By Terence Lim
Singapore International Jazz Festival, or SingJazz as it is known, was held on March 5 – 8 2015 at Marina Bay Sands. Over 4 nights, international jazz names such as Jessie J and the Jazz Blue Brothers played live under the stars to crowds of music lovers.
When we think of jazz music, particularly in Singapore, we don’t usually think of it as a large scale event right smack in the middle of one of the most luxurious places, Marina Bay Sands! Sing Jazz 2015, or Singapore International Jazz Festival, was organised by Orbis Festival Productions and supported by the Java Jazz Club. Kicking the festival off in style, the Gala night was quite an event to remember, with Anita Kapoor on stage as our host for the night and showing the crowd how a jazz concert is supposed to be.
Gala Night
The night started off with Melissa Tham performing one of her well known songs, “Detour”, before being presented the award for Sing Jazz emerging vocalist of the year by Minister Mr Lawrence Wong. Richard Bona and his band were next to bring the audience bopping to sweet uplifting rhythms, drum beats and excellent trumpet medley. The highlight of the night was of course Chaka Khan – the audience went wild even before she arrived on stage. Singing her favourite classics like “Ain’t Nobody” and “Through the Fire”, these had the audiences tapping away and up on their feet, grooving to beat; oh what smooth jazz is supposed to be! With a wonderful and supporting crowd, and awesome artistes on stage, such as Chaka Khan and her band, they definitely set the mood for the 3 days of Sing Jazz that was to come as well as ending the show with a bang, making it one event that would have been a shame to miss for any jazz lover.
Day 2
The line-up for Day 2 was just as impressive, and most of us who came early were lucky to catch a few of the bands going through sound check. Charlie Lim and the Mothership and Indra Lesmana started setting the mood for the day before leading up to the international ensemble Snarky Puppy who played their hit songs such as “Amour T’es La” and “I’m Not The One” in which fans got on their feet and started grooving along to what was definitely one of their favourite bands playing for the night.
The main highlight of the night was of course the very wonderful Jessie J, who appeared on stage with an awesome T-shirt with “Singapore” labelled on it. Singing fan favourites such as “Domino” and “Bang Bang”, she rocked the crowd and brought the night to a end on a high with her powerful performance that leaves everyone just yearning for more and very much looking forward to what Day 3 had to offer.
(images by Terence Lim)
