User:Iskubi

WDOUJI (pronounced woo-dow-gee) is acronym for Witch Doctors of Underground Jazz Improvisation, a Philippine-based jazz quartet active from 2001-2004. It was composed of Koko Bermejo, drums; Simon Tan, bass; Aya Yuson, guitar; and Ronald Tomas, saxophone. The group released two independently produced albums namely Ground Zero(2001) and Zen and The Art of Dressmaking(2004), the first of which was distributed by the now defunct N/A Records, the strongest proponent of independent music releases in the local Philippine music industry at the time. The group first gained prominence in the Philippine jazz scene with the release of their first album Ground Zero with its ground- breaking attempt of having an all-original material jazz album in more than a decade which was welcomed and hailed as a fresh development for the independent music industry and the local jazz movement. This feat was in turn not lost on the local scene when their recording was nominated for several awards in the jazz category of the 2002 KATHA, a local record industry award giving body. That year they came out winning Best Jazz Album by a Jazz Group and Best Jazz Performance by a Group for the album cut A Modal, splitting honors of the entire jazz category with another group BUHAY. The second album,the oddly titled and lesser known  Zen and The Art of Dressmaking released in 2004 proved to be the final output from the group who was then on the brink of breakup while recording the abovementioned effort citing creative differences. They however managed to finish the album before finally disbanding to pursue different projects. Koko Bermejo went on to record a few more records with other artists before moving back to the U.S.  while Simon Tan ventured into other genres and is currently one of the more successful bass players in the local scene. Aya Yuson released two solo albums and has been doing the rounds of the local jazz circuit and Ronald Tomas went on to play, arrange and record with Innem, Akasha and Skarlet and occasionally goes out of the country for cruise ship gigs.

(Quirino, 2008),p. 171 (Quirino, 2008),p. 113 http://www.jazzsociety.ph/html/reviews.html