SINGING TO A DIFFERENT TUNE

Reza Salleh sits with Augustman to share all about his swing jazz journey

- Stuart Danker

I ’m on set with Reza Salleh, the frontman for The Frankie Sixes, a swing jazz band that’s poised to take the country by storm, and he’s dressed in a button-up, jeans, and a pair of Chucks. A far cry from the bespoke suit he had made for his gigs.

“This is me,” he says. “I rarely keep up with trends.”

Surprisingly apt, seeing how he performs music from the 1930s. His neatly-cropped hair also tells of a different phase of his life, compared to his indie shag back when he was one of Augustman’s Men Of The Year back in 2011.

Back then, Reza was a singer-songwriter and indie event organiser. Today, he and his band – The Frankie Sixes – are releasing their latest self-titled swing jazz EP.

It has been a long journey, for sure, and anything could’ve happened in the past decade since Augustman last spoke to him. Which is why Reza furnishes me with a quick update.

“I’ve continued doing music all this while,” he says. “I organised shows all the way till 2018, and towards the end, I remember focusing more on open mics and helping younger musicians make their mark in the industry.”

Even after leaving that part of his career behind, Reza still remained in the music industry, joining a government-funded agency to further the music economy in Malaysia.

“I’m proud of the work I did in that short amount of time,” Reza says. “Life in that agency was intense, but I found it to be a rewarding and learning experience.”