Jeremy Monteiro’s golden jubilee: A look back at Singapore jazz maestro’s 50-year music career - The Straits Times
Jeremy Monteiro will celebrate his 50th anniversary at the Esplanade Concert Hall on Nov 14.
SINGAPORE - Fifty years after he started his career, jazz maestro and Singapore’s “King of Swing” Jeremy Monteiro remains one of the most accomplished artistes in the local music landscape.
Ahead of his 50th anniversary concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall on Nov 14, The Straits Times looks at some of the 66-year-old’s biggest impacts he has made in each of the five decades, from being one of the youngest Cultural Medallion winners to his latest jazz bar set to open in late November.
Jeremy Monteiro at age 17 at Club 392 in 1977.
In November 1976, at 16 years old, Monteiro scored his first professional gig, playing piano and organ from 5.30pm to 7.30pm at the then Country Club Hotel in East Coast Road.
“My father would drive me there and stay with me because it was illegal for me to play without an accompanying parent or chaperone,” he recalls in a recent interview at the Esplanade.
By 17, he was a bandleader at the now defunct Club 392, accompanying veteran singers such as Rahim Hamid, and became a session pianist at music label EMI, backing other established acts such as Hong Kong singer Frances Yip.
At 18, he arranged and co-produced singer Rahimah Rahim’s 1979 album, Penghibor Di Rantau.
He then did his National Service in the Singapore Armed Forces’ Music and Drama Company and studied big band orchestration under director Tonni Wei. In 1980, he began an apprenticeship under Singaporean jazz godfather Louis Soliano, the start of a lifelong partnership that endures to this day.
In 1981, Monteiro established Tascon Recording Studio and incorporated his jingle production company JJ Jingles two years later. Besides composing jingles for brands ranging from Coca-Cola to KFC, he arranged and was music director for one of Singapore’s most loved National Day songs, Stand Up For Singapore (1984).
Reflecting on how Soliano, 84, kept him grounded during his early rise, Monteiro says: “Every time I got too big for my boots, Louis would call a very difficult song and count it off fast, making me realise I wasn’t as good as I thought I was and cutting me down to size.”
Jeremy Monteiro pointing his name out at the main billboard of the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival.
The mid-1980s marked his leap onto the global stage.
At the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival, a prominent annual event held in Switzerland, he was the first South-east Asian artiste to play the main stage, leading a trio that also comprised American jazz elders Eldee Young and Redd Holt. Their peformance earned a three-minute standing ovation.
“When we finished at Montreux, I was so shell-shocked and completely blown out of my mind. I went backstage and just leaned against the wall, trying to recollect the experience on stage,” he recalls.
Back home, he worked on more songs that have since become National Day favourites. He was music director and arranger on Count On Me Singapore (1986) and We Are Singapore (1987), and composed One People, One Nation, One Singapore (1990).
Besides composing and producing over 700 jingles, the decade also saw him co-found the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (Compass) in 1987. He opened his first jazz club, Jeremy’s Jazz & Blues Club at Liang Court, in 1995.
He says: “When the ad industry assumed I was no longer interested in writing jingles, it destroyed my jingle career. But in the wasteland of that exit, I created my new career of dedicating myself fully to being a jazz musician.”
Jeremy Monteiro received the Cultural Medallion in 2002.
In 2000, he was struck with de Quervain’s disease, which caused painful inflammation of his right wrist tendons, threatening to end his playing career.
After being operated on by eminent surgeon Dr Kanwaljit Soin, he went through six months of rehabilitation.
“The pain was so bad I thought I might have to give up the piano for good and switch to full-time arranging. It took six months re-learning how to play using other muscular techniques,” he recalls.
From 2001 to 2006, he spent four months of the year in residency at Bangkok hotel Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, performing alongside jazz greats such as American saxophonist Ernie Watts.
In 2002, at the age of 42, Monteiro received Singapore’s highest arts award, the Cultural Medallion, becoming the first jazz pianist to win it.
He also kicked off his long-running Jazzy Christmas series at the Esplanade Concert Hall in 2003.
In late 2006, he was appointed Visiting Professor at Lasalle College of the Arts and became a board member of the National Arts Council (NAC).
On how the Cultural Medallion gave his career a “huge ballast”, he says: “I became more widely known, and from that point, my corporate show rates went up significantly.”
Jeremy Monteiro (left on organ) and The Asian Jazz All-Stars Power Quartet at the 2012 EFG Jazz Festival in London.
Monteiro expanded his global presence through a partnership with Swiss private bank EFG, an alliance that resulted in the sponsorship of 18 albums and several appearances at the annual London Jazz Festival.
In 2009, he performed at the Apec Summit in Singapore in front of world leaders such as then US president Barack Obama and then Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. In 2010, he staged his 50th birthday concert that raised $1.1 million for the Community Chest.
In 2016, he co-founded the Jazz Association (Singapore) (JASS), a registered arts charity under the NAC Major Company Scheme dedicated to advancing jazz culture, audience growth, and youth mentorship in Singapore. He is also JASS’ executive director and music director.
He says: “Rather than just being an orchestra, we wanted the organisation to be a crucible for all of these ambitions of the jazz community - to raise the standard, grow the audience, work on youth development, and go for artistic excellence.”
Jeremy Monteiro at the Esplanade Concert Hall in 2025.
In 2021, Monteiro was conferred the Public Service Medal by then Singapore president Halimah Yacob for his enduring public service and contribution to the nation’s arts landscape.
The following year, his Jazz-Blues Brothers album with Italian organist Alberto Marsico was released on Verve Records, making him the first South-east Asian artiste on the iconic American jazz label. The album peaked at No. 12 on the US JazzWeek chart, the first of his four albums on the acclaimed ranking.
He also became the only Singaporean artiste to date to concurrently top the iTunes Singapore Jazz, Pop and Classical charts with his release Overture No. 2 in C - Through The Golden Door in 2023.
Always seeking new challenges, Monteiro completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Film and Game Scoring at the Film Scoring Academy of Europe in 2024. It led him to score the upcoming Singapore-Hollywood animated feature Samurai Saint, whose release date has not been announced.
His prolific recording output spans 51 albums as leader or co-leader, with his latest, My Favorite Things, a collaboration with Indonesian-born, Singapore-based jazz singer Reggie Pryor, released in May.
And that’s not all. Monteiro’s fifth club venture, Jeremy’s Jazz Club at Esplanade Mall, is set to officially open on Nov 29. “I want it to be a permanent sanctuary for Singapore jazz,” he says.
Looking beyond his golden jubilee, his upcoming slate includes the publication of two books - music history tome Lion City Swing: The Story of Jazz in Singapore in 2027 and his memoir Beautiful Mess in 2028.
After decades of building institutions like JASS and nurturing young talents, Monteiro views the transformation of Singapore’s music scene as his true legacy.
“For jazz, I feel most proud that I’m no longer the only guy out there. Now there are 30 to 40 musicians in Singapore who play at the international level.”
Where: Esplanade Concert Hall, 1 Esplanade DriveWhen: Nov 14, 7.30pmAdmission: From $38 via Sistic (go to www.sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555)
Eddino Abdul Hadi is The Straits Times’ music correspondent. He also does articles on lifestyle, parenting and children.
