The formation of our main orchestra, the Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra (JASSO), brings together some of the best Singaporean and Singapore-based jazz musicians. It comprises around 20 professional jazz musicians, with a few outstanding members from our youth orchestra JASSYO!.
The inaugural performance of JASSO took place at the 13th JZ Festival Shanghai in October 2017, followed by two community outreach concerts in Singapore and a performance at the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting gala in 2018. The orchestra then played at the EFG London Jazz Festival in November 2018 and the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference in January 2019 as the JEN President's Choice.
JASSO performed at the inaugural "Jazz It Up! A Jazzy Celebration of Chinese Songs" concert in June 2019, which featured jazzy renditions of well-loved Chinese songs, and starred three special guest vocalists-Singaporean singers, actress and host Joanna Dong, and Melissa Tham, known for her jazz tribute album to Teresa Teng produced by Jeremy Monteiro, and from China, Jasmine Chen, one of the featured singers in the Hollywood hit, "Crazy Rich Asians."
JAZZ ASSOCIATION SINGAPORE ORCHESTRA
In November 2019, JASS held the "JASSO Pinnacle Concert: A Jazzy Bicentennial Celebration of Singapore-UK Friendship." Performing with top vocalist Tina May and other guest musicians from the UK, Alan Barnes, Henry Lowther and Tom Walsh, the concert was a culmination of JASSO's efforts and experience in pursuit of jazz excellence and showcased the finesse and sophistication achieved by the orchestra in its two-year history.
In February 2020, JASSO performed at the Thailand International Jazz Conference (TIJC) 2020 in Bangkok. When the pandemic halted public performances and events, JASS moved its events online and launched the JASS@Home series of live-streams, with JASSO performing in "JASS@Home: Celebrating UNESCO International Jazz Day 2020, Singapore Edition" in April 2020, followed by "JASS@Home: Swinging in Singapore" and "JASS@Home: Two's Company."
In December 2020, JASS debuted its very first digital album release, "Two's Company: Jazz Duets by JASSO & Friends."
JASSO then resumed its Pinnacle series with its second iteration, “JASSO Pinnacle Concert 2021: Le Grand Jazz – A Celebration of the Music of Michel Legrand and Beyond,” in November 2021, live at Capitol Theatre, in which French musicians Nicolas Folmer and Sylvain Beuf performed virtually with JASSO onstage.
In April 2022, JASSO made a rousing return to the live stage in full big band format, to commemorate UNESCO International Jazz Day 2022, two years after its last big band performance. The orchestra then followed this up with a two-night live concert at “Jazz It Up!” 2022 in May, and dazzled the audience at the JASS Gala 2022 in July with a live performance alongside musicians from JASSYO! and guest vocalists Joanna Dong and Nathan Hartono.
Selected musicians from JASSO have come together to form the JASSO Ethno-Jazz Ensemble to perform at “Kaleidoscope: An Asian Jazz Odyssey 2022,” featuring the who’s who from the local Asian ethnic music scene. This milestone concert was led by JASS Music Director Jeremy Monteiro with JASS’ Associate Music Director and Assistant Music Director, Chok Kerong and Rit Xu respectively