CHENNAI: A rare breed of musicians, he was not one of those who craved for attention. As much as he loved performing on stage and loved the music that flowed every time, Madhav Chari set his fingers to a perfectly tuned piano. He wasn’t one to constantly go on about it - unless someone tried to talk jazz with him.
In much the same way, almost quietly, the Chennai based jazz pianist passed away at Apollo Hospital, a little after 3 am on Friday.
“He had been in and out of hospital over the past two weeks because of a weakened immune system and breathing difficulties. He wanted to go home as soon as possible. So we were trying to get him on his feet,” said a hospital source. Unfortunately, a massive cardiac arrest got in the way and the fingers fell still, once and for all. He was 48. His last rites were held in Mylapore and several members of the music fraternity came to pay their respects.
After having spent the formative years of his life in Kolkata, Chari was schooled at the prestigious Lawrence School in Lovedale before moving abroad for higher education. Along the way, he had learnt Western Classical music theory. But he has often made light of that, saying it paled in comparison to the Jazz music that his dad had raised him on.
A friend who knew Madhav’s father, A K Chari, in Kolkata recalled, “His dad was such a hardcore jazz buff that he would round up all the 6-12 year olds in the complex and invite them home for random jazz listening sessions. My friend has fond memories of listening to Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman.”
Spending a few years in the USA, he abegan a PhD in mathematics at the University of Illinois, before the lure of playing with local jazz legends drew him away from arithmetic. After playing in jazz clubs all across New York and Canada, he decided to return to India, ending up in Chennai - where his parents lived after retirement. “Ever since he got to India in 2003, he wanted to keep doing a lot on educating as far as jazz was concerned. Ever a purist, he kept pushing hard for people to understand it the way he believed it should be understood. He started coming in as a customer in 2010 and by 2011, we had decided to do a series of workshops,” said Melvin Ranjan, marketing manager of the historic old Musee Musical on Mount Road, one of Madhav’s favourite haunts. By this time, he had fast racked up the reputation of being one of the most wholesome jazz musicians in the country, comparable to the semi-legendary Louis Banks in Mumbai.
The partnership that sprung up quickly rendered over 80 shows and workshops conducted for everyone from the discerning music lover to the rank novice. This, despite the fact that he was known to be an obsessive perfectionist about the way jazz was played, almost to the point of eccentricity. That everyone from his various band mates to composer A R Rahman were moved at his passing, speaks volumes about the man behind the oval specs. For his part, Rahman tweeted, “Madhav Chari, may you rest in peace... Gone too soon...”
As the music quietly recedes, Madhav’s spirit, his performance last sans his very approach to the eight octaves on the piano are perfectly captured in something he told Express in 2011, “I embrace that moment in silence before a concert. I think it’s very powerful. It energises the audience, it energises the music.”