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Magazine
CULTURAL CROSSOVERS
Frontiers of fusion
DR. RAMANI BALU
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Indian classical and jazz musicians come together in New York to celebrate Miles Davis’ experimentation with fusion music in the 1960s and 70s.
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Reinterpreting a master: Miles Davis (right), Rudresh Mahanthappa (top left) and Lenny White.
In 1945, when trumpet player Miles Davis exploded onto the jazz scene, the world of music changed fundamentally and has since never been the same. Davis went on to front some of the most legendary ensembles in the history of jazz. His influential rec
ordings created new genres that continue to be explored to this day. Through it all, Davis nurtured and trained a cadre of young musicians — such as John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter, to name but a few — that have become legends in their own right. His death in 1991 left a deep chasm in the world of music that has not yet been fully mended.
Of all of Davis’ musical innovations, his most daring (and arguably most controversial) came in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time, he mixed jazz, rock music and musical traditions from Africa and India to create the genre now known as jazz fusion. Davis became increasingly enamoured by the unique textures and rhythms of Indian classical music, to the point where, for a short while, his ensemble prominently featured the sitar player Khalil Balakrishna and tabla player Badal Roy. Although his featuring of Indian classical instruments was short lived, he continued to recruit musicians (most notably John McLaughlin) who had a deep respect and understanding of Indian musical forms.
The spirit of fusion in Miles Davis’ music came full circle with the recent release of “Miles from India”, an album that reinterprets many of his most beloved works by combining the talents of prominent Indian musicians with alumni of Miles’ former ensembles. An eponymous concert tour featuring some of the musicians from the recording kicked off last week with its first show at the Town Hall in New York.
Collaborative effort
Fans of both jazz and Indian classical music will recognize many of the names that contributed to this project. The jazz musicians feature alumni from a variety of Miles Davis’ ensembles — both early traditional and later fusion efforts — and include the bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jimmy Cobb (both from Miles’ legendary “Second Quintet”), guitarists Pete Cosey and John McLaughlin, pianists Chick Corea and Adam Holtzmann, and drummers Leon “Ndugu” Chancler and Lenny White (all from the fusion era). Indian classical music is well represented by senior artists such as U. Srinivas on mandolin, Pandit Brij Narain on Sarod, Vikku Vinayakaram on ghatam and Ustad Taufiq Qureshi on tabla. In addition, many younger Indian artists, including violinist Kala Ramnath, sarangi player Ustad Dilshad Khan, khanjira player V. Selvaganesh, flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, mridangam player Sridhar Parthasarathy, sitarist Ravi Chary and vocalists Shankar Mahadevan and Sikkil Gurucharan lend their considerable talents. Straddling the interface between jazz and Indian music on the album are popular Indian jazz pianist Louis Banks, drummer Gino Banks, percussionist Sivamani, Miles alumnus and tabla player Badal Roy and American-born Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.
Strained integration
I had the opportunity to attend the opening concert in New York City. As I listened to the album in preparation for the concert, I was both excited and somewhat apprehensive. Many of the songs, especially those from the classic album “Kind of Blue” were fresh, insightful interpretations of old classics — both familiar and exotic at the same time. In addition, the title track “Miles from India” (the sole original song, composed by John McLaughlin) was beautiful, with a haunting dialogue between U. Srinivas’ mandolin and McLaughlin’s guitar riding on top of Sikkil Gurucharan’s voice. However, I couldn’t escape the fact that, despite these successes, the differences between jazz and Indian music are great enough that oftentimes the efforts to integrate these forms on the album seem strained. Perhaps, I reasoned, the spontaneity of a live performance would bring these artists together in a way that simply couldn’t happen on a recording.
Unfortunately, while the well-attended concert had its highlights, it was disjointed and did not deliver the satisfying blend of musical traditions that I had hoped for. Possibly due to scheduling conflicts, many of the musicians on the album did not attend the concert, and a few artists who were not involved in the recording such as pianist Vijay Iyer, mridangam player Anand Ananthakrishnan, sitar player K.V. Mahabala and vocalist Shounak Abisheki were added to the live programme. Still, the overall line-up was impressive and an atmosphere of excitement pervaded the beginning of the jughalbandhi. The first half focused exclusively on Miles’ earlier compositions and featured the talents of bassist Ron Carter and drummer Lenny White, along with Louis Banks, Gino Banks, Vijay Iyer, Anand Ananthakrishnan, Kala Ramnath, Shounak Abisheki, Badal Roy and Rudresh Mahanthappa. Both Carter and White were in excellent form, and Carter’s melodious bass playing was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening. Unfortunately, because of the number of musicians on stage, the balance between artists was lacking and the songs sounded muddled. Despite the excellent acoustics of Town Hall, Anand Ananthakrishnan’s mrdangam and Kala Ramnath’s violin were difficult to make out.
The second half focused on Miles’ later compositions and brought Miles alumni Pete Cosey, Adam Holtzmann, Benny Rietveld, and Wallace Roney to the stage. There were again flashes of brilliance, including inspired electric piano solos by Adam Holtzmann, but overall the songs rambled and lacked a coherent point of view. Throughout the night I found myself musing that fusion is not simply splicing, but the creation of a new entity out of disparate influences. The musicians for “Miles from India” at times came close, but despite their efforts, never quite accomplished this admittedly lofty goal.
Disappointment
I felt a twinge of sadness at this realisation, since the news of both the album’s release and concert tour had a particular personal resonance for me. As an Indian raised in the United States in a household of Indian classical music lovers, I grew up surrounded by a constant atmosphere of Carnatic and Hindustani melodies. Despite this, I never fully appreciated the depth and beauty of these music forms until I discovered jazz. Jazz music, with its emphasis on improvisation, spontaneity and rhythmic intricacy, provided the perfect language for a young teenager to describe the complexities of Indian music. It was only through jazz, ironically, that I came closer to my native culture and discovered an art that I had always taken for granted. For this reason, jazz music will always have a soft spot in my heart.
The writer is a resident physician in the United States.
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