Jazz in India remains alive and kicking

It swings, it jives…these lyrics from singer Freddie Mercury's composition for Queen, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", may just as well have been a description for International Jazz Day, which was celebrated on April 30th, as a string of concerts over the past month established that the music genre is not only very much alive, but is kicking hard!

Mumbai was extremely privileged to witness multiple sides of jazz but, not unexpectedly, all from musicians of a similar era. Kick starting the celebrations was the extraordinarily talented, Kolkata-based guitarist Amyt Datta, who garnered immediate attention during the '80s with popular rock band Shiva.

In cutting to the present, Amyt Datta led a quartet consisting of Arinjoy Sarkar on guitar, Aakash Ganguly on bass, and Dwaipayan Saha on percussion, as a contemporary improvisational quartet that explored the depths of instrumental rhythms through original Amyt selections that can be broadly described as eclectic jazz tunes for want of a better categorisation. After all, Amyt is well conversed with the music of jazz legends through the years, including — in no particular order - Miles Davis, Charlie “Bird” Parker, and John Coltrane.

Although a far cry from what he looked like in the past, Amyt now has short-cropped hair and thin-rimmed dark glasses but, fortunately, there is no change in his guitar playing talent as he indulged in songs from his solo albums during his recent Mumbai performance at The Quarter. Rolling Stone magazine called Amyt Datta the country's “true live guitar God”, and why not?

Home-grown boy Gary Lawyer arrived at a concert in NCPA appropriately dubbed 'Sinatra & Swing'. The Mumbai-based singer, equally adept at whatever genre that he chooses to sing - be it pop, rock, rock ‘n’ roll, et al — decided to focus on a tribute of sorts to legendary singers like Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr and, of course, Frank Sinatra.

The all-coat wearing line-up of musicians ran through such classics from “The Lady Is A Tramp” to cutting across Elvis Presley popularised songs, including “Can't Help Falling In Love” — where Gary had/encouraged the audience to sing the chorus —  reiterating that Gary is indeed a versatile singer and continues to have his priorities right. Songs that are synonymous with Frank Sinatra were prominently featured too, such as “Strangers In The Night” and French song “Comme d'habitude”, the latter more popularly known as “My Way” due to the English lyrics provided by Paul Anka. So, in conclusion, is Gary Lawyer's voice “golden”? Not so! For me, “platinum” would be more appropriate.

Jazz also arrived from the Big Apple, as the once Chicago native, but New York based since 1979 singer Ann Hampton Callaway made her India debut - which she had dreamt about since age 12 — in Mumbai's suburban St. Andrew's Auditorium courtesy of Jazz Addicts, represented by Pradip Bhatia and Apurva Agarwal, in conjunction with VH1. Being conversant with traditional pop as well as standards, Ann's approximately two hour set - with an intermission - covered mainly standards this time around, especially from the Great American Songbook of singers that had influenced Ann through her growing years: Billie Holiday, Sara Vaughn, and Ella Fitzgerald. But the common thread throughout Ann's selections was her incredible voice: almost sounding like a low alto instrument - which she effectively utilised while mimicking various wind instruments - underlined by her rich, wide-ranging tonality.

In between songs, Ann's repartee had the audience in splits, especially while taking pot shots on topics that had caused her mental anguish in India, including the press, traffic, and her ex-husband, who was apparently seated in the front row. More humour arrived on a song on which Ann played piano while she had the audience suggest names of female/male characters, decide on a setting for their meeting, and their relationship thereafter, which only further extended Ann's wit. Jamming on the concluding encore, "Summertime", were the likes of "guest" singers Suneeta Rao and Vivienne Pocha, both of them holding up to the occasion with their respective vocal talents. Nevertheless, nothing should take the focus away from the outstanding quality of the backing band consisting of Ted Rosenthal [piano], Gianluca Liberatore [upright acoustic bass], and Aron Nyiro [drums]. So while jazz may not receive quite the recognition that it deserves as it had in the recent past - alas, with the unfortunate demise of the Jazz Yatras - it is indeed welcome that standalone jazz concerts are reappearing across the country, as this music genre deservedly commences to blow its trumpet again!

The writer has been part of the media and entertainment business for over 23 years. He continues to pursue his hobby and earns an income out of it.