pedero and interpreted by Leah Navarro.
1981 - there were two divisions already (amateur and professional) Tunay Na Baliw won the amateur division as interpreted by Mon Del Rosario
1982 - "Pain" composed by Alvina Sy and interpreted by Martin Nievera won in the amateur division while Something Special's "Babae Ka" won in the professional division

More to come...

[baludoy]

"the thoughts i have of you i treasure. the good times and the bad i hold forevermore..." di ba ito iyong lyrics ng pain as interpreted by then newbie martin nievera? wasn't this the first of many collaborations of louie ocampo and martin?

i do hope somebody revives the manila pop fest again

[Jay P. Mercado]

Baludoy,

Martin Nievera and Louie Ocampo had many collaborations, including one that won the Metropop Festival sometime in the early 2000's. Reports have it that GMA 7 specifically invited Ocampo and Nievera to take part in the Metropop and lend prestige to the annual competitions. Alas, this turned out to be the last festival sponsored by the network.

"Pain" wasn't composed by Ocampo. It was done by then amateur composer Alvina Eileen Sy and won the grand prize in the 6th Metropop Festival amateur division. Here's the complete list of winners from 1978 to 1985.

1978 - Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika - composed by Ryan Cayabyab and interpreted by Hajji Alejandro

1979 - Bulag, Pipi At Bingi - composed by Snaffu Rigor and interpreted by Freddie Aguilar

1980 - Isang Mundo, Isang Awit - composed by Nonong Pedero and interpreted by Leah Navarro.

1981 - there were two divisions already (amateur and professional) Tunay Na Baliw won the amateur division as interpreted by Mon Del Rosario from a composition by Elizabeth Barcelona; in the professional division, Something Special won with Babae Ka as composed by Ananias Montano.

1982 - Vehnnie Saturno's "Isang Dakot" as interpreted by Sonia Singson (horrible song) won in the professional division while Bernardita Lui Pio and Nonoy Tan composed the winning piece "Kahit La La La...Pwede Na" by Champoy duo Subas Herrero and Noel Trinidad in the amateur division

1983 - Pain by Alvina Sy and sung by Nievera won in the amateur division while Odette Quesada's "Till I Met You" performed by Kuh Ledesma won in the pro division. Tidbit: "Be My Lady" popularized by Nievera, actually participated in this particular Metropop although it was sang by Pedritto Montaire, a singer from the province. It was so poorly sang that Saturno's epic composition only became popular when Nievera took over the handle. Another trivia, Quesada in the previous year was part of the amateur division and won 2nd place behind "Isang Dakot" with the piece "Give Me A Chance" by Ric Segreto.

1984 - Gary Granada's "Salamat, Salamat Musika" interpreted by Nanette Inventor won in the professional division while Rene Novelles' "A Smile In Your Heart" interpreted by Jam Morales won in the amateur division.

1985 - this one I couldn't remember at all. I'm trying to figure out if Odette Quesada's "You're My Home" or Alvina Sy's "Pag-Asa Ng Mundo" interpreted by Ivy Violan won in the pro division. In the amateur division, I absolutely had no idea...although Lea and Gerard salonga actually joined this competition, performing Tess Concepcion's "Musika, Lata, Sipol At La La La."

The L'il David track I was referring to earlier is "Out In The Open." I forgot the name of the female artist but I'm sure the guy in the duet is Zebedee Zuniga, younger brother of balladeer Nonoy...

[Anhedonia]

Thanks for this great thread, guys.

Dindi, I recognize you from the Acquired Taste thread. Heard from our resident guru - Groucho recently? I sent him a personal message to get back on line but have not heard from him since. He sure will probably like to be in this forum although on second thoughts, I am not sure. Parang ibang level sya when it comes to music listening. Hopw we can revive that thread again to lure him back to write.

Thanks for the jazz discussions, mga cabalen. I am into lite jazz myself kasi di ko masyadong type ang mainstream jazz - don't shoot me jazz purists, just telling things as it is for me. I like Tuck & Patti, Workshy, EBTG, SOS, Spyro Gyra, ManTran, Sade, Al Jarreau, Earl Klugh, David Benoit, Dave Grusin, Basia, Anita Baker, etc. My iPod has all of my favorite tracks from their albums.

