JAVA JAZZ FESTIVAL

Jakarta, Indonesia

March 1- March 8, 2010

Being in a third world country reminded me how fortunate we are to
live in a place with so many amenities. Simple things like drinking
water and air conditioning can easily be taken for granted. Being on
the other side of the world helped me to realize how blessed we are.

I also found that the Indonesian fans were completely sweet and
embraced our culture. It helped me to look past the facet of judging
a book by its cover. To be honest, at first I had no idea how the
crowd would respond to our jazz, but I was so pleasantly surprised
that they loved it!! There were so many people- too numerous to
count. And the faces were happy and glowing!!! I was extremely
thankful for the opportunity to travel and perform music with so many
wonderful colleagues in Indonesia!! It felt like a HUGE family
Reunion, a place where we all got to sit, mingle, eat, and JAM of
course!! The jam sessions lasted well into the wee hours of the
night- until the sun rose!!! And boy did we JAM! It brought me
back to my college days at USC where we played standards all night long…I
especially enjoyed jamming with trumpeters Maurice Brown and Roy
Hargrove! They had a great spirit and the music was fun! Upon
arriving in Jakarta we were invited to a special Dinner Party at the
US Embassy.

On our time off we had the pleasure of touring Indonesia’s “M’ block
– its like a Market where you can buy ANYTHING!! LOL

I enjoyed meeting the people and even got a great deal on this
Curling iron/Hair Straightener, for real!!

Then we walked through the streets and greeted some families on their
Motorcycles! In Indonesia Jazz Musicians are like Rock stars- so we
stopped to take a few pics with these friendly people at the
department store. J

The highlight of my trip was definitely the Performance-
The crowd was standing room only; everyone was shoulder-to-shoulder
just to get in ear full of Jazz!!

The “Sax Divas” let them have it…. we were tight and right on- we
laughed and had a good ole time!

On our time off my favorite activities was…SPA TIME!!! The
Indonesians sure do know how to do an awesome CREAM BATH. Basically
it’s offered at all Spa and Hair salons. It’s a one hour treatment
where they deep wash your hair, do a conditioning treatment and
massage your scalp, head, shoulders back and arms…it’s absolutely
fabulous!!! I LOVE CREAM BATH!!! I got one almost everyday!!! One of the
other amenities that I really enjoyed was the beautiful, enormous
swimming pool at our hotel!!

Pics:
The Sax Divas

Jammin with Maurice Brown Effect

Peter Gontha

Paul Dankmeyer

Eric Benet

At the Embassy

Department Store

Block M

curling Iron

Hanging out!!

Roy Hargrove

Blu

Our Awesome hotel and POOL!!!

Luv ya~~

Wishing you all the best always~

Un Beso gransde!!

Luv,
Jessy