BENGALURU : “Today, a bunch of young musicians are getting into jazz in a serious manner,” says Louis Banks, who was the pioneer of jazz movement over three decades ago and also referred to as the godfather of Indian jazz.“Despite playing other genres of music they seriously have the desire to concentrate on jazz. Also outlets such as restaurants, clubs have made the genre relevant and I am happy about that,” adds Louis who was in the city for a concert recently.
According to Louis, commercial music is reaching a saturation point of popularity and is not stimulating and exciting enough anymore. “Youngsters are turning to jazz because of the freedom of expression it allows to an artist. It is a great step forward. The artist is free to experiment with the rhythms, structures and new ideas,” he adds. While one of the biggest challenges is bringing awareness to the public and educating the populace on the classic genre, Louis explains that fusing it with popular rhythms and simplifying it, while retaining the essence of jazz music is a difficult task, nevertheless the technique seems to be working. “Its the dawn of a new era of intelligent jazz musicians and listeners,” he adds.
Louiz, further says, “If we continue and sustain this trend then jazz will grow stronger day by day and come into the mainstream of popular music. People will enjoy and dance to its tunes. That day is not far away.” Louiz, recently performed at concerts in seven cities of U S with his fusion band and the renowned tabla player Zakkir Hussain. He has also composed music for a feature film Praana with V K Prakash in Cochin, which will be releasing soon.
Asked about his influences and he names jazz legends Oscar Peterson, Ramsey Lewis, Earl Gardner and Chick Corea. Sangam was the first fusion band Louis performed with and in 1980’s he performed at 50 concerts in Europe with the band. He has also performed innumerable times over the years in Bengaluru. “I enjoy my original composition and so do music loving audience of Bengaluru,” says Louis.