Since its inception in the 1980s, when it went by the name Jazz Yatra, the festival of music has celebrated the coming together of jazz musicians in Mumbai and Delhi. And now, Bangalore gets to revel in that annual carnival. With Jazz Utsav 2009 (earlier known as Jazz Yatra) spreading its wings to include Bangalore in its yearly radar of celebration, the city is set to host renowned names from the field of jazz.
Seagram’s 100 Pipers Jazz Utsav 2009 will have Beatle Jazz as one of the main headliners this year, with two musicians who have cut their teeth in the world famous Steely Dan band, namely Wayne Krantz (guitar) and Anthony Jackson (bass guitar). They are joined by two other formidable musicians, Cliff Almond (drums) and David Binney (saxophone).
The three-day event to be held at three cities across India will also see Eric Vloeimans Quartet, Nils Olav Johansen Quartet, Saskia Laroo among others coming together for this festival.
“We are thrilled to come here and play,” said Wayne Krantz. Wayne, who has played with renowned artistes from across the world, including Steely Dan, Michael Brecker and a host of others his known for his improvisational style. In his book, An Improviser’s Operating System, he outlines his approach to improvisation.
“There are a lot of disagreements about the word, ‘jazz’. For some people, it’s a specified set of sounds. We push our boundaries a little bit. We improvise. And our sounds will not resemble with what people generally associate with jazz,” he noted. He added, “The word jazz is broad in a way it doesn’t mean anything now.
But I always look at my music the same way. It’s a slot-driven world. For artistes that don’t make music that fits in to a slot, it’s challenging.” Pitched in bassist Anthony Jackson, “We like to play for an audience that will give us a chance. There is a two-way communication between the performer and the audience.” David Binney, who has played in India before had this to say, “When I performed, there was an audience who really came for the music and there were also people who came because there was something happening.” David, a saxophonist who is known for his performances with Jim Hall, Bobby Previte and Maria Schneider was also the co-founder of the quintet, Lost Tribe. “There is a jazz movement in New York that is working towards collaborations with Indian artistes,” he noted. “One of the drummers I work with plays the tabla as well and he has started using the tabla technique on the drums,” he added. Wayne, on the other hand admitted his lack of knowledge when it comes to Indian music. “I don’t know much about Indian music to say whether I will collaborate with Indian artistes,” he said.
They will perform in Bangalore at Ambedkar Auditorium on November 20 at 7.30 pm. Tickets, priced at Rs 500 and Rs 750 are available at Opus at the Creek and also at the venue.
elizabeth@expressbuzz.com
