Break..break..

Greetings from Lion City.. going wireless in Starbucks now..

So..

Just taking a little break from work in KL, and just wanted to get out of town. Feeling quite stressed with work and all, so it's always nice just to get out, even if it's to another city.

Singapore is usually my multiple-trip holiday place, especially if I want to be out of KL for a couple of days. So, I come here a few times a year. For me, it's a great place to hang out, with a slightly different music scene, and usually quite a welcoming one, too. It's always refreshing to see a different group of musicians playing, and for most part, the level of musicianship is generally much higher here, so it's always a challenge to play with some of these guys.

Oh yeah, Singapore's a real nice place to shop, too... I've already got some nice stuff here, which you would usually get at a premium in KL...just got a nice pair of Croc slippers for about S$54... a nice pair of AKG mini headphones... The World According to John Coltrane DVD.. some jazz CDs you can't find in KL... and still shopping.. LOL!

On another note..

I just read that Joe Zawinul passed away yesterday!! Man, that's really sad news... he was one of the pioneers of the jazz fusion front, being one of the main members in Miles Davis' band, Cannonball Adderley's band (Joe wrote Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by the way), and of course Weather Report. Even his own band, Zawinul Syndicate, pushed the musical boundaries in the jazz spectrum, incorporating different rhythms from different parts of the world.

This is truly a sad year for music...

Rest in peace, Joe!

Here's a nice Youtube vid of Joe with his Zawinul Syndicate band, featuring Kenny Garrett.