We had a delicious bit of soul food just before I left for Malaysia – an entire Saturday spent at the Java Jazz festival. Souvik is the jazz nut of the family, and he’d been researching the music of practically all the performers, so we were quite clear about which shows we wanted in. I was simply tagging along, mildly interested.

After a bit of Depapepe and Laura Fygi (both good), we went in to hear Pat Metheny. And I was floored. An instant convert. His music was magical; there was only the single sore point of ‘VIPs’ sitting behind us and opting to talk to each other LOUDLY while he played. Souvik, the non-confrontational man, went off in search of another space in the music hall, while I stayed put and gave those oldies a very small piece of my mind to shut them up. Pat Metheny played an encore which was probably the most heavenly piece of music I’ve heard in a while. Hats off!

Some of the other shows were super, particularly the Alfredo Rodriguez trio. The final performance was by one of the masters, Herbie Hancock. Excellent too, but that day, my heart stayed with Pat Metheny!