The end..

HAPPY PEOPLE QUINTET @ BANGKOK JAZZ

The Happy Jazz men from KL are back..

...but unfortunately, it will be also our finale show. The last couple of years have been great with the band, but it's time for each of us to move and experience different pastures. Perhaps in the future, the band will get back together and do some really good shows! Who knows what the future holds?

The Happy People Quintet are:

JULIAN CHAN - saxophones and flute
EDDIE WEN - trumpet and flugelhorn
NAZRIN "AJ" - electric bass
CHARLES WONG - drums

(and subbing for Justin Lim and doing a fine job!)
LEONARD YEAP - piano, keyboards

I would like to thank, on behalf of the band, everyone who has come to our show and supported us, and we hope we also have shown the same for you! THANK YOU!

Thanks for the journey!

Thanks to those who came to our gig during the weekend! It was a blast, and having the chance to play with Justin again was certainly an experience! It's quite something to hear, listen, and to play with a piano player like that. Too bad it'll be a while before we get to play again.

But anyway, thanks to those who showed up at the Top Room the last two nights, thank you for your support. I'd like to express my show of thanks, on behalf of the band, and gratitude to those who have supported us in the past, by coming to our shows, saying hi, and hanging out.

I'd also like to announce, that it will be a long while before we'll be playing together again. Whether the show at The Top Room will be our last show or not, it's indefinite. But I'm quite sure that it will be a long time before the Happy People Quintet will be playing together again. It certainly has been a blast playing the gigs we did for the last couple of years. But I guess it's that time, where each of us are heading in different directions, our goals diverged, our priorities shift. Things change, and it is the natural order of things.

It's not the end, for sure. But whether or not we'll ever get to that point where we're making music together on a deeper level, remains to be seen. But we'd look forward to it, I'm sure.

As for me personally, it had been great. Thanks to the amazing musicians that made it happen: Eddie, Justin, AJ, and Charles.

Don't worry, you'll still be seeing us around, for sure. You'll still get to see these amazing musicians in and around town, playing for different people and different bands.

Till the next time...

This weekend: We're back @ The Top Room!!

Hey guys, just to remind y'all again, we're back once again in the Top jazz club in town.. the Top Room this weekend to rock your senses! And as I've mentioned in the last post, we've got all the original members of the band playing as well, with Justin back for summer break for a few weeks!

So, if you've followed us in the past, it's a good time to check us out again, with the original band setup!

HAPPY PEOPLE QUINTET @ THE TOP ROOM

And as the ad says, we'll be guest-featuring, the soulful, effervescent Junji Delfino, on vocals!

The Happy People Quintet are:

Julian Chan - saxophones and flute
Eddie Wen - trumpet and flugelhorn
Justin Lim - piano and keyboards
Nazrin "AJ" Nasir - electric bass, electric upright bass
Charles Wong - drums

and

Junji Delfino - vocals

We'll be playing a rich fusion of straight-ahead and contemporary forms of jazz, with works from the hardbop sounds of Jackie McLean, Horace Silver, to the contemporary masters such as John Scofield, Bob Mintzer and The Yellowjackets, and more. To add spice to the dish, Junji will be performing tunes to the likes of Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, to Dusty Springfield.

So, save your weekend for us, and you'll expect nothing but one of the best music in town, in the best jazz joint in town!

We'll be playing for two nights - 21 and 22 July (Friday and Saturday), cover charge is RM25++ inclusive of one drink.

Book here or call 03-21426211 to book your seats... book soon, as seats are limited!

See ya all there! And don't be a stranger and come say hi to the band!

SUPPORT LIVE JAZZ IN KL!!

Gigs coming up!

Okay, I've been trying to get some gigs with Justin now that he's back (looks like we're not the only flers who wants a piece of him..LOL!). So here's one confirmed one - it's gonna be at The Top Room @ Top Hat on July 21, 22. That's about over a month from now. However we're not sure if it'll involve ALL of the original cats, one or two of us might not be available those dates. But the gig is on.. so watch out for it!

I know it's been pretty quiet for us for the last couple of weeks. One of the drawbacks of not getting regular bookings is that each individual would be booked for other gigs for other people. Which is good, of course. Means there's business for each of us!

But anyway, just to fill up this space a little, I'll just write some shorties about what we've been up to, some of us:

Charles..

I guess he's been quite busy with a lot of functions and gigs, like most of us as well. I have to say, we don't get to see much of him, except during gigs and rehearsals for gigs. Married life mah, what can we say?

AJ..

He's busy completing his rock band, Popshuvit's latest album. The last I heard they're gonna send it to Japan for mixing, or mastering, or something, I can't recall. Other than that, seems our confused bassist cum drummer has been gigging quite a bit as well. You'll catch him these days playing with Greg Lyons and Friends (aka MezzaJazz) at Mezzanotte Restaurant, Asian Heritage Row, off Jalan Sultan Ismail. Either that, or it's with Farid Ali aka Mr. Gambus at some of his gigs in and around town. Either that or it's baby-making... *tsk tsk tsk*

Justin..

Since he's been back, it's the usual of meeting up with old friends, bandmates, hanging out with family, and of course, his girlfriend. Sorry ladies.. but some of us are still available, thanks for asking!! He's lost weight than when he first left, which he attributed to not enough good food in the US (read: no late night mamak sessions!). Our food here was so good, our poor sap got food poisoning the first week he was in town!

As I mentioned before, so many of us wants a "piece" of him, he's already getting busy getting booked for gigs, jazz AND non-jazz. He'll be playing with GruvAvenue for the Sunrise Jazz Fest coming up sometime soon, with us in Top Room of course (and possibly some other places, tbc), and even an underground Acoustic/singer-songwriter gig at No Black Tie on the 14 and 15 of July. And you'll also find him subbing a little at Mezzanotte with Greg Lyons and Friends, too!

