You know, it's a nice moniker. I mean, you know,
something, you know, the good thing is I didn't
give it to myself. But now that, of course, you
know, when you're given that kind of so -called
title, you use it in your marketing, right? Of
course, yes. But I don't say, hi, I'm Jeremy
Montero, the King of Swing, and let other people
say it. I mean, of course. But it feels good,
doesn't it? I mean, just to be called the King
of Swing. I've always known you as that. is a
multifaceted musician, excelling as a pianist,
composer and vocalist. Notably, he has received
the Public Service Medal and Singapore's prestigious
Cultural Medallion. With a distinguished 49 -year
career, spanning over 8 ,000 international performances
since 1976, he has established himself as a seasoned
artist. His impressive discography comprises
50 jazz albums. with four recent releases since
2022, ranking in the USA National Jazz Week chart's
Top 50. As a Fellow of the London College of
Music and the Royal Society for the Encouragement
of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce, he also holds
a visiting professorship at the University of
West London, a position he has maintained since
2016. Currently, He serves as Executive Director
and Music Director of the Jazz Association Singapore
and co -founded the Composers and Authors Society
of Singapore or COMPASS where he acts as Chairman.
Please welcome Jeremy Montero. I remember the
first time I've met the illustrious Jeremy Montero.
You don't know that, you wouldn't know because
I was part of the guests in the hotel. it was
at Sheraton Towers a very long time ago and I
remember Tama was playing drums for you that's
right your sister Clarissa was singing yes and
you were playing of course playing the piano
yes and I sat there I think you played I think
it was two sets for two sets alone I was alone
I sat there alone and I had one latte two lattes
because I barely drink it was at night but I
barely drink so one latte two lattes after Chris,
you can't sleep tonight. But it suited me fine
because I just kept on sitting there and listening
to you guys. You know, that was the first time
I encountered you. And for some reason, somehow
I became friends with Tama. Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah,
I've not seen him in a long, long time. Yeah,
yeah. Real good guy. So it's an honor to have
you here, Jeremy. My pleasure. And to have Singapore's
King of Swing. Thank you very much. On the Chris
Hansen Conversation. Thank you very much for
being here, really. Can you take me back to your
earliest memories of music? What sparked your
passion? Well, you know, back in the early 60s,
my dad, he was a policeman, but then he also
moonlighted as a jazz guitarist and a Hawaiian
guitarist. Oh! And so... When I was about, you
know, four years old, he used to have jam sessions,
jam sessions at home. And, you know, very often,
I mean, I used to play, you know, toy pianos.
Okay. And then his friends, you know, one day
I jumped onto the Fafisa organ that he had bought.
What is that? It's an old brand of organ, kind
of a cheesy sounding organ, actually. It's a
lot of rock bands used back in the day. And I
started playing simple things with two hands.
And so my father's friends said to him, Monty,
his nickname was Monty. Monty, you should get
a piano so you can start your son on piano lessons.
So he did. They sold the Fafisa and bought a
China -made piano called a Blessing Piano. Was
that better than the Papisa? Well, yes. I mean,
but back then, the Chinese instruments were not
made very well. They're cheap, that's all. But
nowadays, they make really good instruments.
Do they? Yes, very much so. Just like the Japanese
at one point, you know, our grandparents' time,
they were... I mean, Yamaha. Yeah, nowadays,
you know, the Japanese are as good as anything
you can get in Germany. And so, the Chinese have...
They've won, actually, many piano awards in Germany.
So, beating German pianos. Wow, that's something
new to me. Yeah, so... But that time was the...
blessing piano right and it turned out to be
a big blessing in my life because that ended
up being my career and my passion and my life
and when you got started on it your dad actually
put you through lessons yes and when his friends
heard you play as a kid yeah you know you know,
screwing around in a little toy piano thing.
And then they felt that, what did they feel?
What did they feel? Did they feel that you were
prodigious? Were they your prodigy? No, I guess
they felt I was very musical, I think would be
the way, and said, oh, your son's very musical.
Not from the toy piano playing, but jumping on
the fafisa and playing with two hands. Right.
And so, yeah, after that, they started me on
piano lessons, the teacher. Miss Quek lived about
10 doors down in Pasir Panjang. I still remember
in Taman Mas Merah. And I used to go to that.
And she was a very good teacher. Right. I had
two good teachers, at least her and then later
on Mr. Tan Zee Tong when we lived in Kota Kena
Balu in Sabah. He was my most influential piano
teacher. But Ms. Quek started me right with all
the fundamentals. She got me interested in music.
She knew how to balance being strict and being
gentle and encouraging. So she went on to become
a Mrs. Kong. But I've never actually... kept
in touch with her for all those years, actually,
which I really regret. I wish I had, you know.
How old were you when you started? I started
about when I was six years old. Six years old.
Would you, looking back right now, Who Jeremy
Montero is today? Actually, I have to call you
Dr. Jeremy Montero. No, no, no. I don't have
a doctorate. I have three professorial appointments.
Okay. So, people call me prof, but you don't
have to call me prof, please. Make it more informal.
I don't have a doctorate. Okay. So, you have
three professors. Yes. So, three professorial
appointments. They're called one from Lhasa College
of Music here in Singapore, which is a lifetime
appointment. Then I have The University of West
London, London College of Music is the other
one. And then Silapakorn University in Thailand,
where I was last week to train the band and to
do a concert when the infamous earthquake hit.
So were you with the band when it happened? No,
I was back in the hotel room. So that was the
day of the concert, actually. And I had this
funny ritual sometimes. It was a very centering
ritual for me. I polished my shoes before a major
concert. There's something about you guys. I'm
sorry to interject here because that caught me.
It caught me because, Jeremy, why? My goodness,
you are like the third person who told me this.
There's this ritual thing that the generation
before mine seemed to do before a show. They
like to polish their shoes. The next one... Oh,
I thought I was the only one. No, man. No, no.
Because, you know, I talk to a lot of people,
right? And some of them are MCs. You know, before
they do their show, they have to polish their
own shoes. The next ritual that I found really
funny is that they love to just iron their own
shirts. Why, I won't go that far. I like the
laundry service for that. So there I was, you
know, about to polish my shoe and then the room
started to shake violently. I was on the 27th
floor and the toilet door was going boom, bam,
boom, just sliding and it was quite dramatic
actually and normally I'm very quick with the
camera, you know, I'm quite a social media savvy
person but I was just terrified because I've
been in about five or six other earthquakes in
Los Angeles and Tokyo before. And I have experienced
an earthquake as strong as this one, but it lasted
one minute. This was five minutes of very violent.
So it was a real long tremor. Yeah. And I don't
know whether you know, but earthquakes feel twice
as long as they are. So it was five minutes,
so it felt like 10 minutes. And then when it
stopped, the violent shaking stopped. The building
continued to sway for 10 more minutes. Oh, man.
