Finger Food

So how did jazz happen? Rosnes says,“It was in high-school that I got interested in jazz. There was a very passionate music director who was very knowledgeable as well. I was lucky to have him. He was the one who introduced me to jazz and recruited me to the jazz band.”

But,Rosnes does not see the discovery of jazz as a transition from her classical training. “Jazz and classical music are just two different skill sets. I don’t think I stopped playing classical music once I started playing jazz. So,I think one does not affect the other,besides perhaps techniques that you require,” says the pianist. She recalls,“But I remember that by the end of high school,I knew I wanted to be a jazz musician,despite going to university for classical music.”

In jazz,Rosnes sees freedom. “The form allows one to improvise extensively,which is one of the hallmarks of jazz. It also allows a musician to have a sort of conversation with the people he or she is playing with on stage,” says Rosnes. She adds,“If the audience is willing,a musician looks at establishing a connection with the audience,which often happens. This music can be very moving.”

Yet,she doesn’t cease to be influenced by other genres. “Even when I was a child,I would listen to pop songs on radio and try to play them by ear,” Rosnes,who adds that a jazz musician can never stop learning. “Every jazz master got where they got through relentless practice. For example,James Moody,with whom I had played for 20-odd years until his demise,was always enthusiastic about practising. And if someone much younger to him in age and skill would play something interesting,he’d say,‘Hey,what was that you were playing? Can you teach it to me’,” says Rosnes. She adds,“Such child-like enthusiasm is imperative.”

Rosnes says she also has a penchant for Indian music. “As a matter of fact,I made a record some years ago called Like on Earth and I worked with different percussionists on it,one of whom was Zakir Hussain. The piece was called Empress Afternoon,” Rosnes says.

Her connection to India goes beyond music. She’s part Indian. “I am adopted and I met my biological mother in the late ’90s. I was in my thirties when I eventually met her after searching for her through the government and I have a whole new family. I have three older and two younger half-siblings. And they are all Punjabi,” says Rosnes.

Symphony of three

Vienna-based group The Widerkehr Trio will present a classical music concert at Mazda Hall,Modelina Road on Sunday,6.30 pm. The trio comprises of Thomas Frey on the flute,Bernhard Zachhuber on the clarinet and Matthias Kronsteiner on the bassoon. They will be playing compositions by great classical composers such as André Frédéric Eler,Jacques Christian and Michel Widerkehr as well as 20th century works by Jorgen Bentzon,Heitor Villa-Lobos and Eugène Bozza.