REBELLIOUSNESS is not a quality most Singaporeans are particularly noted for, and on first acquaintance jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro hardly seems like a man who only has to see a system to want to buck it. Appearances, however, are deceptive.
Monteiro - in town this week for a residency at Dan Ryan's in Ocean Terminal as part of the trio, Monteiro, Young and Holt - started out as a model student.
While his parents encouraged his interest in music, they hoped he was destined for a distinguished career in business or one of the professions. But young Jeremy had developed other ideas.
'Actually I got scared because my father promised me that if I did really well in my O-Levels he would send me to the best college of my choice. But I already knew that I wanted to be a musician, so I went 'wait a minute'.' Monteiro's academic performance immediately went into sharp decline and, parental opposition notwithstanding, he left school at 16 and promptly landed his first regular gig at a Singapore country club.
The same sort of attitude marked his approach to the grade system of classical music studies. He sat the first seven exams and then refused to take Grade Eight.
'My rebellious streak again. I was fed up that music had changed in the last eight years and the Royal School of Music hadn't, so I told my mum and my dad I wasn't taking the exam. I regret it now,' he concedes.
