March was in real swing with so many festival happenings all over the continent. For the first time, six countries have come together to jointly organize a month-long Asian festival tour, this group is officially called the Asian Jazz Festival Organization. I got lucky to follow these events in 3 different countries.

The first one was the JVC Jazz Festival with Blue Note Tokyo 20th, held on February 29 and March 1 at the Orchard hall. This was followed by a collaborative program with Blue Note running shows until March 23, featuring world class artists, the Harvey Mason trio, The Crusaders and Incognito among others.

I then flew to Indonesia on March 8 for the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, one of the largest jazz festivals in the world. The 3-day event featured so many prominent artists like the Manhattan Transfer, Baby Face, Bobby Caldwell with other groups coming from the ongoing jazzfests in the region. I witnessed a huge gathering of more than 1,000 musicians of over 100 groups from all over the world participating in this extensively publicized event.

Lastly, I participated in my very own homeland's Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival. Now on its' 3rd year, PIJAZZ the youngest of them all, held 4 days of city malls tour capped by a 7-days concert series featuring jazz superstars both local and international. Lee Ritenour, Omar Sosa, Incognito, Raul Midon were among the highlights.