But there was no announcement to evacuate, although
everyone was very smart and evacuated. before
me. And then after that, there was an announcement
after the shaking stopped and the swaying started,
there was an announcement to evacuate. So I'm
on the 27th floor because I grabbed my passport
and my wallet, you know, and luckily I was, I
was wearing a Bermuda's and a short sleeve shirt
and not in, you know, anything too skimpy. And
I hit it for the staircase. I started to walk
very fast now, but halfway through, I said, you
know what? This spalding was falling from the
ceiling and landing on the floor. Oh, wow. I
thought I was in an earthquake movie or a Disneyland
earthquake simulator, right, really. So I started
running, which is not easy for me because I have
a couple of knee injuries that take turns to
bother me. So I get all the way down to the bottom
and the security was so nice, they grabbed me
and... You know, I kind of took them for support.
They took me to the assembly area. But then we
waited four hours before the all clear to go
back to the hotel. Four hours? Yeah. So yeah,
that was my... So life flashed right in front
of you, huh? Yeah. I mean, you know, I had a
sense of, I had a feeling of acceptance like,
look, if this building crashes and I'm gone,
you know, I didn't live too bad a life. So I
actually thought that, can you imagine to reach
that point where you think that this is it, finish?
But I remember saying a prayer and saying, look,
help me get out of the building. And there I
was. I managed to get out of the building. And
then the concert was cancelled and rescheduled
for 18th of June. Oh, wow. So you have to go
back again. So I told my organisers, can you
put me in a low -rise hotel? Not because there
may be another earthquake because normally it
won't be so soon, right? Yeah, yeah. But, you
know, in case some problems with the tall buildings
and the cracks and all which you're finding now.
Yeah. And so that way, you know, if there's any
issue and I have to run down, I will run down
three or four or five stories I can make it,
you know. 27 floors, man. Yeah. Oh, that wasn't
funny, right? Yeah. Wasn't funny. Yeah. Okay,
what were we actually talking about before we
came to the earthquake? We're talking about you
have a professorial appointment in three places.
Would you consider, again, that was my original
question and I remember now. If you, Jeremy Montero,
looking back to the day he was six years old,
started his classes, would you call yourself
a prodigy? I would not. The same way I don't
believe in my own legacy. So people say, what
do you think your legacy is? And I say, I think
it's very, very egotistical to think in those
terms. I think my legacy should be spoken about
by other people, not... And they can consider
what is it that they think I've contributed to.
But myself, I'm just my eyes on the ball. I focus
on what I have to do today and my plans for the
future. Sure, I look back and reminisce, fall
in reminiscence of things that I did. But when
I look back and if you ask me if I thought I
was a prodigy, I would say no. I didn't think
I was a prodigy at all. Other people did. Other
people called me a prodigy. But I don't because
I've seen so many great prodigies. And the thing
is about it, I actually dovetail really well
into a proper career because at 16 years old,
I got my first job as a professional pianist
in the jazz club. at a Club 392. I don't know
if you remember. Not the seedy one up in Orchard
Towers, but when it was on that row of shop houses
on Orchard Road. I caught you before you even
went there. So the thing is that I was there
and I was 16 and a half years old. And when I
auditioned for the gig, the owner, Mr. A .J.
Isaac, a very colorful Jewish gentleman, basically,
Made me band leader at the age of 16 and a half.
So my musicians were in their 30s and their 40s.
Most of them were very kind to me and respected
my musicianship and didn't really see my age,
except for one who was really upset because I
keep telling him, you know, you're coming late
for work. And he wanted to beat me up one day.
I had to be protected. I believe it or not, I
was very puny at the time. So my other musicians
had to shield me and say, hey, pick on someone
your own size, you know. Plus, he's right. You're
late for work all the time. but at 16 how come
how come mr isaac made you band leader in your
mind well i guess he saw that uh not only what
i was good pianist but during the audition he
saw me getting the band together like a mini
rehearsal before and how i was marshalling the
band to play what i wanted to play And he saw
the leadership qualities I had back then. And
actually, except for three or four occasions
when I've been in someone's band with another
band dealer, like the Ortegos, with Richard Ortega,
and with Luis Soliano in his band, and the Army
Band, the music and drama company band, and Terra
Masahino, the Asian All -Stars band leader from
Japan. I have not had any other band leaders.
Yeah, and so I guess I was and still am in that
aspect of me that I'm good at leading musicians,
either in a small band situation or in a big
band or even in orchestra. The reason why I'm
asking all these questions, whether or not you
think you're prodigious, gifted. Okay, gifted,
I think I am. Okay. And that I consider it kind
of a God -given gift, yes. And I think that I
was gifted with the ability to learn to play
the piano well. But, you know, a prodigy is quite
different. And, you know, usually prodigies,
they fade out by the time in the late teens.
Most of them fade out. Is that right? So one
of the sad things about 90 % of so -called prodigies
is they fade out and disappear. Okay. And so
another reason why I don't think I'm a prodigy
is because I didn't fade out. I was able to get
a career in my mid -teens. go to the army, be
in the music and drama company band and moonlighting
at night during that period. Coming out and straight
away getting a job with the Ortegos. And then
actually when I was 17 years old, EMI Records,
Reggie Verghese and music director, the late
Martin Pereira, appointed me the EMI session
pianist. So I was, from that point, 1977, for
the next 15 years, I played on more than 300
pop albums, which is actually quite considerable
when you think about it. I have 50 jazz records.
I released my 50th jazz album last year. early
this year. And I have, I've played on 300 pop
albums. Wow. Yeah. I don't know where else to
go with this now, you know. But jazz, specifically
jazz, you're well known for jazz. How did you,
what sparked your passion for jazz? Well, like
I said, my father played jazz guitar and Hawaiian
music as well. And he had a, a lot of jazz records
at home with Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass, the
guitar player, and Stan Getz. So jazz music was
something I started listening to when I was like,
as soon as I knew what was going on, I was listening
to jazz music at home. And I loved it. At the
age of 14, it's very interesting because I was
listening to a Quincy Jones record. featuring
a harmonica solo by Toots Tillemans, one of the
greatest jazz harmonica players ever, playing
a song by Ray Brown called Brown Ballad. And
I was standing there in my living room, and I
started to have tears come down my eyes. I was
crying, and my mother asked me, why are you standing
in the middle of your living room crying? I said,
Mom, I've never heard anything more beautiful
than this. And that was kind of a turning point.
Then when I was in secondary two, well, 14 years
old, I was already in secondary two. I met a
gentleman by the name of Hilarion Goh who was
one year older than I am. And he was moonlighting,
playing Chinese nightclubs, playing keyboards.
And he was earning like $1 ,500 a month back
in 1975. That's good money. So I said, oh, that
means I can make money from this. I can make
a living from this. And so he inspired me to
look at it as a career. But that moment listening
to... that Quincy Jones record with Toots Tillemans,
who I ended up playing with on stage at concerts
in 2003 for the first time and again a few times
after that. That was the turning point that made
me want to be a musician and a jazz musician.
What is the influence on you by this lovely gentleman,
Louis Soliano? So, Louis, of course, very interesting.
When I was about 1967, 68, when he returned from
the UK, I watched a RTS radio TV before SBC.
Before we go on, Kai Kenny, please. Ah, great,
thank you very much. There he is. Louis Soliano.
