Someone really hit the nail on the head when he said, honesty is the highest form of intimacy. For JBD Trio, an international group of musicians that blends several styles of music into a united confluence of jazz, latin, African, Indian and experimental music, honesty is also the highest of affinity towards their music and people who enjoy what they put out. Practising to perform in the city today, they’ll be presenting a set of melodies that’ll bring their individual styles to life.
The three distinct kind of influences each member of the band brings forth is what adds an extra zing to their pieces. “It has a lot of character because all three of us come from different places and have different sensibilities. We also play a lot of standards, which is something you don’t really see much in this part of the world, so maybe that’ll be appealing as well,” says drummer Bob Jordon, who is originally from New Jersey, where he began by playing drums in punk rock bands.
Playing a set that includes old jazz standards from some well-known composers, several artistes will be played an ode through the renderings. “People like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter and others have left an indelible mark on our work. Additionally, we’ll play a piece by jazz pioneer and visionary Ornette Coleman, who recently passed away,” says Derek, the saxophonist in the trio, who has performed a wide range of music across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East and has taught music extensively in the US. “The saxophone is a super flexible instrument. It has a wide range from low to high notes and soft to loud notes. This flexibility allows me to play around with the quality and character of the sound. The saxophone, bass and drums as a trio is an instrumentation that appeals to me like nothing else,” says the musician who started playing the saxophone when he was 10 years old. Not having a chordal instrument, like piano or guitar, allows for a certain transparency in the music according to him. Harmonically, he feels, there’s more room to explore, and rhythmically, there’s a dynamic sense of counterpoint between the three instruments.
In a day when it’s all about packaging and marketing yourself well, all the members of the band, particularly Jayant Manchanda, feels otherwise. “I don’t feel that we consciously make extra efforts to try and look a particular way while playing. I strongly feel that the music speaks out for itself. Our playing style and body language are a direct image of the way we are in person,” he says. A composer, music educator and one of the first call bass players in the live session circuit, he taught at leading music schools such as the Global Music Institute and One World College of Music.
Now, with that kind of musical repertoire that each one of the boys boast, their performance could be a good glimpse into their world of holistic sounds.
Date July 12 (today)
Time 7 pm onwards
Venue QLA: The Kila, Seven-Style Mile, A 4 Kalka Dass Marg, Mehrauli
Entry Free