Thai jazz and bossa nova band Mellow Motif played an intimate evening performance at Siam Paragon’s Siam Pavalai Royal Grand Theatre last Sunday evening. The show called on the American jazz spirit in an effort to celebrate the month of love.
The Mellow Motif Plays Jazz for Lovers Concert kicked off with smooth vocal, piano tunes of lead singer Natasha Patamapongs and Japanese jazz pianist Yuki Makita. The duo’s rendition of Richard Rodgers’s “My Romance” served as a perfect appetizer to pique the audience’s appetite for music. Most of those in attendance came in pairs.
“People are so romantic back in the day,” said Natasha, while waiting for her band mates to take their marks. “It is a shame that they don’t write songs like this anymore.”
Comprised of double bass, drums, guitar and trumpet, the band accompanied Natasha and Yuki as they plied the audience with the slow, thick groove of Victor Young’s “My Foolish Heart.” It was followed by the medium-swing of George Gershwin’s “But Not For Me,” and “Birds of Paradise,” an original composition by Yuki herself.
Right after Yuki concluded the last note of the fourth song on her keyboard, she was put the colored spotlight on, signifying the start of the next ballad. The lighting switch coincided with Natasha’s speech, underlining that the selection of love songs in this concert embraced every aspect of the emotion.
“I just want to make sure that this concert isn’t filled with only soap opera kind of love,” grinned Natasha, referring to the cliché happy ending often portrayed by TV melodramas.
Yuki introduced the next song with a long piano solo before Natasha hummed, “I’ve an awful feeling,” the first phrase of Carl Fischer and Bill Carey’s “You’ve Changed.”
The lead vocalist then proceeded with Meredith Willson’s “Till There Was You” in the new arrangement, which she dedicated to her deceased mother. Beginning with a guitar solo, American jazz singer Richard Jackson emerged from the back of the hall. He walked down the aisle and joined in a duet with Natasha onstage.
But the highlight of the night for me was a beautiful rendition of Johnny Mandel’s celebrated “The Shadow of Your Smile” by the gifted, Ohio-born Jackson. His talent became evident when, mid-song, he began to perfectly imitate the sound of a trumpet with his mouth. Jackson came back to the stage in the second half of the show. He sang along with famous Thai saxophonist Koh Mr. Saxman in renditions of Victor Young’s “When I Fall in Love” and Jerome Kern’s “I Won’t Dance.”
In spite of the only half-full arena, enthusiasm from the crowd of jazz aficionados overwhelmed the room throughout the three-hour-long set. Audience members left satisfied thanks to Mellow Motif’s ability to deliver such a harmonious, high-caliber performance.
Mellow Motif is not new to regional jazz lovers, as the group has played at many renowned jazz festivals throughout Asia and earlier released two albums with Warner Music in 2009 and 2010. This time around, the line-up of guest musicians, coupled with an aptly arranged program of 16 songs, has once again proven the band’s worth. It came as no surprise to me to spot a long queue of fans waiting for the band’s autographs after the concert.
Trumpet solo by Mellow Motif vine.co/v/br0xl97qYwD
— Praj Kiatpongsan (@PrajKPS) February 17, 2013