Yeah, so at 19, well, back in the early, in the
60s, in 67, so I watched TV and I saw this great
drummer playing like, you know, so many drums
that he had, you know, a crapload of drums and
all the cymbals. And I said, wow, you know, someone
from Asia can sound like this, you know what
I mean? And so Louis then awakened in me. a belief
that I could one day be like him, but on the
piano, you know. And we've, you know, we've been
friends ever since I started playing in Club
392. I used to go and watch him and jam with
him. And then in 1981, I actually joined his
band for a couple of years, playing at the Hilton.
And yeah, so we've had a wonderful, long musical
relationship and great friendship. And I produced
his 80th birthday concert a couple of years ago.
He appears on my concerts quite often. We meet,
you know, we try and meet for meals at least
once every six weeks or something like that.
So we are friends first and foremost. And he's
definitely one of my greatest mentors. Yeah,
great guy. Yeah. I know Louis as well. And especially
during the time when he was playing at the Ritz
-Carlton for a couple of months. Yeah. Quite
a long contract. Yeah. And I actually jammed
with him as a customer. Yeah. As a customer.
So, you know, I'm in the hotel, you know. So
I went out, sang with him. But man, I've said
this before, I think to Jimmy Lee, can the guy
scat, man? Wow, he's a scat man. Yeah, absolutely.
I just cannot, I cannot wrap it around my head.
Yeah. Because I get so, my brain gets tangled
already just thinking about how to scat. But
he can go on forever. Yeah. It's remarkable and
playing the drums. Yes, yes. Remarkable, really.
Just that nice. As I said in that episode, I'm
just sad that he can't remember me. He cannot
remember me. I called him up. He couldn't remember
me. I see. Well, it's cool. It's cool. I mean,
he's of age now. Isn't that acceptable? The title,
King of Swing, Jeremy. Yeah, so that's something
the Japanese press. first coined when I played
in the 90s in Japan. And I was kind of, it was
nice that they said that. And then later on,
you know, the Malaysian press caught hold of
it. And then the Thai press caught hold of it.
And then only the Singapore press started to
refer to me as Singapore's King of Swing. So
it was a moniker that was given to me first by
the Japanese press. By the Japanese press, not
ST? No. How do you feel about that today? You're
still known as the King of Swing, right? You
know, it's a nice moniker. I mean, you know,
something, you know, the good thing is I didn't
give it to myself. But now that, of course, you
know, when you're given that kind of so -called
title, you use it in your marketing, right? Of
course, yes. But I don't say, hi, I'm Jeremy
Montero, the King of Swing, and let other people
say it. I mean, of course. But it feels good,
doesn't it? I mean, just to be called the King
of Swing. I've always known you as that. Monica
really stuck with you forever. Yeah, and that
was only done in the 90s, actually. So I'm grateful
that it stuck. Yeah, I've always known. Because
the first time I saw you, it was in the 90s.
Right. The first time I saw you play. Right.
Yeah, it was in the 90s. And that's the guy they
call the King of Sweden. But more than that,
you also, also wrote One People, One Nation,
One single pore. Otherwise known as one pimple,
one lotion, one single pore. So, yeah, so I was
involved as a music director. I'll let you recover
while I have some water here. I tell you, I've
never heard that before. This is the first time,
man. Yeah, so I actually was the music director
for the first three national songs, which is
that of Singapore, We Are Singapore, Call Me
Singapore, Hugh Harrison, the composer, and the
arranger and music director. And then a friend
of mine said, hey, let's try and write a song
together and put it through. And it went all
the way up to then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
who asked, who shot back, are you sure that we
are? one people are you sure that we are one
nation so then it came all the way back to us
through the various channels and we said yes
it's an aspiration He actually asked that. Yeah.
So I say it's an aspiration. We may not be 100
% there yet, but it's an aspiration. You know
what? I'd be sweating buckets just to get LKY
coming back to you with that kind of question.
I'd be sweating. You've met him. No, I've performed
for him two or three times, but I never had a
chance to meet him. I was even invited to his
80th birthday concert. We sat in the table way
back at the Shangri -La Ballroom, but didn't
have a chance to. speak to him directly. With
former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, I've had
many encounters with him. I just was saying today
to a friend, people already know his political
persona, but I've had a chance to meet him on
a personal level. He's a very nice man. But then,
you know, they started to forget that these were
the four national songs. They never actually
went to formally gazette it. So now it's lumped
together with the so -called National Day songs.
Right. I always feel we should have these national
songs and then induct special songs that can
become national songs like Home by Dickie should
be a national song. Is that what you mean? Because
there's no such thing now. It's all National
Day songs. So then I feel that if we do this,
then we're like the US, we're going to have your
main National Anthem and then your sub -anthems
like America the Beautiful. So I think, you know,
I have had conversations with some of the leadership
on this, but hopefully one day they will do this
because then people will aspire to write National
Day songs and then hopefully they will sort of
be inducted into... a level of sound sub -anthem
level with, you know, with like the original
four. Yeah, but Jeremy, I would have thought
that that would be a logical passage, you know.
Yeah. Isn't it for any nation? Yeah. That if,
I'm actually quite, I'm a little gobsmacked to
be honest because we have all these songs that
I remember from school days, man, I stand up
for Singapore, count on me, Singapore, and then
all the songs you've mentioned. And I would have
thought that it would be a natural thing, a logical
move to just call them national songs. As a matter
of fact, I think the language that most people
speak, you know, in coffee shops and all that,
is that, hey, that's a national song. Hey, this
is a national song. We don't even call it an
NDP song. So I'm quite surprised that there really
isn't categorically national songs. Well, I guess
for the most part now, it's regarded as a little
bit semantic, but I think at the end of the day,
I think we should articulate, because as we grow
older as a nation, it's important to have these
sub -anthems supporting the main anthem and so
on and so forth that builds our national identity.
Well, hopefully one day. I mean, I've spoken
to some people about it, but at the end of the
day... I think they're bigger fish to fry in
the present moment. Oh, by the way, this is a
pre -recording, people. It's going to be GE period
soon at this moment. At this moment, yeah. Yeah,
and speaking about, you know, Mr Lee Kuan Yew,
I've only had the opportunity to, I'm not going
to say pleasure. I'll tell you why. The opportunity
to perform for him once. And Bonnie and Wendy
and a few others were there with us. We were
not hired. I was invited actually to perform,
MC and perform for Parliament's private party.
I see. In the old Parliament House. Yeah. And
Mr Lee was front and centre, front table, right?
And I'm right there. I'm like three metres or
four metres away from him. And he's right smack
right in front of me. because the mic's center
stage so I said I'm going to sing a Chinese song
and he said and really you know because the instructions
passed down to us that a band and me don't play
too loud don't sing too loud he doesn't like
loud noises I said okay we really got to keep
it at a level how are we going to do that it's
a lot of control you know So I said, okay, I'm
going to sing a Chinese song. And you could hear
him within earshot. Everyone in the room could
hear it, frankly. And I heard it right in my
face. The moment I said, I'm going to sing a
Chinese song, he says, Mr. Lee said... it'd be
interesting to hear this Eurasian boy sing a
Chinese song. I tell you, at the moment, I wanted
to mic drop and walk. So, no choice. The show
goes on. I sang, right? At the end of the song,
he said, not bad. Not bad. I tell you, Jeremy,
I swear. I was like, shitting bricks. Not bad
as a compliment. Well, yeah. I really would like
to sing that way though, you know, but I will
never forget that night for as long as I live.
