Letter From America

This journey has been the fulfilment of a dream. Nothing else matters after this. For me to have actually recorded with such jazz greats as ...

This journey has been the fulfilment of a dream. Nothing else matters after this. For me to have actually recorded with such jazz greats as John Scofield, Bunny Brunel, Eddie Daniels and Jay Oliver! I8217;ve worshipped these guys from my childhood.

The project started off when my closest friend Sonu Nigam introduced me to Sanjay Chitale. I had earlier met Sunidhi Chauhan through Sonu before I did the music for the film Mast, so I trust his judgement. Sanjay works in the US, but was keen to sing. He has a voice that could inspire a guy to make music.

As we worked on the album, I figured that if we got all these jazz gods to play for it, it would widen our reach. Besides, I8217;ve been their fan for years.

So, Sanjay sent them samples of my work. They loved my music and when I talked to them, they were freaked out by the fact that I knew every single detail about them and their work.

People think there is not much of a market for jazz in India, but it8217;s also a question of a music company taking the risk with a classy project like this. Unless we try, how will we know? John Scofield, for instance, is easily the world8217;s finest living jazz guitarist. He was an integral part of the Miles Davis Electric Band. Bunny Brunel is clearly one of the best exponents of the fretless bass. He held his own in spite of the late Jaco Pastorius taking all the honours in that era. Bunny was part of the legendary Chick Corea8217;s band. You may remember him from Chick8217;s albums Secret Agent and Tap Step. He has his own band called Cab comprising the killer drummer Dennis Chambers and guitarist Tony MacAlpine who plays with Steve Vai.

There8217;s also Eddie Daniels8212;definitely the world8217;s best clarinet player8212;and Jay Oliver who is the co-producer of most of the great drummer Dave Weckl8217;s albums and the Eagles millennium album.

There are many other legends who will be part of this project. We have decided to name the album The American Pilgrimage because that8217;s what it truly has been.

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When I return to India, what I really want is to work on getting all these guys there. They are keen. You know, Bunny has toured Europe with L Subramaniam in the 1980s. And just as much as I want to help acquaint the Indian audience with jazz, I want to familiarise people here with India. I mean, they know about Zakir Hussain and Pandit Ravi Shankar, but no one else. We have such great musicians, but we don8217;t market ourselves.