Moelle Jazz Quartet Takes the Incanto Stage Every Sunday Through June Gary R. Beck - Beck's Best
May 17, 2017

A taste of crispy blues, floating funk and bossa-jazzy sparkles!

Moelle is a quartet of young musicians proudly born in Puerto Vallarta. A fusion of jazz, blues and more that blends different musical genres. Their unique sound is gaining in popularity all over Vallarta and their lead singer, Ferny, is amazing! Come ready to dance!

The Moelle Jazz Quartet features Ferny Sakura as vocalist, Jusan lead guitar, Carlos Alcantara drums and Marro Bassie bass guitar.

Ferny is a young Latina who has been taken in by Tracy Parks, owner of Incanto. He heard a deep soulful inner voice with a fine rhythmic band and had her perform in The Piano Bar. She debuted last Sunday  downstairs in the theater. The audience was amazed by her stylings of deep-felt jazz and blues. She has not a book-learned talent; it comes from down deep inside her and bursts out as a woman in a 1930's cabaret. Often she is referred to as an "old soul".

"All of Me" one of the top songs from Billie Holiday was delivered by Ferny with a jazzy and swing feeling. Adding to the melancholy of her voice was the bluesy guitar of Jusan which resulted in a marriage of blues and jazz. She scats reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, one of her icons. Ferny has seen her popularity and familiarity grow throughout Bahía de Banderas, having come from Aguascalientes where she started performing a the young age of thirteen, influenced by her grandmother who had a vast collection of LPs and CDs.

"Linda" popularized by Miguel Bosé in the Latin pop world, but the group takes this song and gives it jazz inflections and vibes. It took on a new terrific life. She sings some songs in Spanish and some in English. Then they turned to the 1956 "I Put a Spell on You", a refined blues ballad, into a tribute to Nina Simone's slow jazzy blues interpretation. Ferny knows the feelings of the song, not so much from personal experience, but from deep inside her soulful spirit.

She has an affinity to the jazzy tunes from Amy Winehouse. She delivered "Valerie" which impressed those gathered into a thumping experience of smooth joy. At one point she stopped and thanked in both English and Spanish all the attendees who are making her dream of singing for others come true, step by step. She was nervously grateful. Her stage manners and presence will grow as she exerts more and more time entertaining the guests. Moelle returned to Amy's songbook with "Stronger Than Me", another fine interpretation of a song dear to her. She takes a basically simple song and twists it into a triumph of swaying jazz. Kimbra's "Two Way Street" was also taken from pop-leaning genre and turned into a jazz number which the quartet enveloped and emitted to the crowd.

Moelle is French for "essence of the bone" [bone marrow] and illustrates their musical inner being eruptions. Delving back to Muddy Waters, she boogie woogied back to the deep south. One could picture her in a saloon, entertaining the group with her sexy blues. Next came Ray Charles with "Hit the Road Jack" but she instilled her being directly into the music and lyrics. Jazz bubbles from inside jumping out. We will see and hear much more of her and her band, one piece all glued together, upstairs in The Piano Bar and hopefully downstairs in the theater, when high season returns.

You can catch the Moelle Jazz Quartet every Sunday at 8:00 pm at Incanto through June 25, 2017.

Incanto is located at Insurgentes 109 just south of the Cuale River in Old Town Puerto Vallarta. You may purchase tickets at Incanto online or at the Box Office which opens at 10:00 am. Telephone is (322) 223-9756.

For reviews of other shows, visit More of Beck's Best: Theater, Cabaret and More!