Bonnie and I have got fond memories of that evening.
And he was on the show, you know that. So, you
know, your career having spanned decades and
along the way, did you actually, I'm sure you
did, stupid question, but I'm going to ask. actually
expand your academically fall on music? Do you
go on to take further studies on music or anything
like that? So that's a very interesting question.
I had this long -running successful career. Then
I got this professorial appointment and I still
only had my O -levels. I was the first O -level
person to be given a visiting professor appointment
in Singapore who didn't have a degree. So then
I thought, you know what, I better go and get
some kind of piece of paper that says that I
know what they are saying I know. So I took a
fellowship diploma from the London College of
Music, which is the highest diploma that they
issue. two years after I got my professorial
appointment. So, yeah, so I did that. And then
last year, when I first, no, even before I turned
64, I was 63, I took a postgraduate diploma in
film scoring and orchestration from the Film
Scoring Academy of Europe. And that was very,
very intense because... you know, from not studying
for 40 years, suddenly, you know, to go back
to school, so to speak. And I almost gave up,
actually. After the first month and a half, I
said, oh, this is too difficult. And I told my
son, I think I'm going to drop out. He goes,
wasn't it you who told me never to give up? So,
I cannot back my own... Solo back whatever you
told him. So, it's like, you know, I just...
clenched my fist and went through it and I was
so happy I did because in August I went to conduct
the 17 piece string orchestra in Budapest I mean
in Sofia in Bulgaria and then more recently in
November my final project with a full symphony
orchestra which played my piece and I conducted
them for a couple of the takes and all of a sudden
I actually won an award in 1991 for best music
score at the International Radio Festival of
New York. And then I dropped writing for Large
Ensemble to concentrate on being a jazz pianist.
So I left it for all these years, three and a
half decades, right? And then 10 years ago, I
started getting involved with Large Ensemble,
again playing with ReSound Collective. orchestra
of music makers. I also worked with Singapore
Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra.
So I was already, 10 years ago, I started getting
involved again with a large ensemble. Right.
Particularly in the symphonic jazz genre, which
is bringing together orchestral music with jazz.
So now I'm fully back in that I can actually
write. I don't have to write every song of my
concert, but I can actually write a full score
of a full orchestra. And so I'm so gratified
that I went back to school and thinking seriously
about doing the master's program in about a year
and a half. Wow. If I can find a way to get away
for a while. So when you write for an ensemble,
It's for every section, right? Different scores
for different sections. Yeah, so different parts
for... Different parts, yes. So, you know, depending
on how big the orchestra is. Oh, gosh. So it's
first violin, second violin, violas, cellos,
double basses, French horns, trumpets, trombones,
woodwinds. Woodwinds alone, there's clarinets
and there's flutes and there's... Percussions?
And you write for percussion, you write for harp.
It's a... Oh, goodness, man. Just the sort of
it. Yeah, so that's what I... I've regained those
skills, you know, which is quite, I mean, I'm
so glad that I did, you know, and I'm so enamored
by it. So, and as a result of learning those
skills, I went back to writing big band charts
as well because I hadn't written big band for
20 years. So I just wrote my first big band chart
for a concert about a month ago. It took me a
bit longer than other people, maybe take a week.
I took three weeks to write it, but even because
it takes a while to get the speed up again. And
so it was very, very, very, gratifying, like
I said, to do this again and it's now going to
be a big part of my life besides playing. Maybe
it's my retirement plan, you know, as I move
into my 70s, I'll be writing orchestral parts
for singers who want to sing with orchestra.
Wow. So, and I've just been commissioned to write
a piece for the Singapore Armed Forces Band,
90 -piece wind orchestra. So, all very, very
exciting things. I just think about it, getting
a migraine, man. It's a lot of taugis. Yeah.
Let me bring you back a couple of years. I saw,
because I had to go online. I need to find out
a lot more about Jeremy Montero. I saw pics of
you with George Benson, with Matt Monroe, with
James Brown, with, oh my goodness, Quincy Jones.
How were these guys, man? So, you know, the thing
about it, when I met James Brown, it was in Finland
because I'd done my shows and he had done his
show and I went to watch his concert. And we
met at Helsinki Airport, right? I went up to
him and said, of course, I was very respectful.
I called him Mr. Brown, you know, pleasure to
meet you and from Singapore. And at that point,
he had already been arrested, but not yet for
pulling a gun on a... cop in the in the states
you know and uh so i was a bit nervous that this
guy is going to you know slap me or something
but he was so gracious he was so kind to me he
didn't go you know yeah you know and very very
gentle conversation and he asked about singapore
singapore food and so on so forth and I told
him the kind of food that we had over in Singapore.
And very nice. And everyone I've met, a lot of
these great musicians, they're actually very
nice people. Were there any anecdotes that you
gained from these guys, maybe meeting these guys?
Well, not because the conversations were relatively
short. Josh Benson was interesting because at
that time, he has bodyguards around him. And
I actually went up to him and I said, Butch says
hello. Butch is O'Donnell Levy who lived here
and played at the saxophone bar for the longest
time, the black American guitarist. And his nickname
in the States was Butch. No one called him Butch
here, but in the States, I knew that his nickname.
So Butch says hello. I said, oh yeah, then he
comes and he gives me a big hug. So of course,
then his security knows I'm cool. He knows I'm
cool. And then we had a nice conversation. He
told me to send his love to O'Donnell. And so
that was also a brief encounter. Quincy Jones
is different. I had a nice long two -hour dinner.
Oh, wow. You know, with some really big money
people from the music industry in Korea, the
K -pop gang was there. But the moment I talked
to Quincy and I started mentioning James Moody,
that's it. He didn't care about the business
talk already. He just wanted to talk music with
me and we talked music for two hours. It was
just amazing. And then the rest of the businessmen
talk about business on their own. And he was
really nice. And he said, hey, listen, I want
to take a picture with you. Can you make a really
good gangster face? I said, okay. So I'd make
this really gangster face. And he does as well.
And we take this picture, which I posted on Facebook.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which we also just put up.
Yeah, yeah. This is a one of, we are smiling,
but we also have another one with. Two guys making
a gangster face. Scary gangster face. Gangster
as in G -A -N -G -S -T -A. So, yeah, I mean,
that was really nice. Meeting many people, you
know, George Burns, the comedian. Yeah, George
Burns, yeah. Chomping on a cigar. Yeah, and I
met him in 1985. And many other great artists
and actors and performers that I've had the chance
to... Some of them were brief conversations,
some of them I had long conversations. George
Burns, I had him to myself for an hour. It was
amazing. Wow. As a composer, what inspires your
music? So for me, I kind of subscribe to the
same theory that George Whittaker had, which
basically, he basically said that composers are
like antennas. because he believes the music
is flying around in the ether, in the sky, and
that what composers have the ability to do is
to be able to capture it with our antennas and
then process it. in our minds to then and I feel
like that very often I hear it in my head before
anything I don't I very seldom do I purposefully
go down and sit down and tell myself I'm going
to write a song I will just be quiet the main
thing is to develop this ability to be still
and to be quiet and if you're the quieter you're
able to be then you start to hear your thoughts
I always say that That silence is the voice of
inspiration. Silence is the voice of God, so
to speak. And actually, if you're able to be
quiet enough, you'll start to hear these melodies
bubble up and then you quickly note them down
or record it in your recorder. So yeah, so that's
basically how I write. I hear it in my head first
and then it comes out on either music paper or...
