Indian Music and Jazz

[Guest che]

Hi.

I have spent most of the afternoon listening to the wonderful album by Martin Speake " The Journey", on this album he is joined by two classical Indian musicians, Dharambir Singh (Sitar) and Sanvar Sabri ( Tabla and Ghatam).

The fusion they create is wondeful, it is both contemporary and fresh and Singh makes the Sitar swing.

So this got me thinking about Indian music and jazz and other examples of the fusion of the two traditions.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Che.

[Tony Pusey]

John Handy and Ali Akbar Khan.Karuna Supreme and Rainbow. I have a double cd version put out by MPS a couple of years back.

[skeith]

John McLaughlin "My Goal's Beyond" second side

[JohnS]

An interesting live pairing back in 2002 was Indian alto sax player Kadri Gopalnath with Evan Parker.

[Joe]

http://tinyurl.com/6fbda

http://tinyurl.com/45lur

And, of course, the Joe Harriott - John Mayer collaborations.

Edited March 30, 2005 by Joe

[Guest che]

Thanks guys a whole new world has just opened up for me

Che.

[Guest che]

Seems from what you have posted that Jazz and Indian music are not so strange bed fellows?

Che.

[Guest che]

I wonder then what is the attraction for Jazz musicians with Indian music?

Che.

[Guest che]

In a review I read on the album I mentioned Speake talks about his long-term interest in Indian music.

Che.

[Joe]

I wonder then what is the attraction for Jazz musicians with Indian music?

Che.

Both musical practices place a high value on the musician's ability to improvise, maybe?

As a further note -- Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa are doing some really, really, really interesting and forward-looking work "fusing" Indian (specifically, Carnatic) musical forms and jazz.

See:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...15493&hl=mother

[A Lark Ascending]

Shakti and Remembering Shakti. I like McLaughlin best in this context.

Start with the three original discs from the 70s.

Then explore the reunited (though with changing membership) discs of Remembering Shakti.

This Zakir Hussain disc with McLaughlin, Garbarek and the stunning Indian classical flute player, Hariprasad Chaurasia, is absolutely magical:

The perfect Sunday morning record!

Andy Sheppard did a wonderful duet with a tabla player at the Jazz Britannia afternoon show - ended up dueting with a bird (feathered kind) up in the conservatory there. Lovely. Sadly, the CD I bought of his recently that I'd hoped would cover this ground was a very chocolate box affair.

Edited March 30, 2005 by Bev Stapleton

[Guy Berger]

Slightly more superficial than the above example (in terms of synthesis with Indian music, not in terms of quality), but there's Coltrane's "India". And some of Miles Davis's 70s music includes tabla and sitar. (On the Corner, In Concert, parts of Big Fun and Get Up With It.)

Guy

[AfricaBrass]

This isn't Jazz, it's really Indian music, but I love the albums that Paul Horn did in the late sixties. His, In India, In Kashmir, and Inside the Taj Mahal have had many hours of my listening time. This stuff is pretty much Indian music, but it's interesting to see a jazz musician in this context.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Collin Walcott.

There's a Ravi Shankar album from 1961 with Bud Shank and Gary Peacock:

I love Jazz and Indian music. I would love to hear more where they are merged.

[Guest che]

What is great about this album is that it seems to combine jazz, in which there are really no 'wrong notes', with the highly disciplined world of classical Indian music. The fusion of these two poles is something to listen to.

Che.

[Joe]

There is a really interesting, as well as valuable, discussion of ICM (Indian Classical Music) in Derek Bailey's monograph IMPROVISATION: ITS NATURE AND PRACTICE IN MUSIC.

[Tony Pusey]

Africa, like to hear that Shank(ar) collaboration- was it ever reissued?

[Guest che]

There is a really interesting, as well as valuable, discussion of ICM (Indian Classical Music) in Derek Bailey's monograph IMPROVISATION: ITS NATURE AND PRACTICE IN MUSIC.

Can you tell me a little more about this?

Che.

[AfricaBrass]

Africa, like to hear that Shank(ar) collaboration- was it ever reissued?

Yes Tony, it was reissued by Angel records in 1999.

Here's the link to it on the U.S. Amazon.com page:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=music&n=507846

I have really enjoyed this Ravi Shankar reissue series.

Edited March 30, 2005 by AfricaBrass

[Joe]

There is a really interesting, as well as valuable, discussion of ICM (Indian Classical Music) in Derek Bailey's monograph IMPROVISATION: ITS NATURE AND PRACTICE IN MUSIC.

Can you tell me a little more about this?

Che.

Written by guitarist Derek Bailey, one of the key figures (along with John Stevens, Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and -- in retrospect, perhaps -- the AMM crew [Eddie Prevost and Keith Rowe esp.]) in the development of free or "non-idiomatic" improvised music. I believe there was also a BBC television production that accompanied the [re-]publication of this book.

Amazon link

Intelligently written, but by no means "dry" or "academic". Bailey offers some overview, but he also lets the practitioners -- the musicians -- talk.

[Guest che]

There is a really interesting, as well as valuable, discussion of ICM (Indian Classical Music) in Derek Bailey's monograph IMPROVISATION: ITS NATURE AND PRACTICE IN MUSIC.

Can you tell me a little more about this?

Che.

Written by guitarist Derek Bailey, one of the key figures (along with John Stevens, Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and -- in retrospect, perhaps -- the AMM crew [Eddie Prevost and Keith Rowe esp.]) in the development of free or "non-idiomatic" improvised music. I believe there was also a BBC television production that accompanied the [re-]publication of this book.

Amazon link

Intelligently written, but by no means "dry" or "academic". Bailey offers some overview, but he also lets the practitioners -- the musicians -- talk.

Much appreciated.

Che.

[Tony Pusey]

Africa, many thanks for the link!

[WD45]

There is a really interesting, as well as valuable, discussion of ICM (Indian Classical Music) in Derek Bailey's monograph IMPROVISATION: ITS NATURE AND PRACTICE IN MUSIC.

Can you tell me a little more about this?

Che.

Written by guitarist Derek Bailey, one of the key figures (along with John Stevens, Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and -- in retrospect, perhaps -- the AMM crew [Eddie Prevost and Keith Rowe esp.]) in the development of free or "non-idiomatic" improvised music. I believe there was also a BBC television production that accompanied the [re-]publication of this book.

Amazon link

Intelligently written, but by no means "dry" or "academic". Bailey offers some overview, but he also lets the practitioners -- the musicians -- talk.

Much appreciated.

Che.

It is a pretty fast read, too. Very interesting to read about improvisation from several different traditions.

[AfricaBrass]

Africa, many thanks for the link!

You're welcome, Tony! I hope you enjoy the music.

:rsmile:

[Guest che]

I guess is one way Indian classical music can appear 'simple' to jazz musicians and those like me who listen to jazz.

The Indian music I have listened to seems to stay within the same scale or raga, the result is a 'trance' like sound, with very little change of keys or chord for the duration of the track.

The introduction of jazz seems to create something different and appealing.

Che.

[AfricaBrass]

I guess is one way Indian classical music can appear 'simple' to jazz musicians and those like me who listen to jazz.

The Indian music I have listened to seems to stay within the same scale or raga, the result is a 'trance' like sound, with very little change of keys or chord for the duration of the track.

The introduction of jazz seems to create something different and appealing.

Che.

To me, Indian music is much more complicated. They're playing semi-tones; IMO there's a ton of nuance in their music. I think they're rhythms are very difficult to follow. I purchased some tabla drums years ago and haven't got anywhere with them.