A Jeep Jazz Jam Session
The Star      9 December 2005       Story by: DERRICK VINESH       North
Jazz Jam Session At ROZELLS !!                 with              10-Piece Jeep Jazz Latino Band !!
The 10-piece Jeep Latino Jazz Band    entertaining the crowd with its     repertoire of contemporary jazz hits    and instrumental pieces.	ROZELLS Country & Western Oldies Pub reverberated when a 10-piece band gave a noteworthy performance at the popular nightspot in Batu Ferringhi, Penang, recently. The Jeep Latino Jazz Band entertained the crowd with its repertoire of contemporary jazz hits and instrumental pieces. Among the popular numbers belted out were My Way, Oye Como Va, You’re My Everything and Save The Last Dance For Me. Band leader Razif Mohd captivated the audience with his rendition of Careless Whisper as he played the piano and later took a spin around the stage with his saxophone.

Michelle Augustin, who played the pocket trumpet, rendered two soothing numbers – Bewitched and Smooth Operator. The crowd favourite, however, was the band’s instrumental version of Sheila Majid’s Sinaran, which was re-arranged to give it a fresh beat. Razif, or better known as Jeep, who is a music lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), said five of the band members were USM undergraduates while four others were teachers. 
The eight-year old band was originally known as Jeep Jazz Trio comprising Zaki Ani on electric bass, Jasmi Budin @ Amy on drums with me on piano and vocal. “Since 2002, we grew bigger to include the horn section with Santana Low on flute and tenor sax, Anis on alto sax, Ling Cheng
on trumpet, Cheng Ling on trombone, Alice on bass trombone, Stan Calvin on percussion and Michelle on pocket trumpet,” he said.  Razif said he taught music to over 100 students in the last eight years, noting that among them was Malaysian Idol 2 Daniel Lee.
“Jazz has been my passion and oddly, the students in my band are actually those from different faculties. It is their common interest in jazz that drew them to the band,” he said. He said he hoped to share his knowledge and love for jazz with more youngsters, adding that not many had the opportunity to play jazz music.
Pub owner James Rozells said that to help expose the talents of local bands, he had dedicated every first Sunday of the month for them to jam at his pub. “Many good local bands lack the opportunity to shine as most hotels often engage Filipino ones.
“Several foreign hotel guests have remarked that they wished to listen to local bands whenever they visit Penang,” he said.