It is something I've always tried to understand.
how do composers come up with melody, you know?
Where did all that come from, right? I hear from
so many musos, all my friends, you know, very
experienced guys who tell me, Chris, sometimes
the magic's in the simple stuff. The four or
five chord songs that make it, you know. I've
always believed in that, to be honest, because
there's so much proof of it everywhere. And then,
so when I say, I think I should, I want to write
a song. Whimsical, you know, in a whimsical way.
I want to write a song. What do you have in mind?
They ask me, what do you have in mind? Shucks,
I've got no tune in my head. You get a tune,
they let us know. You know, and, and I, always
wondered about how do you get that in your head,
man? So that's a good point you just made. Thanks.
It's a very lay person's understanding of things.
I think, you know, just stay silent and see what
happens. Yeah. You're Jeremy Montero. You see,
that's different. You can be silent and there's
still music ringing around in your head. People
like me could be blank. No, but I think sometimes
it's the ability to really be very quiet. I mean,
I do have a bit of a meditation practice, not
as much as I used to have. And just to sit quietly.
You know, and just allow these ideas to bubble
up. It's something that, I mean, very often when
I'm asked to write something, I have to find
this time. I always say, you got to sit down.
For me, I sit down at the piano and inspiration
might not walk in the door that first time. The
second time I do it or the third time I do it,
one day when inspiration realizes I'm serious,
wanting to listen to him or her, inspiration
walks through the door and the tune comes out.
So it's very akin to writers even. Yes. You know,
when sometimes they get writers blocked, sometimes
they have an epiphany and they go an aha moment
and they start getting behind the computers and
start writing. So it's composers, musicians,
writers. It's the same kind of similar inspiration.
I think the same process. Yeah, same process.
In 2002, you were awarded the Cultural Medallion.
It's the highest award in Singapore for the arts.
How do you feel about that? Well, I was very
honoured because I think I was either the youngest
or the second youngest person to receive the
Cultural Medallion. And I actually was the first
pianist to receive it, which is a... I felt shy
about that part of it because there's all these
great pianists that came before me, Siao Yit
Kin and all these people that made it as concert
pianists around the world. So I was surprised
that there were no pianists that received the
cultural medallion before I did. And since then,
there's only been one other, Margaret Leng Tan,
who's an avant -garde pianist who lives in New
York, Singapore. Sorry, what's an avant -garde
pianist? Avant -garde, you know, just kind of
like dissonant. Okay. Okay. That kind of thing.
And so, yeah, I mean, I'm surprised that more
pianists haven't gotten the cultural medallion.
Many of them are very deserving, in my opinion.
So it was very, it was very, very special to
receive it and to go to the Istana with my family.
My mom was still alive at the time and then to
receive the cultural medallion. So, yeah, it
was a special, very special moment in my life.
I know that the cultural medallion is similar.
in stature to like in France where they have
the knighthood of arts and letters so I don't
take it for granted I'm very grateful for it
and yeah because it was I received it in mid
-career most people receive it later in the late
part of their career but I guess I'd done so
much already at that time you know I already
had been doing it doing the music thing for 25
years I had enough of a body of work that the
Arts Council felt that I deserved it. But for
me, it was an encouragement award to keep going.
You know, some people say, oh, you got it already,
you don't have to, you know. But I said, I have
to continue to work. And speaking about keep
going, you really kept going because there's
another special moment that just happened not
long ago, as you mentioned also earlier, your
65th birthday gig, man. Now, before we talk about
that, this one was at the Esplanade and you had
a big band on stage. Let's play that bit because
you know something, I'm very impressed with this
young lady. She's amazing. Yeah. Our love is
here to stay. For a year. Forever and a day.
The radio. And the telephone. And the movies
that we know. May just be passing tenses. And
in time. Wait a minute, this is Louis Soliano.
Right, yeah. The guy with the cap, people, that
is a great Louis Soliano. Playing percussions.
Okay, thanks very much, Kai. Who is that girl?
She is amazing. So yeah, she auditioned to sing
for the Lion City Youth Jazz Festival, the Lion
City Jazz Festival that the Jazz Association
Singapore organizes. And we auditioned her. She
came and she sounded great and ended up having
her sing with the Dizzy Gillespie band members.
with the Jazz Association Singapore Youth Orchestra.
So, of course, Dizzy is gone, but his band still
lives, like any of these bands, like Count Basie
and all the bands still. So, yeah, so that's
when we first, and then she sings on some of
my gigs quite often, actually, and then I had
her come and sing. So pleasant and so mature.
Yeah, very mature. The way she sings is so mature.
Like, she's been doing this like forever. I mean,
it's amazing. Some of the young people, you know,
they basically give you evidence there must be
such a thing as reincarnation because of the
maturity they have at a very young age, you know?
Yeah, when I was watching, you know, I had to
watch all the videos and say, okay, which one
do I put on the show? And when I heard her sing,
I'm like, who the hell is this girl? Because
she's, I would have half expected someone older,
but no, she was holding it so well. Yes. I was
really, I was blown away. Yeah. No, that she's
really, I mean, if you see her again, please
tell her. I will. Her name is Sneha Menon. Okay.
And yeah, so she's, Sneha. Some people, some
musicians actually say she sounds like a young
Billie Holiday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Precisely.
Yeah. But really, fantastic. You know, wow. Yeah.
Blown, blown away. And that was your birthday
gig and what was the vision behind that? So basically,
we had two halves. The first half was with my
small band, the trios and the quintet. which
I've been listening to some of the recordings
that we recorded. And that's an album right there.
We can actually release that as an album. And
then the second half, the Jazz Association, Singapore
Orchestra, or Jazzo, came on with our special
guest artists from around the world. And then
we performed mostly original music on the shows.
This was one of the encore tunes. This is original.
No, this is not original. This is one of the
non -originals. Maybe there are two non -originals,
the whole second half. The rest are all original
tunes of mine. And so, yeah, it was, the audience
was very beautiful and really very, it almost
felt like I had a bunch of people in my living
room and having just a very intimate get -together,
but actually it's inside the Esplanade concert
hall. Yeah, I mean, living room, talk about living
room, and it is the Esplanade. Let's take a look
at the rollout, Kai. Esplanade was your living
room, Jeremy. That's my son, Willingby. Together
with some of my great supporters. And Esplanade,
CEO as well. Wow. Doesn't the band sound great?
