Jazz Yatra
Jazz is arguably the most argumentative form of music (it even has diminished and argued chords). So, to begin with, let me present my version of the argument. Jazz is musical improvisation, right? Indian classical music is improvisation, right? Admitted Indian music does not have the harmonies of the west. But the key word here is improvisation and not harmony, right? Indian classical music has been around for over two thousand years. Americans discovered jazz less than a hundred years ago. At that time, now that we have established India as the birthplace of Jazz, let’s go to the Indian Jazz Yatra.
Surfacing on the first day are the cats (kangaroos?) below. Jamie Oehlers Quintet and the Perth Jazz Orchestra. Jamie opens. Good band. Great Jazz. Jamie and the boys are playing well. In the second act, which is… ahem, an extended remix of the first act. Jamie and the boys brought their friends to form the Perth Jazz Orchestra! It’s always exciting to hear the powerful and dynamic sounds of a great band. Remind me what teamwork is all about. Each and every member seemed genuinely happy to be a small part of the bigger picture. Standing out and direct with the big band was vocalist Mark Underwood with a rich, velvety voice that reached out and caressed the audience. very pleasant evening. Good start for Jazz Yatra. I met many friends old and new, all sharing a common love for music being created live. The first day was the night of the Australians. Too bad we couldn’t hear his musical instrument called didgeridoo or didgerididnt or something like that.
The second day presents the trump card of Jazz Yatra. Trumpeter Dave Douglas from the US of A. Voted World’s Best Trumpeter by readers of Downbeat Magazine and Archie Comics. Satya led by Dave settles on the stage, I mean he sits on the stage. At that moment, the sky passes me in the smallest black number of him. He shakes his braids and looks my way. The music begins. The band has not started. Chaos. The band begins. Twist me back to earth. Satya is sitting in a neat semicircle. Myra cross-legged at the harmonium. Cross-eyed Dave on trumpet. Samir and Sanghamitra cross the field on tabla and tanpura respectively. Dave looks like a snake charmer about to charm a snake off Samir’s board. He plays the band. The music flows. It sounds lovely indeed. I notice many snakes in the audience slowly get up and slither towards canteen flasks in hand. The crowd is getting restless, collective murmurs, the usual grunts, and a few disapproving grunts about the raags Satya…nass is giving us. Rang Bhavan is under threat of becoming a huge outdoor space. But not Jazz by the bay! Mr. Compere approaches and asks the crowd to stop hassling the performers. I’m tempted to yell at him, ‘the artists are bothering us.’ The trumpeter may be hot, but it’s the batatawadas (hot and spicy Indian snack) that are smoking hot right now. So I get up and head to the snakes, I mean snacks, in the canteen located next to the bathroom! And I’m not talking about the bathroom like Louie’s wife. Well I’m back. I don’t give up so easily. And guess what? Halfway through the band are joined by three other musicians to form Myra Melfords ‘Same River Twice’! Little by little I am beginning to understand the mathematics of music. Things get interesting at Jazz Yatra. The river flows. This band is wild. Making cutting edge efforts to push back the boundaries of Jazz. Pianist Myra is a brilliant and definitely inspiring bandleader. Dave is starting to sound like he’s got the vote out of him. The Japanese guy playing the bass seems to be getting more out of his bass with no head and no frets.
The third day begins with Harsha Makalande soloing ‘Hamburg Steinway piano tuned by Mr. Mistry’ while Mr. Compere kept announcing a little more often than necessary from sponsors. Anyway, it looks like Harsha is rehearsing for her next big solo performance. He probably feels that way too, since there are only a handful of jazz enthusiasts present at their respective seats at 7:00 pm sharp. Then came the Vijay Iyer Quartet. Now here is a brilliant group of musicians, each a virtuoso in their own right, with threads of academic achievement behind their music. I could almost smell the textbooks where it all came from. This is great Jazz. The musicians on stage are incredibly in tune with each other. Obviously, they have been playing together for a long time, or they can read each other’s minds, or maybe read each other’s textbooks. Then again, it could just be the simple fact that they wear each other’s shirts. Great performance. Good show. Brilliant musicality. But for some reason, the quartet doesn’t really make me want to stand up in my chair and yell ‘yebdiyow’. However, at one point, in the middle of the bass solo, I felt like getting up and waltzing into the sky sitting just two rows ahead. Unfortunately, the tune was in the time of five and a half. This would certainly complicate things in the ballroom dance department. Whats Next? Oh yeah. It’s Malcolm Mc’Neil, from New Zealand and you better believe it, Jamie and the Jammers have had his back since day one. Now Mally looked a little bewildered onstage. She was probably wondering what the hell she was doing on the stage of an international jazz festival when she should have been safe in a cozy nightclub in some fancy five-star hotel in New Zealand. However, she put on an energetic performance and, considering that she found out who her backup band was only the night before the show, she did exceptionally well. In fact, I even heard a couple of women express their intense desire to hug him as he sang, ‘I’ve been telling you lately.’
It’s time for the grand finale with little Louisa Cottifogli backed by the Louis Banks trio and the second act with the big surprise, world-renowned clarinetist Eddie Daniels and his wife Mirabai, who seems to be on her way to nirvana across the Indian Yatra. You were right, the couples will be backed by the Louis Banks trio. I guess India has yet to produce another amazing rhythm section like Louis Banks, Karl Peters and Ranjit Barot. Little Louisa kicks off the grand finale with ‘Vande Mataram’. Big. This little Italian really has us Indians by the balls. He then proceeds to go around them imitating vocalists from different parts of the world. I almost forgot what an Italian singer sounds like. Now the sucker punch comes, she goes and gives us a Dave Douglas (she starts to imitate a trumpet). And finally, virtuoso clarinetist Eddie Daniels takes the stage with the tireless trio. Scoring soloists. Dazzling display of musicianship and improvisation skills. Wifey joins the party. And she starts cooking quickly. She reminds me of our own version of an American jazz singer, the ageless Pam Crain. A few exciting tunes later in the show, the differences seemed to appear onstage. Differences probably musical, financial, political or some other evil seemed to rise into the spotlight. Differences in Jazz by the bay is war. The differences in an international platform like the Jazz Yatra is world war. And so the curtain on world war was finally lowered, sorry Jazz Yatra. The bottom line is that the Jazz India guys made it through against all odds. Even if the batatawadas and the girls were a lot more going on than the gangs.
Colin D’Cruz