Celebrating all that Jazz

Jazz and Mumbai have a longstanding relationship of symbiosis, dating all the way back to the 50s and 60s. While many artistes lament a decline in the scene since the rise of Bollywood, fans and musicians of the genre are still aplenty in Maximum City. So, it is only natural for the city’s musicians to get together on International Jazz Day to celebrate the event at the NCPA. Louiz Banks, who first brought the festival to the city with the help of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and UNESCO, says that he has always found a following for the genre in the city.

“The festival has been received with great response since its inception. We’ve always played to packed houses, since we started five years ago at the Blue Frog. The best musicians participate and the night goes to show you that there are people who love to listen to jazz,” says Louiz, who believes that listening to jazz is the ‘music of the future’. “Jazz can be very addictive if you put your mind and heart to it. Listen to it, and you will be hooked,” he adds.

Alongside Louiz, a number of well-known faces of the genre will be present at the event. One such musician, who has been a part of the event, since its very inception, is ‘the man with the golden voice’ — Gary Lawyer. “Five years ago, Louiz and his family asked me to play and I thought, ‘why not’? I have been a part of the concert since then,” says Gary, who goes on to explain how jazz vocals are distinct from instrumental jazz.

“When you are playing instrumental jazz, you can start out with your own music and then go off on your own tangent. That’s not the case with vocals, where we stick to standards. The lyrics and music are mated, so that it is not possible to improvise as much,” he explains.

While he is looking forward to the sold-out show for International Jazz Day, the vocalist laments the loss of live venues in the city. “When I was growing up, every other restaurant had a live band. Today, such venues are fewer.  While there is no lack in the enthusiasm of the audience or the musicians, there is very little backing given to Western music in India. Indeed, now, Goa or Pune have a much more thriving scene when it comes to Western music than Mumbai,” elaborates Gary.

Guitarist Sanjay Divecha is also of the same opinion. “Jazz, as a genre, needs to be performed live. And, there are very few venues in the city, as of now, that allow for large-scale performances. The Blue Frog shutting down last year was just another blow to musicians,” he rues.

However, Sanjay still retains hope for jazz as a genre, which, he says, has become more accessible to the audiences with additional elements being added to it. “Today, jazz incorporates bits of rock, folk, Afro-Cuban influences, funk and many other genres. This makes it a lot more accessible to audiences,” says the guitarist, who will be playing a guitar solo, a traditional jazz trio number and a gospel number at the festival.

Louiz, who is playing his set at the NCPA Jazz Day celebration with a mixed group of veterans like Gary Lawyer and youngsters like Rhythm Shaw and his son, Gino Banks, says that the next generation of musicians give him hope for the once-declining jazz scene of the city. “The scene today is not thriving, but it is certainly not dead. Jazz is a sophisticated kind of music and is always played to a niche audience everywhere in the world. Jazz needs an educated and discerning audience who understand the genre. The masses do not have time for that. They want to be entertained quickly and hence the music needs to be easy on the ears and visually connected nowadays, like what you see with pop and film music. But I am thrilled to observe that today the popularity of jazz is on the rise again because youngsters are getting into it again. It is a good omen, I think,” he signs off.

Louiz Banks and the other musicians will be playing on April 30, 7 pm onwards, At Tata Theatre, NCPA