I mean, Singapore should be proud we have a jazz
zone. That's the thing, you see. That's why I
have this tribute show. Okay, thanks, Kai. That's
why I have this tribute show, and that's why
I'm paying tribute to you. Because to me, musicians,
music, is not so vaunted here in Singapore, you
know, in my opinion. I want to show musicians
and entertainers and people who support. the
night scene the music scene in Singapore I want
to pay tribute to them I want people to know
and that we should bring these things back home
we should I am very saddened and you hear me
talk about this all the time you know and I read
your letter man I read the one that went viral
the day you posted it I read it I said oh this
is so good because Jeremy's coming on so I have
to talk to him about this and the realities you
reflected in the realities faced by musos in
Singapore and the stagnation of live gig fees
since the 70s. Can you elaborate on how this
has impacted the livelihoods of musicians in
today's context? Well, the thing about it is
that a musician, any kind of artist, you've got
to continue making your art. Musicians have to
play. Composers have to compose. Writers have
to write. And whether we earn money from it or
not, we're going to do it because this is our
passion and our love, right? So the gig fees
have stayed more or less stagnant. Of course,
not everyone gets $150. Some people get $200,
$250, $300. But you think about all the other
professions and how much. more progression there
is you know but you know musicians have survived
all this time they find some way to make music
money on the side whether it's teaching or even
doing some day jobs and I think there's nothing
wrong with having day jobs yeah at the end of
the day to support your art because To me, I
have a literary book called Late Night Thoughts
of a Jazz Musician. It was my first literary
book. My second book, my first book was a music
book. My second book was a literary book. And
to my total surprise, it won two literary awards.
And one of the chapters, the title is, You Do
Not Have to Be a Professional Musician to Attain
a Professional Level of Musicianship. So if you
can make money from it, great. If not, if you
love it, just do it. Don't say, I don't want
to do it because I can't earn money. Find some
other way to feed. And I always say there's two
things, your job and your work. They're very
separate. Your job is the thing you do to make
money. And your work is your life's mission.
So it could be someone could be driving taxi
from Monday to Friday. That's his job. And then
on Saturday, Sunday, his work is to volunteer
for free at the Salvation Army. So the same thing
for us. It could be someone's working a day job
or like for me, my job is playing. for corporate
functions where no one listens to me. And my
work is playing concerts like at Esplanade or
playing in a jazz club where people are giving
me pin drop silence attention, right? So, you
know, to balance your pocketbook and your soul
like that, just keep going, keep doing it. Don't
give up just because you can't make a living
from it, so to speak. Job and work, you know,
Mr. X, when he was on this show, Mr. X said exactly
the same thing. You know, it's either I got a
job or I go to work. I'd rather go to work because
a job's a job. Oh, okay, wow. Again, something
about you guys from that generation. You say
the same things, do the same things. Yeah, either
it's great minds think alike or fools tell them
differ. You take your pick. Nope. I don't mean
to, you know, any disrespect at all, as a matter
of fact. I'm just basically, you know, I'm basically
sounding off an observation. It's really interesting.
You also touched on the decline of full -time
residency gigs. How has this shift changed the
landscape for professional musicians? So, yes,
you know, I mean, one of the things I've been
talking to, you know, various government departments
about is to try to create more places where musicians
can perform. And it doesn't have to always be
in Orchard Road. Right. It can be in Pasir Panjang.
It can be in Seletar Hills. It can be all over
the place. The difficulty is, of course, the
fact that you need a public entertainment license
in these places. It's easy to get those one -night
public entertainment licenses, but hard to get
the long -term ones. So, I don't want to, how
you say, spell it by, because I think the authorities
are already thinking about everything that I'm
discussing with them. And hopefully, there'll
be one day a landscape where musicians can work
all over the island. And of course, what happens
is that maybe the newer musicians, the musicians
who are not that accomplished yet, maybe the
ones who earn $100, $150, but as a result of
many of these gigs appearing, then the Orchard
Road musicians will stop earning $150, will start
earning $200, $300, $400, whatever. And I really
believe that this is the way we tackle this problem.
And I'm in constant conversation. with people
within these government departments. And they're
very nice. And, you know, I think they kind of
understand where I'm coming from. Now, just looking
at the practical aspects of it, do we have someone
else administer public entertainment licenses?
Do we offer exemptions on occasion when it is
a good place and a safe place and the music's
not too loud or whatever it is, you know? So
we have to, because, you know, the problem is
that We've had situations where you have a bar
next to someone's house. Of course, at 10 o 'clock,
the kid needs to study, right? So then you need
to make sure that if you do have a bar that's
100 meters from someone's house, you have to
make sure the bar sun -proofs enough such that
the music can stay within the establishment.
You know, you said a few things I would like
to also speak my mind about. First of all, Orchard
Road. What musicians in Orchard Road? There's
hardly any now. This all happened post -pandemic.
Pre -pandemic wasn't so bad. Along Contra Road
is a hive of activity. You've got stuff happening
at the Neon City Civic Centre. There's stuff
happening across the road from there in front
of the Paragon. You've got all kinds of things
going on. Today, it's dead. It's been dead for
a long time. Then there's this moniker. I'm calling
it a moniker that's been given to musicians and
entertainers per se, and that's called your non
-essential. And that term, I mean, it seemed
to be a very hastily drummed up description or
adjective, you know, for occupations that is
not essential, non -essential occupations, you
know. And you know how badly musicians and bars
even suffered during the pandemic. I'm not saying
right or wrong, but I'm saying that now it's
done, it's over. But it doesn't seem... it doesn't
seem to be recovering. Hotels have, I think a
lot of pianos are floating in the ocean right
now because most of the hotels threw away the
pianos. Yes, that's right. You know, it's ridiculous.
I've said it before. I've told Stephen Francis
and Rob Collins on this show, this season, that
honestly, I don't think hotels have any excuse
at all. to not bring back musicians to play.
And then for bars and clubs that do, it's always
the acoustic sets, the two pieces. At the most,
if you have a three -piece, you've got to haggle
with these guys. You've got to haggle for a three
-piece? Are you kidding me? Now, on the part,
this is a sore point to me. On the point about
noise, the decibels. If a bar... or is located
next to a home or next to homes. You know, honestly,
I always feel that the complaints come because
people are just too damn smug and too damn unvital.
They will use the excuse that my son has to study,
this, that, that, I work night shift, I come
back, or I have to work early in the morning,
then there's so much noise. To me, it's very
simple. If you buy a house, next to a bar that's
been there before you bought the house especially,
you don't like it, don't buy the house. It doesn't
mean that I want to buy the house, I like the
house, I don't care about the bar. Then you go
and tell the bar off. It's people's livelihood
and business. So there's another side of the
coin to look at besides all these usual and title
excuses that I think the authority shouldn't
pander so easily to. Because I have seen people
in neighborhoods come to a bar where people are
having a great time and literally show the owner
of the bar a decibel meter. I mean, come on.
Yeah, so, see, for me, maybe I'm not as militant
as you are about this. I'm not being militant.
You are not a gazelle. No, no. Because... The
thing about it is, look, when you go and visit
a house to buy, very often it's in the daytime.
And at night, the bar next door is all shuttered
up. You don't even know there's a bar next door.
You know what I mean? At the end of the day,
man, buyer beware. It's buyer beware. If you're
silly enough to not check even at night, come
see the place at night rather than at day. Because
to me, I do. If I'm going to hunt for a house,
I will come and see the house in the day and
at night. But there's enough places around Singapore
that are at least 100 meters from a potential
bar. And we're talking about, you know, okay,
I think these are far and few between because
there are many places that are out in the neighborhoods.
