Jazz in a Ballroom

The entire concept of a jazz concert is never about overwhelming people with music they fail to comprehend. It is more about bringing them closer to themselves as they hear the artistes perform live on stage,” says jazz virtuoso Joe Alvares. Alvares,along with his daughter Shefali,New York-based drummer Adrian,London-based pianist Karim Ellaboudi and Rushad Mistry,bassist from the band Indus Creed,performed on Saturday at Tango,the ballroom at Vivanta by Taj Blue Diamond in Koregaon Park.

The event ‘Jazz Over Generations’ was meant to bring Jazz performers and lovers together. Ellaboudi,who has Egyptian and Sudanese roots,says,“Africans,and Indians for that matter,generally have a much more developed rhythmic sense than westerners; and they are more comfortable with complex rhythmic phrases and with cross-rhythms as well. Improvisation and ‘musical conversations’ are also a basic feature of African and Indian musicality which afeature prominently in jazz styles.”

Incidentally,the idea of hosting Jazz concerts at high profile venues was an idea of Alvares’s. “We wanted to bring an upmarket music experience minus the pseudo-frills associated with it,” he says. On the topic of performing with her father,Shefali,says,“We both do our own pieces but we did perform a couple of duets together. The genre itself is so wide that there is a lot of variety to pursue individually.” Some of the songs that were performed included Secret Love,Days of our Lives and Master Plan – love ballads all – at the 90-minute long performance.

Mistry has his own take on jazz. “While I have had a base in rock music,I do not bring any of its influences into a jazz performance,because they are two different styles of music. Versatility is a key factor in these performances and that is what a musician should possess.”