Pinoy guitarist jams with US jazz stars

Although many Filipino musicians dream of catering to an international audience and making it big in the American music scene, few are actually blessed to do so. But one Pinoy musician’s dream has been fulfilled, as jazz guitarist Johnny Alegre has been granted collaborates with two of America’s iconic musicians.

The 54-year old Alegre recently recorded “3,” an album which had the Filipino joining forces with ex-Quest members Ron McClure (bassist) and Billy Hart (drummer), both luminaries in the US and global jazz scene.

“Everything fell into place especially when I learned that Ron and Billy were available to record,” Alegre said. “Record label MCA will distribute and promote the album. Anybody who could help was there when needed.”

Alegre calls “3” either his ‘rock-iest’ or ‘un-jazziest’ album because the tracks here can be appreciated by fans of either genre.

Alegre who is a product of the University of the Philippines College of Music in the latter 1970s, studied composition and became a founding member of the U.P. Jazz Ensemble.

He studied with the jazz educator, Dr. Joseph Howard, and participated in creative workshops conducted by musicologist-composer Erhard Karkoshka, guitarist Ike Isaacs and composer-scholar Chou Wen-chung.

Over the years, before this big break, he had held shows and released albums (under Candid Records) in the UK, and also performed in the US.

“It was incredible to have played before a mixed crowd in Hollywood,”
Alegre says of his US stint. “Everyone was so appreciative and supportive.”

A write-up published by the Los Angeles Times compared Alegre’s performance to those by Pat Metheny and Gabor Szabo. Alegre hopes for this accolade to serve as impetus for the US release of his albums.

Alegre was involved in scores of bands and studio recording sessions, spanning more than twenty years of Philippine jazz and popular music history and discography, both as a musician and record producer. In May 2002, Johnny Alegre formed Manila’s premier jazz group, the Johnny Alegre Affinity, with bassist Colby de la Calzada, drummer Koko Bermejo, pianist Elhmir Saison and saxophonist Tots Tolentino. Their first recorded work, “Stones Of Intramuros”, written by Alegre, was included in the limited edition Philippine jazz anthology CD, Adobo Jazz Vol.1, which caught the attention of the jazz record company, Candid Records. Subsequently, the self-titled album, Johnny Alegre AFFINITY was released in the Philippines in mid-2005 and was re-released in the UK as Jazzhound, capped by two sold-out engagements in London’s PizzaExpress Jazz Club with guest saxophonist, Dimitri Vassilakis.

As part of the ever-evolving cultural landscape in Asia-Pacific, Johnny Alegre’s musical projects contribute greatly to an emerging and vibrant jazz milieu. The greater part of 2006 and early 2007 engaged Alegre and AFFINITY before a large and ambitious work, Eastern Skies, an album of original compositions set to the symphonic backdrop of the Global Studio Orchestra conducted by Gerard Salonga. The project was released in 2008 by Candid Records (Philippines) as the long-awaited response to the clamor from fans for even more innovative music from the Manila jazz “superband”.

Lets wish him all the best, in this breakthrough trio recording in which the guitarist-composer is joined by world-renowned American jazz musicians, Billy Hart (drums) and Ron McClure (bass) released by MCA Music (Universal Music Group}, entitled “Johnny Alegre 3″.