For example, in Selita Hills, you know, Jalan,
I don't know what, Selase or whatever it is.
So you have a bar there. you know, you just have
to soundproof it so that upstairs, because don't
forget, the whole row upstairs will hear you
if you don't soundproof. So you can just mitigate
your noise issues by putting enough sound insulation
in the place. You know, across the basketball
court, the house, you won't hear a peep. Okay.
Granted. Granted, I'm not being militant. I've
got to say this very clearly. I get in trouble.
Okay, but I would just tell you, Jeremy, that,
okay, I tell you, I can put a wager down with
you, man. If I pick a bar, which I will on Friday,
I will talk to the owner who's having these problems.
And I will tell the owner, listen, listen, try
to just soundproof, insulate your whole place.
Just spend the money, just do it. And on the
hypothesis that the person does it, I guarantee
you. there will still be complaints. I mean,
at that point, you know, at that point, we got
to, you know. Ah, what do we do then? What does
a bar owner do then? So, no, I think, there's
so many locations around Singapore, even in the
HDB estates, that there could be suitable locations
for you to put an establishment that has live
music, you know. So, I believe that we shouldn't
fight this because I'm already fighting this
fight now. I'm not trying to make it hard for
you. No, no, no, because I believe that if we,
because they will try. They will try. I think
eventually we'll get to a pilot program with
10 places, new places they can open across the
island. And it doesn't have to be, you know,
some places can be jazz, some can be acoustic
pop, some can be folk music, a guy singing James
Taylor songs, another place could be a classical
string quartet, all kinds of music. All kinds
of music, right? I think music is music. For
me, I'm a classically trained pianist even though
I'm known as a jazz musician. So I love all kinds
of music. I believe there's only two kinds of
music, good music and bad music. The genre doesn't
matter to me. So let's hope that in the coming
years, we'll start to see more places, proliferation
of new places opening up with music and find
a way to... Live and let live in the neighborhoods
and so on and so forth. Yes, that's it. Live
and let live. You know, I'm sorry, but I actually
sympathize with that guy whose house is right
next door to a bar because he may not have signed
up for that. You know, he may not have, you know,
honestly speaking, when you buy a house, did
you come in the night? You didn't come in the
night. You came and saw it in the day, you know.
I'll be fair to you. I'll be fair to you. The
reason why I said all this is because I've encountered
different things, not just bars. across the Marine
Parade on the ECP, on the beach, almost to the
beach, on East Coast Parkway, there used to be
a bar with bands playing. It's far away. I mean,
the next home you see is across the highway and
the flats, right? Yeah. Complaints. I mean, that's
a good quote, right? But you know, technology
would have fixed it. You know, there's now the
Japanese technology where you put the, if they
put a sound divider there, this would have completely
quietened the place down. But nobody would do
that because you wouldn't have expected complaints
coming from flats that are just way across the
expressway. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
And then another one, school. School, huh? Yeah.
Bell rings. The bell rings. School bell rings.
Now that's why you hardly find school bells.
Now you hear the big band tune, right? But when
kids are having football or whatever, the residents
next door to the school can call and complain.
You know what I mean? That's not, that's just
bad behavior. Exactly what I mean, you see. I'm
saying that we have two, it may not just be about,
you know, legitimate reasons, but there's a lot
of other things that people use as legitimate
reasons, which is just insensible and just very
thoughtless. Yeah. You know, and the school thing
that happened, right, it was on how many day?
And it's like, you know, we celebrate multiculturalism,
multiracialism, how many there? And so there's
music playing on the school field. A hundred
calls came in, I'm not kidding, of complaints.
I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me. So
maybe this is a societal issue. It's endemic
in society rather than about, yeah, you know,
it's music, I need to study it. I think it's
more than that. But you know, it happens all
over the world. I mean, it's not unique to Singapore.
A lot of things that we think are unique to Singapore,
as someone who's travelled all over the world,
I can tell you, people are people. Everywhere
in the world, we have the same issues. But we
have to address those issues, rather than keep
quiet about it and just be resigned to that.
That's not me. I will just say my piece. I will
call a spade a spade. But you know, a lot of
these complaints, to be fair, if you do it in
the daytime, and the people call and if there's
a hundred complaints, no one's going to do anything.
Daytime, yeah. No one's going to do anything
because the police also won't do anything because
you're allowed to have such activities until
10 .30 at night. Just the poor admins sitting
at a desk getting calls after call after call
after call and being shouted at and screamed
at and cussed at. You know, I mean, it's not
funny. Fair enough, fair enough. Let's wrap this
up a little bit, okay? The lack of employee benefits
for many freelance musos. Is it a significant
concern? Well, freelancers in general, whether
music or non -music, we don't really have an
employer -employee relationship. Very often the
contracts will also say this contract does not
signify an employer -employee relationship. Right.
So I guess the musician has got to hear to make
sure that he pays into his medical for his CPF
so that he gets Medisave. And the other thing
is to just cover themselves with when they're
young especially, to buy insurance policies.
You know, whether it's a health insurance policy
or a lifetime or an endowment policy. No, I'm
not, don't worry, I'm not, you know. Yeah, let's
not go there. But you know, I mean, so I think
they can protect themselves that way so that
when they reach their old age, there will be
this support system that they have worked into
and paid into. Everyone pays into such a situation
for their old age. So I think, I think that's
a, I was very lucky. Mr. Isaac actually paid
me CPF. And because of him and being in the music
and drama company at the age of 21, I could buy
my first HDB flat. I had enough money for the
down payment. But not many music employers, club
employers would do that. I think Harry's was
the other one. For 15 years, the owner of Harry's.
they actually paid all their musicians' CPF,
which is... Well, that's cool. That's cool. I
like people like that. Is it true that the public
perception of musicians' earnings is that they
earn a lot? Is that true? Yeah, people always
think... You know, musicians always carry themselves
very well. We dress well. You know, we are usually
well -spoken because most of us are actually...
educated enough. And some friends of mine have
got law degrees and they're musicians and would
rather be playing jazz piano than practicing
law. More power to them. Wow. And I have many
of these people who have got such degrees in
economics and law. But they'd rather just be
musicians. There's a very bad joke. How do you
become a millionaire as a jazz musician? You
start off as a billionaire. But we chose this
for ourselves, right? So, I mean, if we did,
then, you know, sometimes we just have to roll
with the punches because we chose this life,
you know? Yeah, and young musicians, you also
mentioned young musicians, you've talked about
financial prudence earlier, but you also mentioned
about self -promotion. So, would you like to
expound a little bit on that for the young musos
that's watching or listening to this show? Yeah,
some of them are very savvy about it and I think
it's good that they are. But some of them, they
look at self -promotion as something obscene.
One day, one young jazz musician told me, oh,
I never had to, you know, what do you call this,
Wes Montgomery, the great guitar player, never
had to do any self -promotion. I say, yeah, but
he had six publicists, three from the record
company and three he hired himself. Are you going
to hire anyone like that for yourself? And if
you're not, then you just have to do your own
self -promotion. It's just part of life, you
know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Your role as chairman
of Compass and formerly, formerly, right, with
the Jazz Association? No, no, I'm still the executive
director. I'm co -founder and executive director.
