(Twenty-sixth of a series)
Mon David is, above all, a life force. To many, he is an animating principle—a presence that effortlessly shifts the energetic field around him. Whether channeled as prana, qi, or the Bergsonian élan vital, space itself transforms when Mon enters it, always leaving people and places better than they were before.
I still remember meeting him off-stage at the end of his second set in the early 2000s at a crowded jazz bar. We were squeezed into a narrow gap between tables, and I was waiting for him to finish a conversation to ask a few questions. Then he suddenly turned to me— a towering man whose kind, open gaze instantly cut through the exhausted air with fresh hope, like a window flung open to the crisp dawn.
Mon embodies that dawn. The transcendent vocalist is also a master storyteller, a philosopher, and an artist who took an immense leap of faith when he relocated to Los Angeles, leaving behind an unassailable legacy as a musical giant in the Philippines.
Citizen of the world
Not long after winning the prestigious London International Vocal Jazz Competition in 2006, Mon moved to the United States and essentially restarted in the highly competitive LA jazz scene.
“The London event served as a reminder for me to continue expanding my musical horizons,” he says. “I’ve always loved the challenge of being in more fertile artistic ground like LA or New York. I also realized there’s so much to learn, discover, and experience when collaborating with musicians from different parts of the world. It’s also a profound opportunity to be reshaped by new cultural rhythms while sharing one’s tradition and roots.”
Those who’ve had the good fortune of seeing Mon’s live performances in Manila will know of his striking vocal agility and range—an ability critics described as being able to “leap octaves in a single bound” without losing his footing or slipping a beat. He remains pitch-perfectly controlled even as he vaults tricky intervals, effortlessly matching a warm, smooth vocal quality with an impossibly low, grounded resonance when the piece calls for it.
Then there’s the fearless and masterful improvisation and scat singing. “We’re standing on the shoulders of the masters like Mark Murphy, Jon Hendricks, Bobby McFerrin, Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, and Tony Bennett, who brought our knowledge to its current moment,” he says. “This same reverence keeps me inspired to continue listening and learning while working on my own sound.”
Mon’s cover of “Chega de Saudade” (No More Blues”) demonstrates those skills as he infuses the Brazilian bossa nova classic with his own expansive jazz vocabulary, turning the song’s complex, winding spaces into a masterclass of the intimate personal confession, which early on leads us back to his hometown in Pampanga.
And he’s big on those roots: In his pivotal transition in the mid-2000s, Mon recorded and released “Abe Mu Ku,” an original composition in his native Kapampangan (“a tribute to my folks,” he says), which became the title track of his all-Kapampangan album. In 2005, the same track was included in his locally released CD titled “Life & Time.” After winning the London competition in 2006, Mon was signed by the UK-based Candid Records, a niche independent label that holds a mythic status in the jazz world. He re-recorded and packaged his signature tracks—including “Abe Mu Ku,” “’Yan ang Pinoy!” and standard ballads—into the internationally acclaimed breakthrough album “My One and Only Love,” released in the same year.
The album’s title track features the gorgeous, stripped-back guitar-and-voice dialogue with Aya Yuson, with other giants of the local jazz scene on the rest of the songs doing the heavy lifting, like pianist Elhmir Saison and saxophonist Tots Tolentino.
His favorite things
Since establishing himself as among the preeminent male jazz vocalists in Southern California, Mon has been a mainstay at several key venues across LA, from legendary institutions and intimate listening rooms to cultural events.
Birds of a Feather Lounge in downtown LA (DTLA), a 40-seat listening room, has become one of Mon’s most frequent contemporary hubs. Curated in part by longtime collaborator Cathy Segal-Garcia, this is where Mon pares down his performance to pure, acoustic jazz intimacy, often playing alongside leading rhythm artists like pianist Otmaro Ruiz, bassist Edwin Livingston, and drummer Chris Wabich. He recently headlined high-profile events here, including an International Jazz Day showcase.
At the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, Mon commands the stage for larger, high-profile shows. He frequently appears here as a headliner or as part of major collaborative events, such as the Tokyo/Manila/LA Jazz Summit, which celebrates the global human connection through cross-cultural jazz lineups.
Occasionally he would break the surface with an important recording. In 2020, he collaborated with pianist-composer Josh Nelson on DNA (David + Nelson + Agreement), a compilation of jazz standards and originals. A critic noted that Mon’s choice of repertoire shows him to be “confident, courageous, thoughtful, well-prepared, and well-lived.”
In 2024 Mon followed this up with DNA Continuum, which expanded the duo concept and widened the repertoire. “I invited the great guitarist composer Larry Koonse to join in,” he says. “I’m honored and privileged to have collaborated with them—two of the finest and most creative jazz artists in LA.”
But of course, Mon has a handful of favorite earlier projects. These include, among many others, the original “Let Go,” his first big band swing composition with Bond Samson; “Abe Mu Ku,” his very first recorded Kapampangan song; Gary Granada’s “I Had A Dream,” arranged by Gerard Salonga with the Global Orchestra, which Mon says he values for its universal message; and “Coming True,” his US debut CD under Freeham Records, which also featured veteran musicians Justo Almario, Abe Lagrimas, and Tateng Katindig.
A number of Mon’s Manila solo and group performances and recordings have also received a number of Aliw Awards. (He was a core member of the elite vocal group ANG4, shorthand for Ang4gettables, alongside Philippine entertainment stars Dyords Javier, Isay Alvarez, and Pinky Marquez.)
In 2023, Mon was honored and featured at the Jazz Excellence Awards (JEXA) in LA, a platform that celebrates outstanding achievements and the preservation of jazz legacy, at which he shared the stage with jazz royalty like five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves. In 2017, the Los Angeles City Council officially recognized him as an “LA Living Jazz Giant,” sealing his status not just as an imported talent, but as a vital pillar of the local LA jazz community.
More recently, the LA City Council and Jazzabrations Foundation honored Mon as a Jazz Living Legend alongside multi-instrumentalist Bennie Maupin and singer-songwriter Bill Withers. Mon says he was thrilled by it: “I must admit, nakiliti ako dito. They are our idols! In fact I told Bill I’ve been singing many of his songs all my life.”
Listening is learning
Mon places equal weight on listening to the masters of jazz history and tending to the inner child, maintaining that a playful, receptive spirit is what keeps the true joy of the music alive.
He loves pushing boundaries, noting that “exploring the different ranges and textures of the voice” is exactly what keeps an improvisation vital and exciting. “At times, I’ll sound like a sax or a trumpet, a guitar, a piano, or percussion,” he says. “But mostly, everything comes from listening to what’s happening around me and letting it move me. The late saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins once said that there should be no thought process when you’re improvising. In my experience, there’s probably 20 percent of that happening!”
Today, as a Filipino American artist, Mon treats his deep Kapampangan roots as a vibrant thread, intentionally weaving them into the rich, global tapestry of American jazz.
“As this art form evolves, more and more artists/musicians from different parts of the globe get to collaborate and offer their respective and unique qualities,” he says. “I’m quite fulfilled when I’m able to inject Kapampangan and Tagalog pieces in my repertoire, which gives the audience a taste of how our languages sound.”
Mon urges young jazz musicians to get out of their comfort zones to explore the unknown. “It can be the most stimulating and fulfilling experience,” he notes, “but it demands a great deal of listening, practicing, and studying the masters. In the end, this path holds up a mirror to the musicians, allowing them to truly discover themselves and share a voice that is entirely their own.” CS
Read more: Portraits in Jazz: Winston Raval’s lifelong jazz journey
