Experiencing Improvisation with Audiences

Jay & Gatra Wardaya will be back on stage on April 30, 2015. The band joins the global celebration of the International Jazz Day 2015 (will be held in Paris). We are going to perform at Auditorium IFI-LIP (Institut Français Indonesia/Lembaga Indonesia Prancis), Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with surprise for the audiences.

We will explore one of the key elements in jazz music; improvisation. Based on Cambridge Dictionaries Online, improvisation has two meanings; (1) a performance that an actor, musician, etc. has not practised or planned, and (2) the act of making or doing something with whatever is available at the time.

According to Derek Bailey, the author of Improvisation; Its Nature and Practice in Music, "Improvisation is always changing and adjusting, never fixed, too elusive for analysis and precise description; essentially non-academic." Johannes Bergmark, an improviser, implied that improvisation is the oldest form of music according to Bailey's note, "The first music had to be freely improvised". I'm of the opinion that every sketch, singing, and all of new creation is improvised, at least for the first phase of creating.

From time to time since the birth of jazz, improvisation is one of the important elements that has been able to develop many kinds of style and form in jazz music, from Original Dixieland Jass Band, Count Basie Orchestra, Django Reinhardt, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, to Bubi Chen, Maryono, Jack Lesmana, Dewa Budjana, Riza Arshad, and so forth.

In fact, improvisation exists not only in jazz, but also in other music such as Baroque, Indian music, Karawitan, African music, and so many. Improvisation also happens and become a necessity in other fusion, intermedia, and experimental works nowadays.

It is amazing when we realize that almost all kinds of music in the world have this element. In my opinion, it implies two things; (1) improvisation is the nature factor in music and (2) improvisation has taken part to the development of music.

When improvisation happens in different place with different cultures, the music will be different. For that reason, Jay & Gatra Wardaya will not only use common idiom in jazz but also will offer other approaches to audiences to create music and have fun with that.

Through improvisation, we also want to encourage the audiences to rethink about the concept of music since the music industry in Indonesia is going downward in a matter of quality and almost doesn't have a purpose for diversity.

So, are you ready to experience improvisation with Jay & Gatra Wardaya?