Ako gusto ko rin yung bossa nova jazz pero aside from Sitti, Sofia and Agot who put out bossa nova albums in Manila, I don't know any other singers. I am excited to know there are other artists being featured. It sure did open the floodgates for more artists to come out. What I object is the over-reliance on this type of genre by the local record producers kasi maraming profits silang makukuha. Sana wag gawing baduy at kasuka-suka. Pero if it makes more people like music, mas maganda.

I am also a City Lite 88.3 baby when I was in Metro Manila. I like the music that they play pati na rin yung New Age music nina William Ackerman, George Winston, Jim Chappell, Scott Cossu, etc. Sayang at wala ng ganun dyan. Dito sa UK andaming smooth jazz stations na gusto ko.

Salamat na rin sa mga posting on Metropop -- brings back memories.

Keep up this thread, friends.

[dindi]

^ Hahaha I recognize you from there, too! Mukhang busy si Groucho sa school. Ibang lebel talaga sya.

Jay: Yup, Out in the Open nga. It's pretty cute

[StJames]

Wonder which song copied which. Martin Nievera's 'Pain' & Dan Siegel's 'Great Expectations' both have the same intro.

[baludoy]

^exactly! i thought i was the only one who had that thought because i'm pretty sure i heard an instrumental piece similar to pain before. i just had no idea what's the title and who the artist of that said piece is

miss dindi: ano na balita sa mga cd ng citylite? may nadampot ka na bang tidbit about that?

[JeremyA]

what what what??? you want me to edit it? fine.

by the way, i just thought i'd share coz..



sheesh

Relax, bud I was just playin'. Wasn't really trying to be all high and mighty by shutting out other musical forms. I just have some frustrations with certain artists, or to a certain extent, some labels and record producers.

Seriously, I've listened to some tracks on the cd already through M1. Voice quality is silky smooth alright, but as I've said in a previous post, my only gripe is that the producers again have relied on old, sure-hit staples to ensure the artist's success, profit-wise. (He has only one original OPM track, and the rest are all foreign covers.) Although I do understand that it is a business, it definitely stunts the musical growth of its audience.

Bossa and samba have been great influences to very great musicians. Hell, even the late, great Charlie Byrd flirted with bossa. But to deprive an audience and the metro market, already captivated by Bossa Nova's charm (a million thanks to Starbucks, of course) an opportunity to grow by churning out all these mediocre albums, is very dissapointing, to say the least.

For whatever it's worth, my apologies go out to you if I've made you feel uncomfortable in any way with that post.

[baludoy]

i was listening to my burnt (or is it burned?) copy of the kazu matsui project's "standing on the outside" the other day and it brought back a lot of memories of my davao stopover hahaha pero astig pa din talaga vocals ni robben ford dun. kuyaw gihapon!

[baludoy]

well surprise surprise. i just heard mandy moore singing in jay leno's show awhile ago and i was pleasantly awe struck. i think she just made a career move and now she's switching genres. her "new" sound is much like a julie eigenberg-kevyn lettau hybrid (if you can call it that). i must say her latest tune was actually very pleasant to the ears

[dindi]

^ Really? That's interesting. I personally didn't like what she did to one of my favorite Joe Jackson songs...

[baludoy]

she did? i haven't heard that cover of hers yet. sama ba talaga?

[dindi]

^ Para sa kin, oo, e. Breaking Us in Two pa talaga yung pinili nya... tsk, tsk Wala pa pala akong chika re: CT's library. Bukas makikita ko si ex-CT DJ. Itatanong ko.

[baludoy]

ok din naman pala ang 106.7 dream fm. lately, i've been tuning into them more frequently

[dindi]

^ Oo naman. Dalawa na lang talaga ang pagpipilian ngayon, 'no? I still miss City Lite.

[baludoy]

oo nga. no jazz station here still comes close to them.saan ba station ng dream fm?

[dindi]

^ Sa studios ng ABC 5 in Novaliches po

[baludoy]

ang layo pala ng station nila

[dindi]

Anyone else here who loves David Sanborn's Love Will Come Someday? Wala... narinig ko lang and I thought it's such a beautiful song