(Part 2)
Jaclyn Rose
Jaclyn Rose reminded me of Nina Simone, a jazz singer with classical training and soulful voice. She sang Ain’t No Sunshine, a classic Bill Withers song, performed Afro-Cuban style. Dearly Beloved, is a jazz standard, written by Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer, with musical arrangements done by her. Another original written and arranged by Jaclyn is Kick It, which will be on her next CD that she is currently recording.
The audience loved The Flipside, another original song written and arranged by Jaclyn Rose. “The band traded on their 8 measures, where each musician got to solo for 8 measures and it went around the band a few times during the song… the musician order of the solos was planned although no one knew what each musician was gonna play, that was unplanned,” Rex Sampaga shared.
“Did you notice during the solos, the bass player (Andrew Ford) played the bass-line for a Stevie Wonder song called, I Wish and then when it came time for the keyboardist solo (Gregg Karukas), he answered back with a few bars of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition? That was unplanned, just the “planned” spontaneity and what jazz is all about…AND this was the song that both Jaclyn and Michael Paulo were doing their synchronized dancing to,” he added.
By now, the audience is primed and more than ready to get to the headliner, Grammy Award Winner Pauline Wilson. Not quite, as Michael Paulo and his band played One Passion. This song was the title track from Michael’s CD of the same name.
Originally recorded by MCA Records, One Passion became a top ten hit on contemporary/NAC charts. Michael literally got transformed to a bunny who skipped, jumped, and even leaped up in the air to play his sax, interacting with the audience, his brand of creative, soul-ful excellence when he and his band played Bumpin.
By now, the audience had waited long enough. Pauline Wilson gave a perfect yet subdued, pitch-perfect, words-clear performance. Never Let Me Go, Good Morning Heartache, Rio de Janeiro Blues (a song popularized by Randy Crawford) and the audience’s favorite Deeper and Deeper, written by keyboardist Gregg Karukas. This was an instrumental song, originally titled Our Love, which appears on Gregg’s CD: Key Witness.
You could feel the depths of her emotions as she sang this song.
Finally, a Chaka Khan medley of What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me and Ain’t Nobody got the audience to dance, first two, the first was Marissa Castro-Salvati, former Board chair of SIPA, then, four, and then a whole aisle of folks, until the entire audience stood up and danced till the last tune was played. “Nicole and Jaclyn traded off singing verses on the first song. Then Pauline took the encore to another level with Ain’t Nobody, another favorite Chaka Khan song, which is such a natural fit for Pauline to sing,” said Rex Sampaga.
Before I end my review, let me pay homage to the A-list band who accompanied these Filipina women of Jazz.
Michael Paulo’s A-list band was off the charts in musical genius. Gregg Karukas, keyboardist, has been nominated best keyboardist at Oasis Contemporary Jazz awards, and released dozen solo CDs. When you watch him play, the notes blend with his fingers, and out comes a smile of contentment as he deftly plays. He is self-contained, and self-energized, yet, one with the band.
Land Richards on drums, performed with A-list musicians, the likes of George Benson, Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Boney James, Stevie Nicks and Earth, Wind and Fire. He is credited as part of Jasper,“ a high energy, funkified, smooth jazz band that played at Redlands, Whiskey Creek in the mid to late 80’s. Jasper gave birth to Gerald Albright, James Raymond and Michael Paulo,” according to Nedra Myricks.
When I watched him, his music flowed like water cascading gently to meet an oozing spring. He simply went with each rhythm, giving his all, as he enjoyed each moment, giving of his pleasure and joy, vibrating with every part and skin of his drums, as if fused with his hands and feet.
Andrew Ford is not only a bass player, but a composer and a producer who has worked with Gladys Knight, Al Jarreau, Whitney Houston, Chaka Kan, David Crosby, Graham Nash, saxists Kirk Whalum and Boney James, The Emotions, Patti Austin, James Ingram.
Finally, but not least, “Fred Schreuders, is a long-time friend and touring guitarist for Michael Paulo. They go way back, even to the days when Michael was with the Hawaiian pop group, Kalapana,” said Rex. He too displayed his prowess, his own brand of guitar excellence!
“We were creating a hole right in the middle of the music that allowed the soloist to stand there out in the open. We also simplified the music, directing all of the attention to the soloist. The sax player was standing there in the middle of the musical vacuum, and the audience had to take notice. They really did. The whole audience stopped what they were doing and started listening to the saxophone solo. It was brilliant. “
That was Victor L. Wooten, the Carlos Castaneda of music in 2006; in 2011, these are the producers of PAE Live’s Ted Benito and Rex Sampaga, the A-list band, and Michael Paulo himself, accompanying Nicole, Jaclyn Rose and Pauline who are luminous in their center-stage performances! Excellence to the nth power is fast becoming PAE Live!’s brand!
(Photos by Hydee Ursolino Abrahan)
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