Exchanging Notes

The two-hour concert titled Mèlange,which encompasses jazz,funk and world music,will have nine compositions with an innovative play of music. It will open with a composition called Beautiful Dancer,a slow-paced and mellow composition. The next piece titled Cool Drift is a trance number,following which there will be solos by Coryell and Gurtu. “I have been in love with Indian music for the longest time and have always wanted to perform in the country. This kind of a collaboration is a great vehicle to explore new sounds,” says Martin who is a professor at the University of California,Berkeley,US,where he teaches jazz.

Guitarist Coryell,the grand old man of jazz who has performed with the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Hendrix and has 60 guitar album under his belt,is equally upbeat. “I am a product of the times when change was the in-thing. I am also not new to Indian music and have been a part of the ongoing evolution in jazz and Indian classical music for decades now. I performed here in 1982 once. But I am sure this trip has a lot to offer in terms of me going back home enriched,” says Coryell.

“In spite of the oral legacy of Indian classical music,and everything being written down in the western classical form of jazz,they are similar as composition is integral to both. That acts as a springboard of improvisation,” points out Disrael. Khan has come up with most of the compositions to be performed,and says they all have an Indian classical base. “I will never forget the purest form of music that I learnt and perform now. But these kind of experiments widen your horizon and help come up with something new,” he says. How have they managed all this in such a short period of time? “When we began we only had two days of rehearsal before the first concert. So,we are getting there. By Delhi you will have it,” laughs Gurtu.

The concert will be held at Hamsadhwani,Pragati Maidan. For details,contact: 24617030.