Published on August 30, 2005

Thailand’s sax star heads off to Los Angeles for a new album of jazz standards Sekpol Unsamran, better known to the Thai public as Koh Mr Saxman, has plenty to smile about these days.

After 17 years of playing everything from pop to look thung (country), the renowned saxophonist has finally come up with an album devoted to his favourite genre – jazz.

He doesn’t expect “The Other Side of Koh Mr Saxman” to be snapped up by fans, but sees it as a starting point to explore his other dreams.

His first instrument was the clarinet, which he started learning at the age of 12. In 1987, a teacher, who was also the conductor of the Bangkok Commercial Campus band, introduced him to the saxophone and jazz. Koh has never looked back.

The 15-year-old attended classes after school and played with the band until turning professional three years later.

In 1990, he won a place at Chulalongkorn University’s education faculty and tried his luck on the pub circuit.

“There are only a few jazz pubs in this country, so I had to play a variety of genres in order to survive,” says Koh.

A talented musician, his pub repertoire included a range of popular pop, rock and look thung numbers.

With jazz very much a niche market in Thailand, Koh had to find work wherever he could.

In 1995, the saxophonist joined contemporary music band Boy Thai on their debut album “Siamese Samba”.

He’s also played fusion jazz with Infinity, reggae with T-Bone and funk with The Funk Machine. His cutting-edge sax sound soon gained the recognition it deserves.

“I was – and still am – an extremely busy saxophonist and studio musician,” he says confidently. “At one time, I was involved on 10 albums all released around the same time.”

But while delighted at the enthusiastic response, he hadn’t forgotten his dream.

In 2002, he released his debut album, “Koh Mr Saxman” on GMM Grammy subsidiary, Giraffe Records. It sold more than 100,000 copies and climbed quickly up the pop charts.

His pop-based “Sax Appeal” released the year after, did less well.

Then Koh met Jeremy Monteiro, a Singaporean pianist playing at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel.

Monteiro, who has worked with many jazz artists from all over the world, including Ernie Watts, Don Grusin and James Moody, invited him to record an album in Los Angeles.

Koh agreed immediately and took a loan of Bt800,000 to pay for the recording. He had intended to use the funds to build a house, but decided that could wait.

He spent just 10 days in the LA studio. The result is “The Other Side of Koh Mr Saxman”, which he describes as “the standard jazz album I have always dreamed of doing”.

“It’s exhilarating,” says the 32-year-old saxophonist. “There was a real sense of freedom when I did this album. I really enjoyed doing what I really wanted to do.”

Produced by Monteiro, “The Other Side of Koh” features 12 songs. Seven are standard jazz covers, among them Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” and Dizzy Gillespie’s jazz classic “All The Things You Are”, two are newly penned numbers and the others are cuts from “Koh Mr Saxman.”

One of the new tracks is “Hua Hin” and Koh has dedicated it to the seaside resort of the same name in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, much as he did for the song “Koh Samui” on “Sax Appeal.”

“It conjures up the spectacular scenery, the lively Thai and foreign tourists, and the rhythm of the bossa nova,” he explains. “It feels like ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.”

But the album is unlikely to change the jazzman’s life in the Kingdom.

More people are now beginning to pay attention to the genre, but there aren’t enough of them to keep Thailand’s jazz musicians alive on concerts and recordings alone.

Most have turned to teaching, either at universities or private institutions. Koh is the technical section head at KPN Music Academy School and is currently drafting the curriculum for a saxophone course.

They share a goal of building up a bigger base of jazz fans and making the genre more popular. Koh has set up the Sax Society as a meeting place for those fascinated by the saxophone and jazz.

It already has many members who attend regularly to exchange views, saxophones, used CDs and textbooks.

“We see all kinds of people, from policemen and businessmen to the unemployed,” he says.

Being a saxophonist gives him a real sense of fulfilment. Koh is already planning to record a second jazz album in London at the end of this year.

He’s also dreaming of playing in front of big audiences at jazz festivals in London and Copenhagen and is hoping to book a place at the famed Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles.

“Playing jazz is like an adventure,” he says with a satisfied sigh.

Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

The Nation

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