Eddie..

Eddie's been playing a quite a bit as well these couple of months. Which is great I must say. He's playing like a madman these days!!! Check him out! Some of the stuff he's involved with lately are the Jonathan Lee World Tour, this band, The KL Hardbop Band, David Gomes band, and he finished a three-night blues gig with Jamie Wilson at Backyard Pub and No Black Tie last weekend! Check him out at his website for some updates from the horses mouth!

Eddie will be going to Dhaka, Bangaladesh, with me and Kevin Choo to do Mia Palencia's Swinging Down To Business show for last weekend of this month.

Julian..

Well, some of the more regular things I'm busy with is teaching, for one. Got some private students, and I'm also teaching part time saxophone private instruction at University College Sedaya International (UCSI) at Cheras. Other than that, I've also been involved some of the same gigs Eddie's involved in, the Jonathan Lee tour, The KL Hardbop band, David Gomes, and lately with Sharizan, and of course several short projects I'm trying to work on.

Sharizan has recently launched his second album called Timeless, a collection of standards from Frank Sinatra and then some more. It was a live recording at Avanti's Restaurant, of which I was involved on saxophone.

Other than that I'll be playing with Eddie and my mentor Thomas, along with the David Gomes Sextet at the KL Music Festival on the July 5, so that's gonna be a fun gig for sure. Eddie, Kevin (another sax player buddy of mine, too, and damn good one!) and I are going to Dhaka, Bangaladesh, to do a show with Mia Palencia's Swinging Down to Business end of this month, so that'll be a travelling experience! I'll also be doing with John Thomas' funk group at the Sunrise Jazz Fest on Aug 4.

There'll be more updates, so do stay tune. Please do email us, if you've any questions, suggestions, and comments.

We're in the KL Hardbop Band!

Hey y'all.. the horn section for Happy People (me and Eddie) and our drummer, Charles will be part of the KL Hardbop Band this weekend at The Top Room. Come check it out.. if you've no idea what BOP is, then you don't know what jazz is.. REALLY! So come and immerse yourself with jazz music for what it is!

No Michael Buble and Rod Steward b/s. This is the real thing.

(click on link to enlarge)

THE KL HARDBOP BAND

We're bringing to you jazz music like you've probably never heard before in Malaysia (unless you've been to some of my other shows!)... Bebop, Hardbop! If you've never heard of it, you definitely don't know jazz like you think you know! We're probably the only band right now who will bring to you jazz music from the 40s to 60s (and some current ones from David).. the stuff that you never really hear! Music from Horace Silver, Jackie McLean, Cannonball Adderley, Miles, Monk and more!

Only RM 50++ for the first two drinks. Book by noon, Thursday [24th May], and get a third drink absolutely FREE!!!!

Promo ends 26th May!

Call now for reservations. Dial +603 21428611 or fax +603 21413611. You can also book by email so what are you waiting for? Make your reservations now.

===========

UPDATE:

Our pianist Justin Lim is back in KL! He's back on summer holiday from his studies in Penn State Uni, for about 3 months, I think. So on behalf of The Happy People Quintet, I wanna wish you WELCOME BACK, JUSTIN!!

I'll be arranging some gigs and hopefully he'll be playing with us once again.. HAPPY PEOPLE Reunited! So stay tuned y'all!

Happy People @ Alexis (Day 2) pics

Here are some pics from our Alexis gig on the 29 April 2006. Like I mentioned in the previous post, we sorta sucked that night, for a number of reasons as well. Among them were: tired, different line-up without rehearsals, and the place just ain't got a great vibe for some good music.

These nice hi-res pics were taken with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 camera, with 6 megapixels. Enjoy.



And some more..



Have fun!

Taiwan...

We just finished our two-night gig at Alexis Bistro. There'll be some pictures, but I'll only be able to upload them once I get back from Taiwan.

Anyway, the first night on Friday was alright, we played good - but not as energetic as the previous week at Top Room. Tonight (Saturday) however, we sucked quite a bit. Most of us sorta played badly, including myself. Can't tell if I'm tired (although I was tired AFTER the gig) or what.. but I guess it's just one of those unexplainable things. Some days are just bad! Can't have a good gig all the time, right?

Anyway, Eddie and I are off to Taiwan in a couple of hours for the Jonathan Lee Concert Tour. Charles will be back from his UK holiday sometime end of next week, and the rest of the cats, well, they're around doing something somewhere.

If we get internet access (and if Eddie brings his laptop), then we can update a little bit and maybe even put in some pictures of our trip in Taiwan. If not, we'll just see you when we get back in about 10 days or so!

Till then.. ta ta!

Thanks to those who came and stayed for our gigs at Top Room and Alexis Bistro. Thanks for the support.

We'll be playing again when we get some bookings, and we'll update you, when we do. Just a note again, if you want updated via your email inbox, please send a blank email with the header "Subscribe" or "Update Me!" to my email address at jcsax78@yahoo.com.

Thanks.. later, y'all.

Happy People meets Branford Marsalis!!

Me and Eddie met BRANFORD MARSALIS AND HIS BAND!!!!!

Can you beat that?????????? Woooooooooo hooooooooooo!!

For those of you who are jazz fans and missed this concert... YOUR LOSS!! AHahhaha.. but seriously, the show was AMAZING!! It was some serious sh*t those guys were playing, and we think they are the living embodiment of the spirit of jazz music and improvisation!

Whatever it is, I'll let the pictures do the talking!

l-r: Eddie, Bran, the fat me, Kevin

l-r: the FAT me, Eddie, and Tain

NB: I put on weight man... SH*T!!!!!!!!!!