Apologies, apologies. What are some of the key
changes or support systems you believe are needed
to better sustain musicians here in Singapore?
Well, as far as Compass is concerned, which I
co -founded back in 1988 together with a few
other friends, I sat in the chair from 91 to
93 and then recently went back to the chair about
two and a half, three years ago. you know, its
main purpose is to make sure that the musicians
are paid royalties for the compositions that
are played either live or... or on air or whatever,
or on aeroplanes and so on and so forth. And
so it exists for that reason. However, you know,
there's still a lot of support for musicians
who want to record an album or want to do a tour.
They can go and approach Compass for some financial
support. The Jazz Association, we started nine
years, we'll be nine years old this year. We
have given out 10 scholarships for people to
study for degrees, either bachelor's or master's
degree in jazz studies, whether here or in the
US. And we hire jazz musicians on a regular basis
to play in our big bands, both the main big band,
Jasso, and the youth band, Jazz Yo. And so we
give them employment throughout the year on a
regular basis, not full -time employment, but
regular freelance employment. We pay very well.
recently i found out that we actually we actually
uh so very often you know big bands they go and
play they don't get a single cent they just do
it because they love it but we when we hire the
musicians we actually pay them for rehearsals
we pay them for the show and i've come to find
out that actually we pay similar to some of the
top big bands in the world for the freelance
work which that makes me very proud that we do
that wow so um Yeah, I mean, so that's my sphere,
right? I got to think about where do I have influence?
Where can I make a difference? Because very often,
you know, all those Facebook warriors talking
about, you know, you can't make a difference.
I mean, you're just making noise only. But, you
know, where I can actually make a difference,
I think I have tried my best with my teams and
my colleagues. But at the end of the day, I think...
the support systems, we chose a profession where
we are our own support system. You know, we've
got to create not only the way to earn income,
you know, do our own self -promotion, we have
to do our own merchandising, we have to look
after our families, maybe even if it means doing
some kind of part -time job so we can pay for
schooling for our kids. I mean, just the... the
path we chose, good, better, right, or good,
you know, good. Better or worse, for better or
worse. Yeah, for better or for worse, good, bad,
right or wrong. Yeah, you're right, you're right.
Okay, last question, last question before I let
you go. Your recent social media post on painting
the town red. I actually enjoyed reading this
one particularly. Let me just give a summation
here. You encourage people in Singapore to be
prudent but not prudes. Wow. Emphasizing the
importance of spending on things like dining
out and entertainment to support the economy.
You know, I actually like that, you know, because
not many people talk that way about going out
and dine out and go out there and, you know,
for entertainment and leisure, even during tough
times. As a musician who relies on live performances
and people attending shows, what are your thoughts
on the current economic climate in Singapore
and how it directly impacts the livelihood of
artists and the entertainment industry? Well,
I wrote that post before Donald Trump did the
terrorist, right? Yeah. And decimated the whole
world economy. I don't know whether that post
would hold true or whether I would write it slightly
different today. Yeah. But at the end of the
day, I think that the only way the economy works
we when earning our money spend money so that
then this is a whole cyclical thing of the economy
we support the economy all of us support the
economy so part of the economy is entertainment
of course luxuries now people don't go out you
know go for so much nowadays because people start
to actually think why do I really need a Rolex
watch right so so that's that's important the
same could be said about oh you know you should
support the economy and buy the occasional expensive
watch but now you can't imagine giving that advice
to anybody because it just firstly it's not necessary
and it's showy and flashy and people like to
be a little less flashy nowadays so but as far
as musicians and all are concerned I think that
you still should spend some of your money going
out to have dine out because you know last year
3 ,000 restaurants closed down yeah you know
and maybe 2 ,000 more appeared this year so far
but you will notice they fall half in size because
people don't like those large dining rooms anymore
I think that's going to be the trend people are
going to go for smaller intimate places yeah
and as far as music is concerned you know I think
to go out and have a drink and socialize with
your friends or your loved one or loved ones
You know, that you should really make an effort.
And that was what that post is about. I guess
it'll be sort of regulated a little bit more
because now we're going to actually see our pocketbooks
being hit very badly across the world. Thanks
to the orange idiot. Yeah, well, yeah. I mean,
you know, I think that there was a really poor
choice on the part of the American people to
choose him. believe in his rhetoric. But end
of the day, you know, we have to do business
with him and them. No choice, because he's going
to be there. Maybe he'll have his wings clipped
in the midterm elections, hopefully. But end
of the day, the world has to deal. The world
has to deal. I mean, Singapore, what are you
going to do? You're just going to have to find
a way. You know, I was saying in another recent
Facebook post, the rest of the world should get
together and form a free trade zone. Just leave
them out. You know, and we'll still have to trade
with them, but we should create our own world.
Yeah. Because he's upended the entire world.
There can't be a world without America. Yeah.
You know, I mean, I don't know about that, but
I certainly... I mean, without having to trade
with them. Yeah, yeah. You know, we can trade,
but then after a while, when you see that, hey,
you know, this is all this trade and cooperation
and goodwill going around without them, I think
at some point they will go, maybe. I think it's
temporary because there's no way that America...
America can survive that way, having lost trillions
in the first 24 hours. But you raise this based
on geopolitics and geoeconomics, but when it
comes to locally, domestically here, and I've
spoken about this to many musicians, and it is
the cost of the consumer going to a place where
there's music, there's a DJ in attendance, there's
a band playing you know go no more cover charges
these days of course but they go in and they
don't go like before every night you know after
work happy hour happy hours and stuff you know
uh and they probably go go out once a month yeah
so the the culturally things seem to have changed
post pandemic yes you're right yeah and and poor
musos Clubs and bar owners too, they no longer
want to hire musicians or DJs even because why?
This is a state of affairs. And it's a very sorry
state. It is. Yeah. And paint the town red, man.
That caught me when you put up that post because
when I saw it, I said, what? Paint the town red?
Nobody's fucking painting the town red anymore,
man. That's why I said they should do it. It's
an old adage now. It's an old adage. It's an
old saying. and I think even the young ones will
probably go what does that mean painting the
town red oh gosh it really hit me that one that
really hit me no one does that anymore Jeremy
no one does that but again this is my tribute
to you thank you for everything you've done for
musicians for music and for Singapore's music
thank you very much on behalf of I mean I'm nobody
you know I'm not like up there somewhere in leadership
in this country but on behalf of Singapore and
Singaporeans thank you so very much thank you
so much thanks for being on the show thank you
very much thank you pleasure thank you and okay
everybody I've had I really had a music dignitary
in my studio today. And it's been a great conversation.
Jeremy Montero. And a whole while, I think, five
more. All right, can I have five more episodes
to go before we call it a day? Right about five,
huh? Or four more. Before we call it a season.
Season five will be coming to an end shortly.
Watch out for the next episode next week. And
until then, oh, next week, the next one, we've
got Singapore's crooner coming on. And you've
got to really watch out for that one. Until next
time, stay safe. Bye -bye.