“With all the brilliance and fire of a true virtuoso…warm, sensitive, exciting, and totally honest.” –Marian McPartland describing Ingrid Jensen, a jazz artist.
Ingrid Jensen’s attributes fit Mon David to a T, as a jazz singer. Mon made a new arrangement of ‘Feelin Good’, a Leslie Bicusse/Anthony Newley piece, first introduced by the great Nina Simone.
If you recall the sultry, soulful voice of Nina Simone, consider likewise Mon David, a virtuoso. When he sang, folks marveled at his expressive singing, his well-enunciated words, and his perfect pitch. When was scatted, the question is—is he now mimicking the piano or the saxophone? Clearly, it was not the saxophone, as Noel Lopez got the audience’s attention while playing his saxophone. We kept waiting for his solos on his sax.
Mon’s scat singing did the same, for his improvised melodies and rhythms are equally commanding. Few compare to the level of virtuosity that Mon David displays, who is not content with what he has mastered, and constantly evolves himself to make new arrangements, to give him new heights to his performance, such that his performance seems fresh and refreshing. Not refreshment, but like the flow of living water to replenish one’s soul.
Mon still recalls his experience of singing to a 92-year-old woman, his wife’s patient, in her living room. That experience taught him “the real purpose of making, performing music, singing songs and transforming listeners through beautiful words and melodies is human connection, it is intimacy and in turn, [communicating one’s] honesty and clarity of purpose,” as a singer and as a human being.
When Mon sang “Straighten Up and Fly Right”, written by Nat King Cole and Irving Mills, a new arrangement he did, he intended to “achieve that clarity and almost natural sound of the human voice (which Mon considers his ‘first’ instrument) when performing and communicating. In the end, it’s about “conveying feelings, messages and words in the clearest possible way,” he said.
Another new arrangement, ‘The Windmills of Your Mind” created by Michel Legrand and Alan and Marilyn Bergman for the film “Thomas Crown Affair,” was flawlessly sung by Mon.
With or without the sounds of instruments accompanying the singer, Mon’s songs became an intimacy, aptly the concert title.
On Lirio Vital and Chris Arredondo
Chris did the opening number and his second song, “Pictures” (Chris’ original composition) worked for the audience, as they rocked side to side, and stomped their feet to his catchy guitar tunes. Chris also did a duet with his mother, lirio Vital, to sing “The Prayer.”
Lirio Vital’s “Bukas na lang Kita Mamahalin,” another virtuoso singer, earned enduring bravos. Her medley included crowd favorite’s “Ako’y Pobreng Alindahaw.” Aruy, aruy, aruy, aruy/Ania si bulak sa mga kahidlaw/Aruy, aruy, aruy, aruy/Aruy, aruy, di ka maluoy/Ning probreng alindahaw. (Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch/ Like flowers for the one who yearns/ Ouch, ow, ouch, ouch/ Ouch, ouch, don’t be sorry/ For this poor dragonfly).
When she sang “Sa Libis ng Nayon”—a song from the countryside, where life is much slower, unlike the urban cities and popularized by the Mabuhay Singers—it was as if she was planting rice, pacing well, long enough for us to appreciate every lyric and every word.
This is our first time to appreciate Lirio Vital, but we dare say she is a showstopper in how she connects with the audience but also in how she expresses every note and every lyric of her songs at a pacing we truly enjoyed. Her son was not too far, but clearly demarcating his own space, as Chris Arredondo.
Ms. Djhoanna Garcia (aka Maria Grace Kocher) and Heidi Tann
Heidi Tann seemed out of sorts. Her pitches were off a few times and though she had performed in Hong Kong and Malaysia, we can hear that a masterful voice coach is sorely needed.
At times, Heidi appeared as if she was half-heartedly performing, and then, as if to reverse her ambivalence, she speaks to the crowd about being overseas.
But my golly, when Djhoanna Garcia belted out “I am What I am’/I am My own Special Creation/So come take a look/Give me the hook”, there was no mistaking she belonged on stage not just as a producer, but as a masterful singer too.
A special mention of Noel Lopez, a very talented saxophonist and keyboardist who accompanied the singers, along with Roey Venturina, another keyboardist. When Noel played, it felt like we all stopped breathing, not wanting to miss a note he played on his sax. Intimacy would have worked better had there been a well-attuned sound engineer who understood sound balance to bring out more of the singing voices and to balance them with the proficient band players, namely Ed Evidente (bass), Ronnie Villanueva (drums) and Lally Parcon and Mayette Olarte (back-up vocals).
This writer wants to attend more of Djhoanna’s concerts as she has a commanding voice but also, she loves performing and the audience loved her back with their bravos. Djhoanna was magic and power combined! There was intimacy achieved with most of the artists.